Breakin’ Boundaries rocks Kings College London

Words: David Barros

Because for breakers, parting with your money isn’t easy.

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For the fourth year running, b-boys gave cash for a good cause at Breakin’ Boundaries 09. Since it began, someone in the queue tells me, the event has gone from a room with only a few breakers and organisers persuading passers by to come in, to a packed out jam with fans of breakin’ queuing around the corner to get in.

Upon exiting Temple tube station the thunderous bass of a sound system echoed off the surrounding buildings.

Parked in front of the King’s College Student Union building was an open roof jeep with turntables, mounted speakers playing break beats for those waiting outside, and an LCD screen showing videos of past breakin’ events. Representatives of Red Bull handed out free cans of their energy drinks to get people’s hype up.

Inside, b-boys were already getting down in cyphers, while those less familiar with breakin’ made their way to the bar.

The night kicked off about half an hour later than billed, but the ball got rolling and everything was kept to a tight deadline to fit everything in. Despite the free Red Bull provided, the energy of the night lacked at the start, possibly because some people may not have been familiar with breakin’ events.

The competing events of the night were the crew battles and the seven to smoke, but there were also several showcase events to break up the action with more… action! Female b-girl group Flowzaic took the stage first with a well executed set, although looked a little stunted with the entire group on Tutu’s small stage.

The charismatic Poppin’ John, winner of the World Hip Hop Championships amazed the audience with his poppin’ and robotic skills, while the judges and guest breakers partook in exhibition battles for the audience’s entertainment.

To allow breakers to recover for the final round of the crew battles, emcee Frantik Frank of the People’s Army performed a set. Suddenly, out of nowhere, crowds of fans wearing People’s Army hoodies swamped the front of the stage to show their support. Although a few hoodies were visible underneath people’s jackets at the start of the night, by the time they performed, the emergence of them was like a guerrilla tactic!

To warm up for the seven to smoke, Brazilian female duet Tuca e Mel played funky drums for the crowd to get down and amp up the excitement.

Crew battles

The main event for the night was three-on-three battles from UK crews, and all brought their best moves, seeing La Familia and Soul Mavericks make it to the final, with the latter taking the title once again.

Results:

3 on 3 crew battles – Winners highlighted in bold

Qualifiers:

One Motion vs Psycho Styles

Natural Selections vs 110 Warwands Lane

Floor Riderz vs La Familia

Soul Mavericks vs Eastern Kids

Semi finals:

Psycho Styles vs Soul Mavericks

La Familia vs 110 Warwands Lane

The Final:

La Familia vs Soul Mavericks

Seven to Smoke

The seven-to-smoke battle closed the events for the night and was capped at 30 minutes to stop it from overrunning. To the frustration of the competing b-boys, sometimes the judges decided a tie for some rounds. The winner was Ippy, and you can watch the entire battle in the player below:

Seven to Smoke Competitors:

Ippy (winner)
Virgil
Mid-Air
Flipz
Jingles
Unknown
Bugz
Juji