Review - 360 Freestyle Crew Battle Competition, UNSW, March, 2008
March 12th 2008 02:32
I have to say that the 360 Freestyle Battle Competition last Saturday night was the best dance event I've ever been to. Brought by Critical Hype in conjunction with Round Circle Entertainment, these guys did an amazing job with the event, especially for their first time, with room for improvement, but hey that's how it usually goes.
I was asked to judge at this event, a bit skeptical at first because they wanted to factor in crowd-judging in the criteria, and dancers know that would be a big mistake. We were a panel of 5 judges and we made a few unpopular decisions but were supported by the majority of dancers so there wasn't too much controversy.
I guess this post is intended for those who went, or heard about the event; for those who don't know anything about the event, just watch the videos. It shows how amazingly talented the underground street dancers are - don't waste your time on SYTYCD
Shout out to Jerome and El, MC Tuppz and DJs D-Kutz and Xile for their awesome effort.
Couple of comments/feedback:
1. Just to let everyone know there was a miscommunication with my Judge's showcase - it was a style demonstration, where all the teachers from D2MG Hip Hop Academy showed their specialty, after my student showcase from my Intermediate Intensive Performance Course.
2. The reason why Juse Crew lost against Treble, Bass & Soul was that our criteria consisted mainly of musicality and versatility. We felt that Juse Crew did not have much of these, it was entertaining but not what we were looking for in a battle.
3. I do not agree with one of the other judge's comments about Krump Etiquette being applied to the freestyle battles. These battles have time limits, they are BATTLES which means you don't wait for someone to get ready to get in the middle to do their thing, they miss out. It's called COMMANDO and demonstrates presence and battle skills. Besides, battle criteria should have been stated at the beginning of the event, so that's another thing to learn.
4. To the guy from a certain crew who claimed that I was biased because one crew I voted for had teachers at my studio, get your facts straight because I had teachers from my studio in most of the crews, same with the other judges and we all have ties with most of the dancers because it's such a small community so stop bitching and start practicing more.
5. No one likes sore losers. You're all winners until you start talking sh*t about everyone and everything else to avoid thinking about why you lost in the first place.
6. I just gotta comment that there were many times during the night where dancers had the most appropriate part of a song, and really used it to their advantage. We like that. It makes us wet our pants.
7. The final decision was UNANIMOUS, it was such a close battle but the winning team, Toilet Funk 9 showed more versatility within individual dancers as well as within their crew, they had slightly better use of musicality and had a bigger presence as a crew.
Just some advice for crew battles in the future (take it or leave it, agree or disagree):
- DO NOT count in your routines, it's a freestyle battle. Many crews did this after I had told everyone not to. Lose points for not listening.
- Integrating routines in a freestyle battle is ok as long as it is balanced with freestyles (and one person at a time per crew please) and I find that this works well after someone's solo, or if its a large number of people then anytime is fine but just make sure you're synchronised.
- This takes time, but the more you spend time with your crew, the more you know what they're capable of, their moves and their sets so you can read them during battle and play along. The winners, Toilet Funk 9 did this really well, as well as Watermelon Bandits at some stages, but everyone in the crew should be paying attention to the battle, to support their teammate or to diss the other team. Be alert!
Videos and pictures will be posted in the part 2 of this review (when I have time please bare with me!)
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Comment by Trina
Hiphop
Confessions of a Serial Dancer
Competitions
Clubbing
well Madd, Madd Madd, it was mad, shudda been there
Toilet Funk 9 Represent
Luke