After Flo’s awesome workshop, reviewed in the previous post, I spontaneously decided to enter the battle at Attention to Detail, even though I hadn’t been training very much due to recovering from my sprained ankle.

So obviously my name came out of the hat first to battle, against Si – B-Boy Crackroc (which is spelled incorrectly in the video below, my bad).

So lets get straight to the point, here’s the qualifying battle:

As it transpired, Crackroc won and even though he got lucky hitting that beat at the end of his throwdown, he had a lot of style and different dynamics. So well done to Si…

Next time I won’t be holding back

The rest of the jam was awesome as always, incredible cyphers and battles with a few bboys from Scotland there representing.

Unfortunately the next Attention to Detail jam is on 21st March when the Masterz Crew are performing at a Castleford Tigers rugby match. So we’ll be dancing around on the pitch, but you should still go check out ATD in Wakefield, it’s the best regular bboy jam ever in the Universe!

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”

Gore Vidal

I recently received an email from Dave at TooMuchFlavour.co.uk letting me know about a fun new competition they’re running to win a pair of Asics SportStyle trainers and a bboying mat. These are the same trainers B-Boy Mouse was wearing at the UK B-Boy Champs and in the following Asics promo video…

Anyway, here are the details to win a pair of SportStyle Asics and breakdance mat. Quite a cool competition challenge I think, I might have to enter myself… I could do with some new kicks to train in!

Find Your Flavour and win a pair of ASICS SportStyle trainers and breakdance mat

Win a pair of trainers from ASICS SportStyle and one of the first ever breakdancing mats – start the year the freshest kicks by sending us your freshest pics!

To celebrate the launch of their SportStyle range, ASICS have created the first ever breakdancing mat. Put together with the help of award winning B-Boy Mouse, it is designed to teach novices the basic moves through simple, guided steps. One lucky entrant will be able to win one of these mats and pull off the toprock, sixstep and even the wakfreeze. The winner will also receive a pair of ASICS SportStyle trainers to practise new moves in true style.

How to win

Winning is simple – find your flavour and photograph it!

Started breaking in front of a local attraction? Dressed your dog in a tracksuit? Maybe you spotted something quirky, like funny graffiti or discovered a really funky record in your parent’s music collection.

If it’s got flavour, it has a chance of winning

Simply take your photo, ‘fan’ TooMuchFlavour on Facebook, then post your photo to the wall for a chance to win.

For further details, example photos and to watch a video of what happened when the ASICS SportStyle breakdancing mat took to the streets of London, go to http://toomuchflavour.co.uk/competition_entry.html

Ok, that’s all from Dave, back to me - they’re claiming its the first ever breakdancing mat. Not sure what they mean by that, cardboard and lino were used way back in the late 70′s… but I  remember being shown a hilarious video of Alfonso Ribeiro, the dude who played Carlton in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, releasing a similar product way back in the day (1985)!

That’s enough comedy for today. Remember to get taking your flavoursome photos to post to the TooMuchFlavour facebook fan page!

“And tell mum and dad it’s the safe way to break and pop. Not the things you shouldn’t try.”

Alfonso Ribeiro

Yo, just a quick heads up about events coming up soon that you should be at if you’re cool. If you’re not cool then you should probably stay at home for you might not be able to handle the enjoyment. You uncool people can just watch the bonus video at the bottom of the post from Just Jam while you’re staying in and having an early night

Masta Ace – Fresh Jive 28th November 2009

9pm onwards tonight at The Elbow Room in Leeds there will be a 7 to smoke bboy battle and later on Masta Ace performing all the hits at  Fresh Jive!

The first Fresh Jive event in a while, which is nice I know Shane Fenton (B-Boy 10Tonn) and the Fresh Jive/Speak to the Streets crew have had a busy year, so keep up the good work guys! I’m sure there are some awesome events in the pipeline for next year!

The Haggis Horns – Local funk band are also playing tonight at The Wardrobe with their new singer Lucinda Slim. If time will allow it, I might try go to Fresh Jive and then over to The Wardrobe to catch the gig for an ultimate night of pure hip hop and funk!

The Masterz Crew Showcase Battle

12 Midnight at Shed Bar Thursday 3rd December

After an absolutely awesome night out b-boying at Tiger Tiger on Tuesday, my mate Luke, a manager at Shed Bar in Leeds thought a breakdance performance would be the perfect fun and different entertainment for the Shed Bar’s 1st Birthday on Thursday 3rd December. So The Masterz Crew have been booked to get our groove on the only way we know how – B-BOY STYLE!

We’ll be warming up from about 11pm ready for the show to start around midnight – a 3 on 3 exhibition battle lasting between 10 and 15 minutes! I’m not sure of the 3 on 3 crews yet, but obviously the side I’m on will smoke them foooools on the other side! It’ll be like The Battle of Briggate all over again!

After the showcase battle we’ll stick around to jam for the rest of the night. You’re all welcome to come along to watch and party with us later … even the uncool people who were planning on staying at home watching YouTube bboying videos, you can come too!

Thursday the third of December two thousand and nine – Put it on your calendar, if there were a hook it would be totally off it!

Attention to Detail – The Hop

Wakefield 13th December

The next ATD is set to be full of festivities! With a Christmas themed fancy dress competition for the b-boys and b-girls it is definitely going to look interesting!

As well as the usual battle format which is always awesome, this time there will be special exhibition battles and showcase performances… and Fusion has asked me and Ross to do a 3 round exhibition battle with a bit of a twist. I’m not entirely sure if that’s for definite yet, but either way I’ll probably be there having fun so come down!

Just Jam International B-Boy Event Video

14th and 15th November – Newcastle, Dance City

Earlier this month I told you about Just Jam International and how much it sucked that I wouldn’t be able to make it, boohoo :’( so here is a sweet compilation from Sole Heaven of some of the b-boys who battled on the day. If I watch it fullscreen, turn the sound up and squint I can pretend I was right there in the audience…

Click here for more footage of the full bboy battles from Just Jam International.

Sole Heaven have written up a rather lovely review complete with photos too, have a gander here.

That’s the end of that chapter. Hopefully I shall see you at one, if not all, of the awesome b-boying events in the next few weeks, but for now here’s some fantastic advise for life:

” Do your kids a favor – don’t have any. ”

Robert Orben

Peace out!

Last year Tony drove me and Karl up to Newcastle to check out Just Jam at Dance City hosted by Bad Taste Cru. We were all late getting ready and didn’t arrive in Newcastle until an hour or two after it had started. When we eventually found our way around the one way system, found a parking space and got to the venue the lovely woman on reception kindly informed us that it had sold out, the room was full to maximum capacity and there was absolutely no way we could go in. Awesome. Well that was a nice journey. Back to Leeds we went. Unfortunately I don’t think I can make it this year either, sad times.

If you’re planning on going to the main event this Sunday 15th, make sure you get there early to get a ticket, or buy one online in advance, especially if you’re travelling a long distance. It’s probably as bad as being the fat smelly kid at school that nobody likes when you arrive at a venue 2 and a half hours away and are told you can’t go in The  maximum capacity is only about 350 or so, which means it will sell out fast!

The line up looks amazing, it’d be worth going to see the battles on Sunday at the main event if it was just the b-boys on the reserve list but with international and UK invites including B-Boy Mouse, Hat Solo, Mounir etc. you know it’s going to be off the hook! The Just Jam live band/percussionists will be playing some funky beats for the breakers to dance to over the weekend so I believe. Even the Pre Party this Saturday 14th November with some surprise showcase battles  is set to be an awesome night. Hat Solo and Mounir will be running workshops during the day too, if you’re free – get your ass down there this weekend!

You can find all the details for the event here: http://www.ukbboy.info/forum/showthread.php?t=15084

Have a gander at Doy Travel’s bad ass trailer from last years event if you need persuading…

Bad Taste Cru Presents ‘Just Jam’ Feat Just Do it, Mouse, Hat Solo, Duzk from Le Doy on Vimeo.

For all you bboy geeks who spend hours scouring the internet for bboying videos you might not have seen yet, there are some more battle videos from last years Just Jam by Doy here: http://www.ukbboy.info/forum/showthread.php?t=14111 if by any chance you haven’t seen them yet.

Have a good time if you go this weekend! Who knows, I might still make it.

“No great work is impossible; the word itself says I’m Possible”.

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Yesterday I went training with my brother at the gym, b-boying in the dance studio for a while and then a workout. After that intense weekend and the days training I was pretty pooped so when I got home after  a couple of hours I had to have a lie down.

Fizzle…no, sorry, The Phasion (as he is now known) phoned me mid nap and woke me up to see if I was able to help them out. The Jigsaw Cru were booked to do a show at The Plug in Sheffield that night but Hau and Afro were unavailable so The Phasion and B-Boy Energy needed an extra crew member. I jumped in the shower,  wolfed down my roast dinner (not at the same time) and our expedition began!

Na-na na-na na-na na-na B-BOY!

We got to The Plug and jammed a bit to warm up. We were going to be battling 3 other breakers in a showcase battle on stage. The other crew were damn good all round – nice style and smooth power.  I think I had seen them all battling before at Fresh Jive and other events but it was far too loud in the club to even talk to them and get to know them. Ah well, show time…

Showcase breakdance battle – The Plug, Sheffield 10.11.09

The Jigsaw Cru plus myself, B-Boy Twist on the left, Sheffield and Manchester b-boys and b-girl on the right.

“Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”

Bob Marley

Ho ho ho, Christmas must have come early… What an awesome weekend of bboying treats that was

Keep reading cause I’ve got 3 lovely videos for your entertainment today, and I know you’ll particularly enjoy the last one…

Street Dance Competition – Friday at Mission

Friday night at Mission was LoveDough, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago they were having a street dance battle  with a £200 cash prize up for grabs.

We got there at about 11pm to enter and get warmed up. I’d texted to get myself + 7 on the guestlist,  so we paid £5 in, even though we were on the guestlist and competing, but Philthee and War who came down later got in for free on my guestlist. Mother truckers! Quite a few bad ass bboys turned up which I didn’t expect, so we got a cypher going on the nasty concrete floor before the competition began as the room filled and the crowd grew.

The whole event was hilarious, clearly not a bboy battle – the stage was awful, it was like dancing on coarse sandpaper painted black and the DJ was playing shit-hop. I still gave it a go though and busted out a few moves, saving some in case I got through to the next round, ha, never mind. I received a fairly decent response from the audience – woooooo, and so on. Despite that the dancers who went through to the next round after the qualifiers seemed to be 8 people picked at random. The dancer who won overall was pretty good though, a nice fusion of different styles of hip hop dance. Well done to him, whoever he was.

Here’s my 45 second throwdown in all its glory:

I wasn’t too bothered about not getting through, especially as B-Boy Flo and other’s didn’t make it either. Fun was had and I ended up dancing the night away till about 5am with lots of lovely ladies They just can’t resist the b-boys! It was cool seeing friends I hadn’t bumped into for months too.

The Fresh Factory – Saturday in Huddersfield

My brother and I arrived a bit late, thankfully just after the popping qualifiers, right on time for the b-boy battles. Don’t worry though, I still received more than a life times viewing of body popping through the evening.

The atmosphere was really good and friendly! I managed to get a seat and actually see what was going on for the whole evening, without even having to struggle and push my way past any unusually tall people that always seem to appear right in front of you at crowded events.

The body popping battles were impressive and there were some amazing contestants. Shuffles won overall, whoop. But to be honest once you’ve seen more than a couple of minutes of body popping you’re probably going to fall asleep whenever you see it again. Maybe that’s just my opinion…

The bboy battle was where it was at! Flo won, cause he is pretty damn awesome. Some day I’ll have power moves like that, but hopefully I’ll still have hair as well.

I jumped in the cyphers a few times through the night, mostly at the end along with B-Boy Just Me, who for some reason was wearing a full green body suit hahaha! That was damn good fun, it’s nice to have him back from Germany. Unfortunately my phone had taken a strong dislike to me recording so much video so I only filmed a couple of my throwdowns:

Well done to all those who organised the event, you should do it more frequently than in 4 months time!

At the end of the night I was chatting to Flo, our conversation went as follows:

Flo: “Are you battling tomorrow?”

Me: “Errr, I don’t think so. I’m not sure if there are any places left. “

Jamie happened to be stood nearby so we called him over and asked if there were any spaces available to enter. So Flo continued…

Flo: “Are you battling???”

Me: “Hmmm, maybeee.”

Flo: “Let me ask you again, are you battling?!?”

Me: “YES! Yes I’m battling tomorrow!”

Haha, I definitely needed that little push and I had an ace time on Sunday. Thanks Flo!

Attention to Detail jam – Sunday in Wakefield

I fuelled up at Subway and got there early for the battle. I know, I was amazed by our time keeping too. The whole jam was funky as it always is, phat beats and cool people all having fun!

I thought up a little surprise before setting off that I could throw in the mix and was excited about my first proper solo battle (Friday night at Mission didn’t really count). The qualifiers were only 1 round each, and I was up against B-Boy Lil Jay. Damn. The dude’s got skills! I thought I’d let him go first so I could see what I needed to do to beat him. Personally I thought I’d done enough, but for some reason I lost, boohoo. Ah well, no shame, Lil Jay is awesome and I had a great time!

I took my shiny HD camcorder and filmed it all, however when I was copying the video files from the SD card to my hard drive my PC thought it’d be hilarious to crash and corrupt my memory card, loosing all the files. Nice one. Thankfully Seb filmed it all and he hooked me up with the footage of my battle… Check it out!

B-Boy Twist vs Lil Jay at Attention to Detail

Hope you enjoyed watching “the Paul Daniels of the bboy scene” I didn’t get through but I danced a little bit in the cyphers and got to sit down to rest my tired little self. Plus there was the other 6″s of my footlong Sub to devour,  mmmmmmm yeeeeeeah. There were some dope battles through the afternoon. Jingles ended up just beating Ryan in the final. Nice one Jinglist!

What an intense weekend!

“A good fight should be like a small play…but played seriously. When the opponent expands, l contract. When he contracts, l expand. And when there is an opportunity… l do not hit…it hits all by itself (shows his fist).”

Bruce Lee

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