Last night I headed to "The Main Event" a hip-hop dance competition sponsored by the Fr3sh dance troupe, who you might recall from "America's Best Dance Crew" Season 4. Despite having danced hip hop for years, I've never actually been to a large scale competition, so I was interested in seeing how it ran. It was a very entertaining and fun evening, well worth the train trip to Rahway, New Jersey.
Basically the evening is a series of performances by about 20 dance crews from around the East Coast, and a few from the West Coast. There is an emphasis on showing a diversity of dance styles, from popping to locking to house, b-boying, vogueing and wacking. Judges score each routine and the winner is announced at the end. In addition, more established teams were invited to do non-competitive showcase performances.
There were a number of amazing routines at the Main Event, including the always entertaining Fanny Pak, Project Em from Cali, Kaba Modern Legacy, and the various incarnations of the Fr3sh crew. The performance of the night for me was Rhythm City of the Bronx though. Their routine was raw and aggressive and powerful. It's no wonder they won The Main Event 2009 (The video above is from their 2009 performance).
The evening finished with the announcement of the winners of the Main Event 2010. Congrats to Capital Funk from DC for taking
the grand prize! They came so hard and precise, it's clear to see why they won. The
video above is from their 2009 performance at the Main Event. Their 2010
routine was even more dope.
Second place was one of my fav groups Static Noyze of Boston. And third
was Rhythmology, with a very clever medical motif that they used to the
max with props, costumes and clever choreo. And since a lot of the
members were Filipino, and many Filipinos work in medicine, I found it
particularly choice as a theme.
All-in-all a really top-notch event. I look forward to coming back next year.
Thanks to my friend Alan Watson for all the inside info on the various
crews and background of the event.
[UPDATE April 18: I added the video of the 2010 winning performance by Capital Funk at the top. So sick!]