When I first started dancing, I thought this was quite a wonder. I understood that dancers transmitted stories through their dancing, whether it be narrative or emotional. Yet, at the end of the day I felt it merely as a top-down level of communication; it was rhetorical. It wasn't until I came across bboying that I truly saw dancers having a dialogue with each other through their dance. The battle aspect of the dance creates this opportunity for dancers to communicate back and forth. Even though this also applies to Popping and Locking battles, I just find it more so in bboying that's all.
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| Bite sign |
When I delved into it more, what it all came down to was a mixture of just knowing, being told and learning by being immersed in the culture of hip hop. Just knowing is a little tricky to describe but I found this totally amazing extract in an article. Justin Alladin, aka bboy TeN, spoke about the international language of bboying:
When I was in Japan, there were two kids battling. One kid came in and cut the other off before he was finished, and so they walked around in a circle looking at each other. And all of a sudden they jumped like this, boom, together, at the same time, knowing exactly what they were doing. It was the "Brooklyn rock". These two kids, one from Japan, one from Hawai'i, never met each other before, got to the park not even an hour before, just started dancing, and cannot communicate [verbally] with each other. They walked in the circle, jumped at the right time together and landed at the same time together, and started Brooklyn rocking together. That is international communication. That is people of the same culture.
That is the difference between someone really from hip hop and someone from commercialized hip hop. A person in commercialized hip hop cannot do that, does not know what that is, don't know anything about it, and could not do it to save their life. That's just on the dancing level. The same difference exists on the emcee level, on the deejay level, on the art level. That part about them knowing what to do is what is said about how traditions are passed on. Who passed it on? They didn't go to school. They lived it, you know. That's their life, so they know it. They have the same values. That kid knows that he cut the other kid off, and he should not have done that. That's why they jumped into the Brooklyn rock. They knew and they were ready for it. They knew what a battle was. (Alladin 1999)
Another extract I found is about a researcher, Donna Deyhle, finding out more about "breakdancing" in schools and came across one incident that illustrated the communication of "break dancers". Donna was engaged in a conversation with a student, Ben, talking about "break dancing" when another student, Sam, came up behind him showing a small gesture.
Ben turned toward him in response to Sam’s soft rippling arm movement. He responded with the same movement. Sam repeated the movement with both arms. Ben responded with both arm and foot movements and ended with an arm extended and a finger pointed at Sam. At this point Sam dropped his books, fell to the ground, executed a shoulder spin, got up, picked up his books and walked into the library with a slight smile on his face. No words were needed to communicate the message between Sam and Ben. They communicated their identity and solidarity with a visible symbol - break dancing.
Anyone else noticed that Sam walked in the library? Good on you Sam for breaking the stereotype of hip hop and bboys/bgirls! We do like to study too. Even I had my own experience of the bboy dialect:
A bboy battle event was going on at the University which amassed quite a crowd of people. More than half the spectators were ordinary students who were not involved with the true hip hop culture. After the battles, everyone had started to disperse but as a last present from the DJ, he played It's Just Begun by Jimmy Castor Bunch. One person started rocking, then two joined in, and then another two. Soon, we got a whole crowd of bboys and bgirls Brooklyn rocking; a whole unison of bodies going up and down at the same time. Even on-lookers came back to witness the spectacle and I heard people around saying, "How did they all know how to do that?" "Omg, they're all doing the same thing." "Was this rehearsed?"
Although bboying is a physical method of communication, verbal communication still has it's place with or without a common language. You can still throw verbal attacks; do everything you need to do to win the battle. Take Alien Ness for example; he will throw verbal attacks to intimidate his opponents. Regardless of whether they understand him or not, his intensity is still felt. Becoming intimidated and losing confidence is also a battle strategy.
Bboying is fierce, it's war in a dance form. The bboy dialect does not comprise of friendly gestures, friendly burns do not exist. It's all about intimidation. It was a dance that took place alongside gang wars. All the friendly stuff comes after you and your opponent have proven your capabilities on the floor. Only after the battle is respect exchanged and given where they're due.
Even silence and hesitation has its meaning in the bboy language. Silence comes in two forms. On one hand, it's the poker face; playing it cool under pressure. In some instances silence is discomforting to bboys who prefer a verbal exchange. On the other hand, silence is the result of being proven weak. For example, check this video and skip to 1:57. That hesitation from Basik Styles' came after an impressive performance from a Battle Snake. Intimidated much? It's all part of the strategy. Without a word spoken we knew their hesitation acknowledged the ability of the enemy and realising that they themselves do not have the means to challenge him.
Alien Ness once stated in reference to the intimidation aspect of bboying, "You know what's beautiful? When you got a heated cipher and you break in that cipher. And when you get up and you got that moment of dead silence and nobody goes out? That's when you know your job is done."
So how do these gestures transmit to the receptor, how does the opponent decipher it so easily? I think because these bboys are throwing these signs in the heat of battle, the signs come out overwhelmingly expressive that it's not hard to understand what it all means. It's like playing charades but not the friendly kind. In the Brooklyn Rock, for example, the communication is at its peak!
Peaces x :)
