Madan Kumar, or MAD as he is called, rested his tousled head on the floor, and spun like a top. Goaded by shouts of encouragement from the crowd, he balanced himself on one hand, and froze in that position, even as small lines of sweat trickled down his forehead. A wall of dancers surrounding him shifted on their feet to blaring hip-hop beats, ready to take centre stage next.
As it turns out, MAD and the lot are the best of B Boying (also known as Breakdance) dancers from the various teams across Chennai. And given that there are just four active teams (FE Breakers, All For One, Hipz n Toez and Third Eye Crew) with around 15 full-time dancers, Goethe Institut was perhaps the most happening hip-hop spot in the city on the last evening of their week-long programme, celebrating 25 years of German Unification, recently.
Phani Kumar, a DJ and hip-hop dancer, who organised the hip hop and graffiti artistes for the evening, has been involved with nurturing the hip hop scene in the city since 2010, through his company, Catalyst 28. After a one-hour jam, even as he pants like a man just rescued from a burning building, he laughs and says, “This is nothing. Usually, it goes on for three long hours with a bunch of 40. The first hour is just for warming up.”
A hip-hop jam is complete when there is dance, graffiti, DJing and rap. “It is just about getting together and expressing your emotions — be it with music, dance or art. Nothing is choreographed or structured like in other dance forms. In a cipher {breakdancing together in a circle in an informal freestyle manner}, which we just performed, we do what we feel like at that instant,” he says. Besides ciphers, there are more aggressive ones like B Boy battles, where two groups compete with each other with their dance moves. “They fight each other with their moves,” he adds with a laugh.
The moves are meant to be rough and tough. For some, the dance is an outlet for their emotions, their complaints against or message towards society; and for others, it is just about getting together and having some fun. “We have also organised ciphers themed ‘Say no to drugs’ for youngsters,” says Phani.
Tracing its roots, the genre of dance was performed on New York and LA streets by mostly not-so-well-to-do people. “But now, it is embraced even by the elitist crowd. There is no rich or poor. Anyone, who can prove his skills, stays in the crew. You need to earn your ‘strikes’ {a term used for ‘respect’ in hip-hop lingo},” he says.
The dancers perform in various auditoriums and studios besides Natesan Park and CIT Nagar Ground, and a few have participated in the International B Boying Championship in Mumbai, besides programmes in Thailand (Asia finals) and Germany (world finals).
Recently, a bunch of them collaborated with contemporary dancers from Germany and musicians from K.M. Music Conservatory for an event, and also opened IIT Saarang last year. Phani himself has travelled to the Netherlands, Germany, France and Paris to interact with artistes and learn the trend abroad.
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