It’s that time of year again where the best B-Boys and dance crews from around the world battle it out at the UK B-Boy Championships. We speak to founder DJ Hooch about what we can expect this year!
HM: What made you decide to organise the event way back in 1996?
I was running my weekly club night at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden called Funkin’ Pussy! It ran every week for 12 years and people came to listen to the hard funk and hip-hop I was spinning. The b-boys started turning up and getting down. I thought it would be good to do an event showcasing their talent. I worked on the idea for about a year and in the book I go into how it developed from an idea to the Championships.
HM: How has the B-Boy scene changed since then? It’s changed so much. It feels like it’s a different age and in many respects it is. The Internet wasn’t around back when we started this and that has definitely fuelled the worldwide growth of this culture. Then there are the moves themselves. Its gone from Windmills to Airflares, Chair freezes to invert freezes. More crazy stuff is being invented all the time. It’s pushing the limits of what the human body can do.
HM: UK B-Boy Champs attracts contestants from around the world, how did the event reach an international scale? Year by year we’ve expanded into more countries, organising qualifiers and as the qualifiers grew so did the countries that wanted to get involved. We only take the
26 hotminute mag
best 8 crews from around the world so we have regional qualifiers now like our European finals which happen in Holland every year as part of the IBE dance festival. We had 100 crews take part this year.
HM: As one of the longest running dance events of its kind in the UK, how do you preserve its lifecycle and keep things fresh year by year? It’s all about the competition. The fans love to come and see who’s gonna bring the most insane moves to the battle or the most style or the craziest routines. This year we have Korea, France, Russia, USA, UK, Holland and Japan and I can tell you it’s probably the best line-up ever.
HM: Where do you see UK B-Boy five years from now?
Leading the way. Dance is global and it has a lot of commercial interest. Our job is to keep the standard of excellence. We represent the elite competition and that’s what the crowd come to see. As far as our qualifiers go, we are working on setting up new events in South America, China and India and the Middle East so we have plenty still to do.
Interview by Lesley B
IT’S A B-BOY THANG
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