B-boys Near City Hall
One of Sandra’s earlier post about performances in NYC subway stations reminded me of the many times I have stopped to watch breakdancers perform in the stations. I have always loved break-dancing and b-boying, which is why I stopped to watch almost every time. It was just a couple of days ago that I saw a b-boy crew showing off their skills in the 34th Street station. What I find most admiring is how tough it is for these performers to make a living because it is for sure that they don’t make a lot collecting change from bypassers. Some of these performers are very talented and I believe should receive a little more credit than they get. They don’t stop at subway stations because while I was downtown, near the court houses, I saw another group of breakdancers setting up. I took a picture too.
Just as I was finishing up this post, I opened a new window and coincidently saw this article about a crew performing on the actual platform of the subway.
Check out the video below. (My favorite part is at 1:11) It is a video of some breakdancers at a subway station. This type of dance really exemplifies and utilizes the use of acrobatics in dance.
Almost other elements of hip-hop have been blogged about in previous posts such as graffiti, MC-ing, and beatboxing, therefore I am going to add to the hip-hop theme with b-boying. B-boying began in the late 1970’s in Brooklyn when Latino and African-American youths “moved” before hip-hop music even emerged. It slowly began to develop into the hip-hop culture that has now assimilated into our society so widely. The terms ‘b-boys’, ‘b-girls’, and ‘breakers’ are the preferred terms to use to describe the dancers. B-boying consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes/suicides.
A look at one of the originators of b-boy – Crazy Legs:
Here are some videos of some other notable b-boys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UeOdqjB_7k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJa9-5ajzDQ
Did you take that first picture? Because on Sunday when we went to see Iolanthe, I saw those group of guys in front of City Hall warming up. I didn’t get to stay and watch them do an actual performance. I really liked the acrobatic skills of the guys in the first video. The guy at 1:15 was especially remarkable, he seemed to lack bones when keeping himself in that flat position. This reminds me of earlier on in the semester, a group of the older Macaulay boys would always break dance in the lounge, and they were quite talented as well. Maybe not as talented as the guys in that video, but they’re on their way.
Yes, I actually did take that picture when we were on our way to see Iolanthe.