Battle Of The Year 1997
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$20.00 each
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Report (by Remy/Spartanic Rockers)
When we arrived at the "Stadthalle" in Offenbach at about 5pm there was already a huge number of people standing outside the building trying to get in. The contest was supposed to start at 6pm, that's why we hurried up to get in too and to check out who was there and at what time we gonna have the possibility to represent on stage. I have heard that there were even people who couldn't get in. Because of security the organisators had to limit the number of spectators to 3000 (!). So, together with all dancers that took part, the stuff and the judge [Aiko, Tuf Tim Twist, Evo, Spaiche, Wild Katz and Dobry], there must have been 3500 people (if not even more)!!!
We were very surprised of the perfect organisation of this big event and although it was so big, the atmosphere was friendly and nice. It's obvious that such a big event needs sponsors, but they were in the background and they weren't obtrusive.
The contest started nearly in time and just after the presentation of the judge the first crew was already on (the excellent!) stage doing his show. 19 crews took part in the contest with dancers from all over Europe and for the first time there were also crews from outside of Europe: Style Elements (USA), Black Noise (South Africa) and Da Boogie Crew (Russia). Unfortunately, some well known crews from Europe like Battle Squad (Germany), Second 2 None (UK), Actuel Force (France), Enemy Squad (Hungary) and Flying Steps (Germany, winner of the BOTY97 Germany) didn't took part because of different reasons. One could remark that also in the audience were a lot of B-Girls and B-Boys who knew what B-Boying was supposed to look like. Because the dancers on stage had to do really good and special things and tricks that the audience went crazy. The dance-level has increased enormous the last 2 years and special moves or combinations that only very few dancers could do some years ago were presented nearly by every crew. Also the shows some crews did one had never thought of some years ago. I won't and can't say some words to the shows of the different participants because I haven't seen all of them and because everybody has his own opinion about what a "B-Boying-show" should look like which is also good because else there wouldn't exist different styles and that would be definately sad. After all it was very hard for the judge to decide who will battle for 3rd/4th and 1st/2nd place. In my opinion there were at least 8 crews who deserved to battle.
The battle for 3rd place was between Black Noise (South Africa) and Elementary Force/Suicidal Lifestyle (Hungary). In my opinion this wasn't such a good battle because the styles of the 2 opponents were too different. Black Noise tried to beat the opponent with "styles" and "mimics" and Elementary Force/Suicidal Lifestyle answered with "powermoves". But how do you wanna compare that? I think that's also why the crowd didn't really go crazy during this battle. The judge decided that Black Noise was better and in my opinion that was because Black Noise did not only act but they did also react to the attacks of the opponent.
The battle for 1st place was between Style Elements (USA) and South Side Rockers (Germany). I think for most of the people who were there it was the first time they have seen Style Elements dancing. Style Elements has a totally different style of what we in Europe are used to. They dance very powerful with a lot of acrobatic and wicked freezes. So, not only the crowd was surprised of Style Elements but also South Side Rockers. The dancers of South Side Rockers lost their self confidence when they realized that they couldn't even beat the opponent with their best "weapon" which is their style. They tried it also with "powermoves" (unfortunately the best "powermover" of SSR was injured and couldn't take part) but Style Elements could always keep up with these moves and they could do them even better. They are really high skilled concerning acrobatics and when I saw them dancing I was wondering what some dancers will be able to do in a few years of which one has thought that it was impossible. One climax of this battle was the situation when a dancer of Style Elements made some flips and landed beside a dancer of South Side Rockers. While he was landing he put his arm on the shoulder of the opponent and smiled into the camera of another dancer of Style Element who took a picture of both. This was the bomb!
So, as expected the judge decided that Style Elements was better.
Unfortunately one had to leave the "Stadthalle" very soon after this battle because the organisators had to clean it up in time. So, this was a very quick end and because of that one couldn't speak a lot with friends and make new connections (during the contest you haven't enough time..) which were actually the most important things of such an event. But after all it was a great evening which showed the power of B-Boying to the fullest.
