Bengaluru: Arif Chaudhury, or B-Boy Flying Machine as he’s better known in breaking circles, came up with one of his latest moves in his sleep. “One night I dreamt I was in a tunnel and suddenly there was a wall in front of me. I told myself ‘Damn, I need to break this’. I punched the wall and got out. Based on that visual — punching, creating room and getting to the other side, I created a move. Even the most mundane bits of everyday life can sometimes inspire you.”
Breaking — with its origins in 1970s Bronx and hip-hop, will debut at the Olympics this year. Watching a Cypher hosted by Red Bull in Bengaluru offered a handy preview. The three-person judges panel (nine at the Olympics) each walked into the middle of the circle and broke into freezes and pick-your-jaw-off the floor moves, before the participating breakers were called upon. Ronnie Abaldonado, a veteran in breaking who grew up in Guam, was among them. The only sport where judges perform for the audience, underscoring the sense of community in breaking. Sixteen B-Boys and eight B-Girls then took to the circle in one-on-one battles.
A young audience sat transfixed on the floor, watching bodies flip, spin, contort, limbs in windmill motion, close enough to the action to hear the crack and pop. Twenty-six-year-old Arif who is among India’s top B-boys, was among the participants. “I was a nasty kid, always jumping around, always getting into trouble. With breaking, it seemed like my energy and character had met its match.” He started breaking after school in basements, parks, on the streets till Red Bull signed him up. “Breaking is a coming together of different elements – hip, hop, acrobatics, flow art. Inspiration is free. You might see a cartoon character and want to pick up parts of how it moves. When you dance, you’re often playing a character. In breaking, there’s so much room to imagine, create and just make something look magical.”
Even if the movement sequences might be rehearsed by the breakers, the music in competition is entirely controlled by the DJ and there’s no telling what musical genre they’ll be performing to. Breakers are judged on their ability to improvise, with ‘musicality’ being one of the parameters. For something that’s so freestyle, judging can seem a lot more subjective than in any other sport.
“How much you’re in sync with the music with your freestyle, how clean your execution is, how sound your technique is and how original you are, is what is looked at by judges. Most of us have signature moves that we use in each round,” Arif offered.
But you also should be able to improvise at the snap of a finger and not seem thrown off by a change in tempo. In each one-one-one battle each breaker essentially needs to come out on top against the person they’re pitted against. There’s some amount of showmanship and undermining your opponent involved. Breakers shrugged and paced the circle acting unimpressed when opponents performed as spectators chortled. Loud gasps went out when power moves – breakers spinning their bodies like a top, were unleashed. At the end of each one-on-one battle, the judges raised their hands in the direction of the breaker they judged the winner. The one with the majority votes moved to the next round and in case of a tie, the breakers were given one extra throw-down each. Arif, in his baggy cargo pants, t-shirt and beanie, was declared winner in the 16-man field. Among the women, B-Girl Glib aka Simran Ranga was named winner. They will represent India in the Red Bull BC One World Finals in Rio de Janeiro in December.
There’s, however, going to be no Indian breaker at the Paris Olympics. “It’s tough and depressing. We’re going to take some time to get there I suppose,” said Arif, “You have to be able to do well across a number of qualifiers. I participated in three of them, but my rank slipped when I skipped a couple. In general, it’s great that breaking will be on a huge stage like the Olympics. It will hopefully bring more attention, awareness and sponsors.”
Arif, who’s been breaking since 11, is looking to set up an academy at the TT Nagar stadium in Bhopal, with help from the Madhya Pradesh government. “We’re trying to grassroot the whole thing, create a curriculum, take it to other states too perhaps. In India, the breaking scene is still very underground. Maybe when more people see it on TV, they’ll want to dive in.”