B-BOY KOREANS — photos by matt

B-Boy battles between a Japanese and a Korean crew. At times it resembles rhythmic gymnastics or tumbling set to a beat rather than an actual dance, but they are still dope. Here's another one between a Korean group versus a Russian one (wow, talk about the global appropriation of localized culture...) at a big competition: Part 1 [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=EyJMUxJcYnw]

Part 2 [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=aIZBdrMc2T4]

I was clued into this world by Angry Asian Man who alerted his readers to an interesting Salon article written by Jeff Chang (author of Can't Stop, Won't Stop) who pretty much knows his shit when it comes to this topic. Chang explores why the Koreans are pretty much dominating the hip-hop dance and b-boy battle scene around the world.

B-boy Robin, Russia's assassin in a brown Yankees hat, oversize polo shirt and cargo slacks, circles the floor and then taunts the Koreans by pulling back his eyes. Some in the crowd gasp at Robin's slanted-eye dis. But his subsequent solo, featuring a Tony Hawk-style hand plant and surging rolls broken up with one-armed freezes, is flawless. In what b-boys call a "commando" attack -- a routine in which a run is begun by one or more b-boys but finished by another, named for the post-gang-era Bronx dancers who invented it as a tactic to prevent the other crew from immediately responding -- C4 dives through two Rivers members and leaps straight at Robin, pulling his own eyes back, then miming a castration of Robin. The crowd roars.