Breaking it Down with the Red Bull BC One Judges

By Aizyl Azlee  •  in Interview
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This year marked the first time Red Bull BC One held a Cypher in Malaysia, and it went on to prove that breakdancing is far from dead in this country. Hell, with the Malaysian cypher winner, B-Boy Juicy taking the crown at the Southeast Asian level of the competition held in Singapore (check out the announcement here), we’d say our breakdancing scene is thriving. JUICE caught up with the judges of the Red Bull BC One made up of Wing (Red Bull BC One Champion 2008) from Korea and Red Bull BC One All Stars Cico from Italy and Pelezinho from Brazil on the general direction the breakdancing scene is taking.

How do you rate the Red Bull BC One Cypher Malaysia?
Wing Firstly, the Malaysian b-boys, I think their style of dancing is very well polished and refined but as far as their own development of dancing goes, there isn’t much and that’s a shame. Because it is very difficult to find your own style of dancing, they need to work harder in practicing. In terms of technique, it has gotten so much better, and I think they will grow a lot more as dancers in the future.
Cico I think the level is quite good. Overall, it’s on the middle range on the international level, but it is still very good.
Pelezhino For me, I was really surprised because I had never seen Malaysian b-boys. It wasn’t a huge surprise but still surprised. From the top 16 b-boys, I think 9 or 10 are really good. Maybe they need to practice and work together to help each other get really good. Compared to the international scene, they are not there yet, but maybe with lots of practice in the future, Malaysia will get their own international All Stars.

Where do you guys see the global b-boy scene heading?
W In my country Korea, after much development and getting recognition from people for the past 3 years, people are getting less interested in it. I’d say it stopped developing. Internationally though, I’m not sure, but I think with more b-boys coming up and more development, I expect to see more improvements in the b-boy scene.
C It’s getting much, much, better. We are getting bigger and bigger year by year. We have a lot of movies coming out like Street Dance and Step Up. They have movies in every country. Like I did a b-boy movie in Italy and now Red Bull is pushing so much on their own events, so it’s getting bigger. Before this, it was just something from the street. It wasn’t a positive thing. Now people understand and appreciate what we’re doing. So I like it, because it’s putting us in a different light and we get more respect for what we’re doing.

How would you compare b-boying today with the past when it first started?
P I think it is still very popular. For me b-boying is a way to express myself, it’s not about being popular or famous.

What do you guys think of the Malaysian winners?
C Juicy reminds me of the famous B-Boy Soniq. The way he dances is very fast and powerful but in the final he gave up cause he didn’t have so many moves and he started to repeat his moves. He just has to practice his moves, more moves. But the way he dances, his energy is perfect. So I think he will go very far.
P They are good and strong. I think they will surprise their competition but they need to practice more and practice hard. If they want to do well, they need to be creative, it’s not just about power move, you need to have creativity and have their own style.

Do you think breakdancing is moving away from hip hop?
C I think hip hop moved away from b-boys. I think it’s the opposite  because the MC doesn’t care about us. They make too much money and they don’t wanna share the stage with us. The same goes for DJs. They play hip hop but they play house too. Same thing with graffiti artists, they now do art and sell their work and they make good money. So why shouldn’t we (b-boys) go our own way?
P I think it is very much one. For me, I’m not only a b-boy but I also like graffiti, DJing and Mcing, the 4 elements. But today people like to see them as individual elements and they have graffiti competitions and DJ competitions separately. But for me, the 4 elements are still together.

Which countries do guys feel show the most promise?
W Nowadays, I think every country has its own, for example Italy has Cico and I feel that every country has its own dancers that are good and well-rounded and is always improving, although I can’t say for sure which country, but I think maybe it would be America.
C I love Italy and Korea, I’ve been there the most. At least 10 times in Korea. In Korea they have so much discipline. They practice 5 hours every day and no other country do that. They focus on everything they need to win. I think France, Korea and USA thus far have the strongest winner. France is more about creativity, theatre show.
P Korea is definitely my favourite for now. Their standard is very good and they have been dancing for a long time. They have a lot of b-boys and the competition is very high in Korea. I think the Korean b-boy has a chance in winning this year.

Where do you think the b-boy culture is going?
P I think it will get bigger. Like What Red Bull is doing, it’s helping the scene get more attention. Now it’s not about being solo anymore, it is about representing your country. It gives you more pride representing your country than just yourself.

For more information on what’s happening with the on-going Red Bull BC One visit the official website here.