Photos by Brandon Bloch. Words by Kelly Ferraro. Special thanks to Readyset DC.
In case you missed the “Freshest of All Time” BBoy battle put on by Words, Beats, Life this past Saturday, July 10th in Columbia Heights, just know that these guys could probably put some of the world’s best yogis to shame. Not only do the bboys have sick, jaw-dropping moves that will make your body squirm in pain just by observing them – they are also uber flexible, rhythmic, and have cool stage names like “Toyz R Us,” “Shaq and Kobe,” and “Cloak and Dagger.”
Ever dreamt of holding handstand? Well the bboys take handstand to levels we yogis could never dream of. Over the course of the three hour competition, I witnessed several dozen handstands, including back-bending handstands, one-armed handstands, and this windmill-like, rotating one-armed handstand. Sick.
And I could not help but draw comparisons between yogis and bboys. As I observed the bboys, I noticed that there were several yoga asanas at the core of their moves. In particular, Eka Pada Koundinyasana strikes an amazing simliarity to a split-legged arm balance (which I am told is called a “freeze”) that is popular among the bboys. Because yoga and the bboy moves are interrelated, I thought that yogis could pick up breakdancing with fair ease, and vice versa. (So, I couldn’t resist striking Eka Pada Koundinyanasa in order to make myself at home with the bboys).
Apart from shared moves, the bboy and communities overlap in other areas. We are both relatively small, tight-knit communities who mostly communicate through word-of-mouth. We get emotional highs from “hitting” new poses, and are bound to each other through a shared love of rhythm and movement. Oh, and we also have a shared love of music: where the bboy “Domkey” spins beats in between dance-offs, we have yoga teacher DJ Jeffrey Platts to mix sounds in between asanas.
I don’t know about you, but I am sensing some sort of yogis v. bboys pose-off in the near future? Anyone interested in some headspinning?
Special thanks to Readyset DC for sharing your photogs, or ”p-boys.”
