Weblog
This weekend was all about cultural exposure and immersion at Cornell. Aside from two culture shows put on by the Japanese and Taiwanese student associations, students flocked to Bartels Hall on Saturday evening for Cornell’s annual World’s Fair. Since our breakdance crew has had such impeccable attendance at other cultural events in the past, the World’s Fair organizing committee requested that we make an appearance this year as well. They wanted us to do what we seem to be doing a lot of lately: they wanted us to put on a show with our flashy moves and “tricks” for an uninformed audience looking to be dazzled by our acrobatic prowess.
Yippee.
Breakdancing as a Spectacle
Our crew, Absolute Zero (AZero), isn’t about cultural outreach or charity. It isn’t just about showing off amazing feats to a crowd that doesn’t also dance, and it isn’t just about agreeing to perform at an event just to get more people to show up. And yet, it isn’t hard to see that these are all things that have come to characterize our little niche on the Cornell campus. To be sure, they’re the natural consequences of an art that draws crowds, and I wouldn’t even complain if it weren’t for the fact that all this hype and spectacle seems to have clouded the real motivation for breaking.
Know Your Foundation
Every other kind of dance I can think of hinges on forms; breaking is about deviating from forms. It’s about adopting a self-reflective style that distinguishes your movements from those of your crewmates and opponents. It’s about connecting your moves, clean transitions, and flow. It’s about surprising people and making up something new. It’s about feeling and internalizing the beat. Be as physically agile and nimble as you want, but if you can’t feel the beat and dance on your own two feet, I don’t see how you’re anything more than a gymnast.
Not to discredit gymnasts of course. Those bitches are crazy.
Among Like Others
On Saturday, AZero went to New York City and battled schools of the northeast at an intercollegiate jam called Breaks U. In doing so, we consciously withdrew our precedented commitment to Cornell’s largest on-campus cultural event. Our giant, linoleum mat and usual, childish antics were probably missed, but it was about time for us to act in favor of self-interest. Out here in Ithaca, we don’t have a rich bboy scene like all those in-city schools do, so we never get to break with anyone outside our own crew. At Breaks U, we threw down with bboys and bgirls from all over the eastern seaboard — guys and girls like us, with the same passion and the same drive.
A post hoc rationalization might say that we traveled to New York for Cornell, to “represent” our school in the same way that a sports team travels to play on the road. There’s no evidence against that claim, and it sure sounds really nice, should we ever get too proud. But really? I think we did it for ourselves.