http://www.science20.com/scientific_blogging/dancers_are_genetically_different_rest_us

Check out the article on B-Girl Bounce (NYC) written by Dvora Meyers.

In 1981 Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the summer series of free events in various parts of the Lincoln Center campus, offered a “battle” between two “crews” of b-boys, meaning New York City break dancers. Among break dancers, a battle is supposed to be a contest of skill and attitude, but this one turned into a real battle, meaning a fight.

A quarter-century later, break dancing, along with hip-hop music, is an international phenomenon. So Lincoln Center decided to celebrate its formative role in bringing this kind of dance and cultural bravado to the mainstream by staging a follow-up called We B*Girlz, this time with female break dancers. Their show late Thursday afternoon on Josie Robertson Plaza, between the fountain and the Metropolitan Opera House, was appealing community fun but a long way from the ferocity and intensity of the original battle.

Break dancing has traditionally been a man’s or boy’s world, partly because of the taunting associated with the form and partly because of the sheer athleticism required to execute its various moves — strutting, spinning, rolling, kicking — in a distinctive way.
Women’s sports have established themselves as popular attractions on their own terms, so why not break dancing? Women have been doing it since at least 1981, but to judge from their interviews, they are still seeking the respect they feel has been denied them.
Thursday’s event, attended by a good-natured and enthusiastic crowd that appreciated the moves but still made room for wandering children and their moms, centered on a battle among four crews. The names of the teams and their members (along with their costumes and hairstyles) were typically colorful, if by this late date a little quaint: Natural Born Killahz from New Jersey (G.I. Jane, Katlogic and DoubleA); Style Comes First from Philadelphia (Emiko, Eri and Infini-T); Fox Force Five from New York (Bounce, 1Love and Suprema); and Flowzaic from London (Angel, SunSun and Genesis).

The New York crew won the contest and the $600 prize, according to the five judges, but it looked like a hometown vote, given the excellence of the trios from Philadelphia and London. No matter. This was meant as an exercise in good cheer, not bloodletting competition.
The hourlong event was festooned with a fast-talking host, Toni Blackman; a D.J., Sparkles; a guest dancer from Britain, Rowdy; a dance medley performed by a large East Harlem outfit called Mixed Flavaz; and a b-boy old-timers’ reunion.

Mixed Flavaz included several young men, and in conviction and skill and personality and sheer brilliance, they were simply better than the women. Women who want to break dance rightly resent the demeaning images of their sex in rap videos; they want to be strong and assertive. But they would make a stronger impact if they developed a style of street dancing that was more their own, whatever that might mean. As it is, for all their spirit and good cheer, they seemed like boys manqués.

Here's is a mail from Amber from Recife, Brazil, it's good to know that ladies so far away are being blessed by hip hop and breakin.



Hello Peppa,

This is Amber writing you from Recife, Brazil. Here I'm known as B.Girl
Berinha. I'm actually canadian, but I've been living in Brazil for
three years and I've made my home here with my husband Sérgio who is from
Recife.

I'm mostly writing to let you know that your videos and words that I have encountered on-line have been a wicked inspiration.

Here in Recife as well as the rest of Brazil, as I'm sure your aware of, Hip Hop is a very serious thing and is considered a social/political/cultural movement that can be used a tool to transform society. Its a way to bring information to the huge perifery that exists and a way for them to protest, espress and talk about their realities. Youth living in the favelas (shantytowns, ghettos) of the big cities really relate to Hip Hop
culture and it's a huge mobilizer.

I'm part of an all girl crew called Rosas Urbanas Crew. Its made up of
a bunch of ladies who decided to get together to share ideas and
strengthen the small representation of females in Hip Hop here. We have ladies
practicing all 5 elements. On the B.Girl side of things, we have really
grown. Lots of little girls and teens in the hood have began to train
the art of B-girling, and let me tell you, this is a very revolutionary
thing.

Unfortunately in this northeastern, Brazilian society, women still
suffer much repression despite the cliché of the "hot Brazilian samba dancer".
In the media, women are portrayed as these sexually liberated
free-spirits. But in reality, women get paid less, are less-educated and often carry the burden of taking care of the homes as well as work and often as single
moms. AND they are under the pressure to be beautiful and available for men.

We work on all sorts of things through break dancing, from basic values
like respect and humility, to how to work in groups and trust eachother. As
most of the girls are afro-descendant, we enter into the question of ethnic
identity which mostly manifest itself through HAIR issues. The Black
Power movement here was quite weak, and in the favela communities, big fros
are seen as dirty and criminal. So we're workin on doing away with the term
"bad hair' and encouraging the girls to accept themselves for who they are
and be the best they can be.

Its a familiar story for you I'm sure. I just wanted to pass on this
info to you. What has been available online has been wonderful for us on this
end.

If you'd like to know more, our venezuelan friend shiver translated
some of our info and its on-line (funny english, but you'll get the point!)

http://rockonloc.bizhat.com/rosasurbanasrecife.htm


Peace, amber

Martha Cooper comes to L.A. to photograph local Bgirls at Venice Beach...