Below is a little recap I made of the this past weekend's over-sized Paris street dance competition Who Iz Who:
A few interesting things to point out about this particular competition:
I do however appreciate that the hyper agressive Krumping battles at this event were always followed by deliberately effeminate Vogue dancing (see the incredible Javier Ninja at the end of the vid for an example).
- The 2-day event hosted contests in the so-called traditional Hip Hop dances of Popping, Locking, Breaking as well as contests in Hip Hop, a separate category for Krumping, House dance, and Vogue.
- Each contest averaged about 70 entrants each, and more than 100 for Popping and about 200 for Hip Hop!
- Dancers came from all over France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and maybe a handful from the US (do I count as US or France?).
- There were judges for each particular style of dance, of whom the majority were from the US. Clearly the cultural imperial power still making its presence felt and deciding what's considered good.
- Rumor has it that the original Krumping judge scheduled to come Tight Eyez, Krump pioneer made famous by the documentary Rize, bailed because he thought Who Iz Who was too commercial!
- Indeed, many at the event grumbled that the event costway too much to attend and was merely put on to make dollar$$$...woops, I mean euros. For this reason, some people didn't bother to show up for Day 2 which cost 25 euros a ticket.
- Another rumor circulated after the event was over that a bag full of thousands of euros in cash payment for the DJ's and judges went mysteriously "missing."
- EDIT: Also note that the final battles took place at Palais des Sports which is a concert venue for the likes of Elton John, Boyz II Men, and the Blue Man Group. Could you imagine anything e
I do however appreciate that the hyper agressive Krumping battles at this event were always followed by deliberately effeminate Vogue dancing (see the incredible Javier Ninja at the end of the vid for an example).