“A dream I never even dreamed” by Blazin’
World Bboy Championship 2004, London England
Wow, I had such a wicked dream the other night. It went something like this:
On two days notice, I up and left Toronto to fly with the rest of shebang! to London, England for the weekend to compete in the World bboy Championship with top breakers from all around the world. Yeah, we were battling at Wembley Stadium, and LL Cool J was hosting the event and giving props to shebang!
Now, in this dream, the battle was different than usual. Picture one of those reality TV game shows; two breakers from opposing teams dancing at the same time on a glass floor with fast paced break beats playing in the background, a large clock timing, buzzing us in and out…imagine some flashing lights, add some chaos and sprinkle in some madness. Then flash to the end. In the 2 on 2 battle, out of 20 crews, Ms.Mighty and I end up placing top 8 in the world! By the end of the weekend, we get paid in cold hard cash from a briefcase full of prize money.
Gee, sounds like the sequel to the next “You Got Served” but really…welcome to the wonderful world of shebang!
Sometimes I think that my b-girling life is one big fat lie after another. But in fact, there you have it. We were approached a few months back to participate in Just Fabulous’ First World bboy Championship and TV documentary of the battle experience. Just Fabulous flew over to Toronto from London to document the pre-battle “shebang! diary”. After capturing some footage of our breaking, they left us with some wonderful parting words in their cool British accent: “See you in London!” Ahhh, what music to our ears!
We were told breakers from all around the world were invited to battle—breakers from Canada, UK, USA, France, Spain, Italy, Korea, Japan, South Africa, Ireland, and Denmark to name a few. We were so honoured to be participating in this event, and for the months leading up to it we were vigourously training. With the knowledge that we were competing against some topnotch breakers, our aspirations were simple: to compete to the best of our capabilities. We would take it as a great honour to be crushed by all the b-boy and b-girl rockstars.
But as the date of the event was fast approaching, and no flight ticket was in sight, we had some doubts about whether the battle was happening our not. Rumours had been flying around. But low and behold, only two days before the event, we got the flight confirmation and woohoo we were on our way!
As soon as we were in London, we began meeting breakers from all over. Although jetlagged, and tired from our nights travel, we killed some time playing a life-sized game of jenga at the hotel lobby. We were then driven around London to be interviewed with the Denmark breakers by the local television network in a fancy hotel where the “bigshot” artists De La Soul, and LL CoolJ were staying. Imagine breakers in a extravagant library, with a wall full of fake books, Ms.M looking for the secret passageway a la Scooby doo style. It all felt surreal.
But after a nights rest, we began Saturday anew—refreshed and ready for battle…
Saturday February 7, 2004 - Day 1, 2 on 2 battle. Contestants: Ms.Mighty and Blazin’ versus the World.
That day we were excited to be battling in London, but we were even more excited to watch the other breakers. Downstairs, the breakers were slowly trickling in the hotel lobby. Coincidentally, I ran into an old break friend, “Korean John” whom I had met during my travels in Australia. He was now the manager of Expressions crew from Korea, a crew full of crazy hair, but a crew full of even crazier power moves. I knew we were in for some hype battles that weekend!
At Wembley Arena, all the breakers were in a holding tent during the course of the TV battle/live concert show. Under one area, you had so much talent. One thing that was most evident, was the huge disparity between the ratio of b-girls to b-boys—on day 1, we had shebang! and Babyson (hype b-girl from Wanted Crew, France) versus about a hundred bboys under one tent.
That evening Ms.Mighty and I passed the first showcase round in the 2 on 2 making it into the top 16. We were actually mistakenly announced as Wanted Crew from France before we ran on to stage! Woohoo we’re in Wanted crew! During the course of the event, we were also representing Switzerland instead of Canada, according to the flag they put up. All the Switzerland fans were on our side, unbeknownst to us. In Round 2, we then faced off a crew from Spain. In spite (or because) of some minor confusion about the format of the showcase battle for round 2, luck was on our side, and we moved on into the top 8!
And there we were, at the third round battling it off in a real b-boy format with Massive Monkeys, USA. Massive monkeys, yet again, we meet on the dance floor. Massive Monkeys, yet again you will crush us, but this time we get squashed in a most dignified manner. We were satisfied with our final battle though, some good energy and dancing. Not our best, but not our worst performance.
Props to Wanted Crew for winning the 2 on 2, and Massive Monkeys for coming in second. Hype dancing!
Sunday February 8, 2004 - Day 2, 4 on 4 crew battle. Contestants: shebang (jennrock, mae hem, Ms.Mighty and Blazin’) versus the World.
This day promised to be full of crazy battles—we knew breakers were holding back on the 2 on 2, and with all the members battling, monkeys er I mean bboys would be flying all over the place!
For the showcase crew battle, we were paired up against Children of the Monkey Baskets from Ireland. It was all jokes and games with these b-boys, since we had become buddies beforehand. Overall, a good showcase by shebang!, but unfortunately due to the talent pool we were competing against, we did not qualify for the top 16.
However, off the battle field, we could then sit back, kick off our knee pads and watch the others go at it.
Highlights of the 4 on 4:
Special thanks to Just Fabulous for making it all happen.
Next up on the dream list, shebang! on World Tour with some famous music artist (insert artist’s name), and shebang! performs with Cirque de Soleil. Who knows, dreams can come true...
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