Planet B-Boy

Earlier this week I went to see the London premiere of a hip hop documentary called Planet B-Boy. I found it very inspiring and deeply moving in places... both funny and touching... One of the dance crews competing in the Battle of the Year b-boy competition which is the subject of the film, were Ichigeki, from Osaka in Japan. Ichigeki crew performed one of the most creative pieces of dance I have ever seen. The narrator commented that Japanese breakers are known for their creativity and imagination in terms of innovation (in contrast to the French, for example, known for their sense of beauty and love of the music, or the Koreans who are known for their technical skill). I was fascinated that someone commented that for Japanese b-boys, breaking has a connection to the spirit of Bushido (the ancient arts of the Samurai). I can see this in terms of the discipline and the humility. When I have previously read about Bushido I have been fascinated by the spiritual aspects involved in 'the way of the samurai', and I can see how these beliefs easily fit in with hip hop culture... I'll perhaps write more about Bushido in my next post.


Katsu (shown here to the right of the photo) is one of the dancers in Ichigeki crew. His day-job is working in his family's shop selling tea. His mother said something quite profound about the competition, which is typically Japanese in it's integrity and humility... She suggested that in the competition the crew should dance for the sake of enjoying the dance and not to win. If they danced to win, something would be lost, and people would know they were only dancing for the prize money. She was concerned with the truth and integrity of the dance... Surely this is true to the spirit of Japan in general and to the spirit of hip hop... And surely we should apply such integrity to everything in life, working hard and enjoying all we do, expressing truth for its own sake, rather than simply for what I can get out of it?