1-On-1's & Heartbreaks

Breakdancing has been a long time pipe dream of mine. It's such a creative and expressive art form, born from children living in poverty in New York just playing around in their free time, and eventually evolving into this worldwide phenomenon that has withstood the test of time (even surviving a fad period in the 1980's). It's amazing when you really think about it. Anyone who has known me in the past five or so years has probably been subjected to my b-boy fantasies at least to some extent. I'd always had plans to actually pursue it, and I still do, even though at 25-years old, my window of opportunity is dwindling. Until then, however, I'll continue living vicariously through the skilled b-boys and b-girls out there in the Phoenix area.

A number of them put those skills on display this weekend at a local event in downtown Phoenix called 1-on-1's and Heartbreaks, where 19 competitors from around the American Southwest (and Tokyo!) battled in a tournament-style dance off for a top prize of $100. Chump change, really, but the event wasn't all that huge and seemed to be more of a warm-up to most of the participants, who are no doubt getting in shape for big money events in Las Vegas and other cities. Still, excellent dancing all-around. A few young kids even competed for the first time and did really well. Damn whippersnappers; barely one-third my age and they can still teach me a thing or two in the cipher. Here are some pictures:

(Can't be good for the kid's skull development)

I used the event as an opportunity use my wife and I's brand new Canon Vixia HV30 video camera, which shoots really nice looking stuff. I've always had this idea in mind to put a video project together with breakdancing footage and compositing a bunch of 3D effects and graphics on top of it that moves with the motions of the dancers, so this gave me the opportunity to finally build some stock footage. It'll be my first motion graphics project in ages, but I plan to document my progress here on this blog. I'll also post non-effects laden footage of the dance-off. Stay tuned for that in the near.