Battle of the year 98
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$19.99 each
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There was never ever so much confusion and chaos in the forefield of the annual event like this year. The location had to be changed not less than 7 times!!
Because of the number of expected people the capacity of last year's location ("Stadthalle Offenbach") in Offenbach (FfM) would have been too small. That's why the organizers cancelled this summer the announcement of the beginning of the year (that it will take place again in this location) and they searched for a larger one. They thought that they would have found the perfect location ("Halle Mnsterland") in another city of Germany called Mnster. And because everything seemed to be okay this new location was already announced.
But because of wrong accusations of the Offenbach Police (regarding last year's event) the hall-manager who accordingly also did some wrong interpretations forced contract conditions (among others 250 000 DM security bail!!) which the organizers of BOTY didn't want and couldn't fulfill. In the following weeks they searched desperately for an adequate location but all the responsible institutions in Mnster and all references of the organizers failed.
They even tried to organize the BOTY98 in a huge tent that they would have been independent of any buildings but everytime they thought to have found a place for the tent the Offenbach Police intervened and they brought the people to retract their promises.
Due to the deficit amount of 30 000 DM caused by the organisational problems they decided to cancel this year's BOTY 4 weaks before it should have taken place. But only 3 days after they have announced it the institutions in Offenbach finally offered their support and it was thought to realize the event in the huge tent on an area beside of the river Main in Offenbach.
But unfortunately there was so much rain coming down one week before BOTY that the whole area was under water! Within only 4 days the organizers had to change everything again and they found a new location only 200m away on the fair area of Offenbach.
Because of all that it's almost a miracle that BOTY98 could take place !
Results:
1. Rock Force (USA)
2. The Family (France)
3. Phase 2 (USA)
4. Suicidal Lifestyle (Hungary)
Best Show: Spartanic Japan
Best individual dancer: K-Mel (Phase 2, USA)
Report:
In spite of many location changes and even temporary cancellation of BOTY98 the organisation team finally found a place where Battle Of The Year 1998 could happen. On November 7th it could take place in halls of fair in Offenbach (FfM). Even 5 days before this date it was again not sure if BOTY98 could take place because the area near the river "Main" where the event was supposed to take place (in a huge tent) was totally under water because of the heavy rain the days before. Only because of the rapid and spontaneous support of the town of Offenbach and of the youth office it was possible that BOTY98 could take place in this alternative location.
Accordingly the preparation of this new, actually totally inappropriate location was very short-dated and chaotic. The organistation team knew that there could arise a chaos in this much undersized hall also because already 3000 tickets were sold in the advance sale. And that's also exactly what happened: innumerable inquries for tickets the day before the event, bids up to 200 DM for one ticket, unbearable throng at the entry, waiting time up to 4 hours to get in, almost 1000 persons (some of them travelled from far away) that had to stay outside without any ticket, a totally overcrowded location in which the majority of the audience could watch the battles only on a screen. The estimated value of spectators must have probably been around 4700 (inclusive dancer, guests, media,..).
Nevertheless BOTY98 was on a qualitative side of view the best event in the history of Battle Of The Year. Never before there were so many international crews present with dancers from USA, Japan, South Africa, Russia and from almost every European country. There were also many Hip Hop personalities and fables in the audience (like London of the NYC Breakers, the dutch B-Boy Paolo and many more) who were together with all other dancers responsible for an international atmosphere. Although there were space problems in the main hall where the stage was, during the whole event everybody could show his skills in one of the many circles in the lobby.
The internationally and qualified jury of the crew contest consisted of 5 dancers: Ken Swift (Rock Steady Crew,NYC, USA), Space Capital (Chicago, USA), Sonny (Full Circle, Germany), Kai Eikermann (Germany) and Elvis (Sweden). Altogether 17 crews took part in the contest (after 2 crews had short-dated called of). The crews from Germany and Switzerland had to qualify in eliminations that took place some months ago (regional and national contests). Unfortunately the top crews of both countries (Battle Squad, Flying Steps, South Side Rockers, Unique Wizzards, Basel City Attack) didn't took part in the contest because of different reasons.
The most eccentric and perfect shows were performed by Spartanic Japan (Tokyo, Japan) and Phaze 2 (Chicago, USA). The best mixture between show and solo skills were done by Suicidal Lifestyle (Hungary), Phase 2 (Chicago, USA), The Family (Paris, France) and Rock Force (California, USA). Therewith these 4 crews were qualified for the final battles.
The battle for 3rd place won Phase 2 against Suicidal Lifestyle, both crews are members of the "Full Circle". Especially K-Mel of Phase 2 attracted attention during this battle. Therefor he was also judged as the best individual dancer of BOTY98.
The battle for 1st place was between Rock Force and The Family. The latter crew is well known for his 1st place at BOTY95, back then together with Crash Kid (R.I.P.) and Davide from Italy. This year the crew mostly consisted of dancers of the world wide known french crew Actuel Force. The approx. 20min battle was one of the most exciting and technicially best battle in the history of BOTY. But unfortunately it was also the most aggressive battle ever. The aggressive behaviour of the french dancers culminated with some body contacts of their "opponents". But with that the number one rule of B-Boying was violated: never touch the other! Unfortunately also some spectators forgot that the main thought of Hip Hop is to stop the violence with creativity. Regarding this they showed that they haven't understood anything... Consequently the judge decided that Rock Force won this battle, not only because of these occurrences but also because of their performance.
Summarizing one has to note that in spite of the bad location it was the right decision not to cancel BOTY98. It was an evening with dancers and people from all around the world that came together to have fun, to dance, to talk and to meet new and old friends. And that's the most important thing: One Nation Worldwide! Unfortunately a lof of people focus only upon the contest with the battles before, during and after the BOTY...
The organization team also wanna apologize for all the problems, the bad view and the throng and they wanna thank all dancers for their respect and support despite of the chaos. Hopefully everybody has comprehension for all that. Further they will do everything to find a huge and appropriate location for next year's BOTY which will be worthy for this event!
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National Eliminations for Battle Of The Year 1998:
4. July, B.O.T.Y. Germany, Kaserne, Celle, Germany
national finals
RESULTS:
1. Active Artists
2. Move From The Other Side
3. Rockin Till Death
4. Rock Maniacs/Battle Rox 5. Wedding B-Boys
6. Funky Grossangriff
7. Micro Machines
8. Fresh n Attack
9. P.I.N.WO.C.
10. Per Anhalt
11. Tuff Style Attack
12. Never Out Of Style
13. Unique North Style
14. Too Funky
(Unique Wizzards, South Side Rockers and Flying Steps didn't take part)
Results of the GERMAN REGIONAL ELIMINATIONS:
May 16th, B-Berlin Open, Yaam Club, Berlin
(Best Berlin Crews)
Results:
1. Funky Grossangriff
2. Micro Machine
3. Wedding B-Boys
May 23rd, Battle Of The South, MS Connexion, Mannheim
(Best Southern Crews)
Results:
1. Rockin Till Death
2. Battle Rox/RockManiacs
3. Aktive Artists
4. Too Funky
May 30th, Mnster Battle, Muenster
(Best Western and Northern Crews)
Results:
1. P.I.N.W.O.C. (Power Is Nothing Without Control)
2. Unique Northstyle
3. Tuff Style Attack
4. Never Out Of Style
June 6th, Battle Of The East, Bautzen
(Best Eastern Crews)
Results:
1. Move From The Other Side
2. Fresh 'n' Attack
3. Per Anhalt
4. The Real Fresh Crew
13. June, B.O.T.Y. Switzerland, Kongresszentrum Spiergarten, Zrich-Altstetten, Switzerland
national finals
RESULTS:
1. Basel City Attack
2. Unik Version
3. Scrambling Feet
4. Crazy Force Crew
