Busting grooves
B-boys and B-girls will be gathering in Logan tonight to battle it out with windmills, turtles and hand glides in the hopes of picking up some mad cash. At 7 p.m. in the TSC Ballroom, students should expect a Disk Jockey scratching beats, and maybe even a suicide.
Don’t worry. Nobody’s getting hurt, except maybe their pride. It’s the fifth Annual Busta Groove Breakdancing Competition.
Shaun Kjar, the vice president of campus diversity and organizations, which co-sponsored the event along with campus activities, said he’s looking forward to giving some exposure to the breakdancing culture. A DJ from Uprok Records, a hip-hop-themed store in Salt Lake City, will be spinning the music for the dancers.
“We wanted somebody to be able to do it authentic for them,” Kjar said. “It’s an opportunity for them to show what they have.”
The contest will have two categories, one for popping, and one for B-boys and B-girls. First prize in each category will be $200, second will be $100, and third and fourth will get $50 each. The competition will have a preliminary round, and the winners of that will move on to a bracket-style one-on-one competition.
As of Thursday, no contestants had entered from USU, but there will be a lot of dancers that practice at Uprok coming to compete from Salt Lake.
Jacob Rosen, a student at BYU-Idaho, will be competing in the popping competition. He said his Salt Lake competition is “wicked awesome,” but Rosen has won the popping contest for the past two years. Still, he said he’s been practicing a lot to match the dancers from Uprok.
“I’m hoping the best come up, because you can always learn new things from the best,” Rosen said.
Rosen said he originally began popping in 6th grade because of one of the best, Michael Jackson.
“It started with the moonwalk, and the rest is history,” he said.
He said he likes breakdancing because it is so expressive.
“In any other dance, like ballroom or something, you have set moves you have to do. But in breakdancing, it’s just basics, and then you take it where you want to,” Rosen said.
“It’s physically demanding and physically rewarding. It leaves a lot of room to express yourself and discover yourself,” Rosen said.
Mig, the DJ who will be spinning for the competition, said he is a B-boy himself, so he likes to spin what the B-boys like to dance to, a mix of funk and hip hop from the old and new school. But he doesn’t just want those in the competition to dance.
“The funnest part for me in spinning music is having people enjoy the music that I present. When I see people dancing to the music and I’m playing and I know it’s good music, that’s what I like,” Mig said.
Mig said breaks music – the kind he spins for dancing – is underappreciated in Utah, and he likes to be able to get it exposure.
“I think everyone should listen to it,” Mig said.
He said spinning takes a different kind of energy than breakdancing.
“You have got to know what you’ve got, know your records. It’s more your mind,” Mig said.
Kjar said anyone who is still interested in signing up for the competition can do so in TSC 326 or by going to the competition an hour before it begins to sign a waiver.
For those who don’t dance, Kjar said there will be an iPod given away as a door prize, and admission to the competition is free.
-jenbeasley@cc.usu.edu