Floor The Love (part two) History and the Future
Written by koreasingaporedanceproject on 10:44 PM
Floor The Love 2010 brought together so many people from around the world to Singapore Management University for the event, that now a week later, I look back and I think 'Damn. Did we really do that? Did so many people really come from around the world to take part in this jam? Did that just happen? Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, USA and Hong Kong really all came to share their dance?' RIght now as I'm reflecting on the event, it seems so surreal~
I wanted to make this years' Floor The Love an event that would mad improve the scene. A scene is made up of the dancers, events, practice spots, sessions, jams and organizers. Sometimes, one good event put up regularly by a solid organizer can be enough to change the game for that city or even, for that part of the world. Like how Cross-1 did Freestyle Session by himself on the west coast and how Thomas did Battle of The Year alone in Germany and Felix does RF Anniversary jam every year and Poppin Yoo holds Street Jam in Seoul.
Street Jam (KR), Freestyle Session (US) BOTY (Germany) RF Jam (Singapore)
I don't feel that Floor The Love can be mentioned in the same breath as these events (yet...haha) with their years of history and support and love from their participants in scenes much older than standing styles in Singapore. I know that people look forward to FTL because it is the only streetdance battle tournament that starts and finishes on the same day in SG, thereby giving foreign entries a chance to join the competition. With people training, preparing and rehearsing for this event from Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Korea an Singapore, I knew what had to be done.
I had to throw the best standing style dance battle jam that Singapore and South East Asia had ever seen. So, like John Lennnon said, I needed a little help from my friends.
DJ Lineup: Mulder KOGS, Korea. Yoshi, Kamata, Japan.
DJ Mulder is Korea's best funkstyle DJ for battle events. Every clip you see of popping or locking events in Seoul you see on youtube, he was spinning. That's no exaggeration, it literally, was him. He was a Hip Hop dancer back in the day and so he understands the dancer's point of view from the dance floor and how important music is to them.
He has played at many international events including Keep on Dancing (Beijing) and 4 Da Next Level (Seoul)
He has spun at Floor Skillz (SG), Spotlight Boogie as well as BOTY Asia.
Music is so critical to the success of a battle event. A DJ can really make or break an event because we have to rely on their music selection, knowledge and 'depth of crate' to see what kind of beats they dig up and put out there for us.
Battle DJs don't just spin tracks at random, they select songs to match each other, making sure the BPM count for one track can seamlessly mix into the BPM count on the next song at just the right moment to coincide with the hornbreak on that jam. Then, they have to manage the equipment too, bringing slip pads, their set of styluses, mixer, decks and cables. DJs haul a lot of equipments to events, they're always the first one there and the last to leave.
A good dance battle DJ can draw out performances from the dancers that even the dancer didn't know he or she had. Because a streetdance battle event plays music chosen by the DJ without the contestants having any prior knowledge of what song is coming up next, the DJ has such responsibility over the floor. Can't pick a jam that no one has heard before, can't pick a jam that is too easy, can't play a song that has been played already, or has been played too much recently....it's a lot of planning and thinking!
Judges are critical to hosting a jam because they possess knowledge. Their eyes can see things that regular audience members can't, not just because they sit in the best spots, but because, they know what they are looking at and how hard it is to do what the dancer does. If a competition has a judging lineup that all the contestants respect, then so much the better. And if the judge has a history of entering competitions himself and places well in them, then that is the kind of judge that will really make the best decisions and choices at an event.
And the judging lineup that came to Floor The Love 2010 - phenomenal.
AKA Ra, NY Crew, Seoul.
It was Aka Ra from NY Crew's second time as judge at FTL. He has been dancing since the early 90s and was one of the first streetdancers in Korea along with a small handful of others.
He is also the director for "4 Da Next Level," Korea's international solo dance championships. The influence this guy has had in the scene in Seoul is immeasurable. Popping, Locking, House and Hip Hop, he is proficient in all. But most of all, he is a famous teacher now too and has trained some of the best new generation dancers in Korea including Freestyle Ali and Locking Lia.
AKA Kin, Funk In The Heart Crew, Korea.
It's hard to be recognized by your peers as one of the best in your category of dance, especially in a city with as many dancers as Seoul. To be talked about as one of the best in one genre is respect right there, but to be considered to be one of the best in TWO categories?
That's just crazy.
AKA Kin is a funkstyle dancer and has a high level in both popping dance and locking dance. He has represented FITH crew in Japan, USA and Europe across many competitions such as Freestyle Session, Just Debout and Keep Dancing.
Reflection of Floor The Love
You might know that Korea-Singapore Dance Project has the following guideline for itself..'Knowledge, Foundation and Love." Everything that we've done is somehow centered on at least one of these principles. Sorely lacking in the streetdance scene around the world today are these three things, so that's why KSDP is holding it down like that on the Knowledge, Foundation and Love tip, ya heard.
We dedicated this event to the memory of Greg Pope, Fred Berry, Michael Jackson, James Brown and Skeeter Rabbit. And if you don't know who these people are, click here.
I know that there are many dancers in Singapore who recognize and respect their work, but there are also so many who have yet to discover it and I hope that even if they discover their work posthumously, they can still recognize the connection between their dance and what these Original Generation did for them to have their dance.
Competitors
The first thing that stood out as being different at this FTL was how many internationals came this year. Dancers came from all around Asia and even from the US. I started this jam for Singaporeans to have a battle event that could improve their dance skills, but I never thought it would ever get as big as this.
Korea
1G , Jrong, Jinu, Cho Rong, Seo Hoon, Min Ji, Ara , Sang Yang, Bangster, Dong Woo
Malaysia
1 2 Boogie, Fresh Pop, Dynamix, Bounce Boogie Jr,
Bounce Boogie, Chinese Phantom, Exist Soul, Infinity,
Phantom in training, aka Yong Tinshen, aka Silence
Indonesia
SuperSnipers
Hong Kong
Doug Lee Funk
Vietnam
aka Lion T, V Fox Poppers
USA
Marcus
1G , Jrong, Jinu, Cho Rong, Seo Hoon, Min Ji, Ara , Sang Yang, Bangster, Dong Woo
Malaysia
1 2 Boogie, Fresh Pop, Dynamix, Bounce Boogie Jr,
Bounce Boogie, Chinese Phantom, Exist Soul, Infinity,
Phantom in training, aka Yong Tinshen, aka Silence
Indonesia
SuperSnipers
Hong Kong
Doug Lee Funk
Vietnam
aka Lion T, V Fox Poppers
USA
Marcus
Singapore
Funkimon, Pop Pies, Kworku, DK, JK,
Scrach MarcS, 37 BIT, Funk Soul Pop,
SMLJ, [Size don matta, Let's POP!],
Old Man, funky soul-ja, hongdae for the win!!!,
Anthony & Reuben, Danial(Doc orc) & Samuel Tan(Sam),
Team JC, pSyk x Jack, Engineered Pops,
AC & Josh, B.O.O.M. Brothers Of Funk,
Then You Suffer, Ryu & Lesner,
Flair Brothers, Airwalkers, Lost & Found v3,
MaD, Rebel, L.A, Red Line, DoubleBlue,
I'm Grooving It! , Bojangles, New IC, Too Hype,
2 A.M, White Kid and Stitch, Jas & Bun, J.A.B,
Up2u, Hip Hooray, Jeannie & Jaye, REPRESENT,
Running Ben's Got Fonky Beet, Groovy Aggression,
WASA, Funk Trouble, A.N.T.M (ain't no tough musclemen),
Course in 2 Crew, Locked Up, Lockers A.D. Left2Lock,
Y2K, Raving Rabbids, Sunset Alleycats, Lock Out Loud,
aka Allen, aka Terence Tan, aka Edison Cheng, Marzipan,
KK, aka Nick Fai, Me.L, Charles Li, Andee, Justin Peng,
Mianbao, Lem, Baoxin, Limin, aka Samuel Lee, aka SHA,
aka NicoleClaire, aka Zee, aka Winnie Wong,
aka ELKE, aka Willy Ong , aka Michael, Machi,aka Trinity,
aka Tappy and Ti - Max,
Funkimon, Pop Pies, Kworku, DK, JK,
Scrach MarcS, 37 BIT, Funk Soul Pop,
SMLJ, [Size don matta, Let's POP!],
Old Man, funky soul-ja, hongdae for the win!!!,
Anthony & Reuben, Danial(Doc orc) & Samuel Tan(Sam),
Team JC, pSyk x Jack, Engineered Pops,
AC & Josh, B.O.O.M. Brothers Of Funk,
Then You Suffer, Ryu & Lesner,
Flair Brothers, Airwalkers, Lost & Found v3,
MaD, Rebel, L.A, Red Line, DoubleBlue,
I'm Grooving It! , Bojangles, New IC, Too Hype,
2 A.M, White Kid and Stitch, Jas & Bun, J.A.B,
Up2u, Hip Hooray, Jeannie & Jaye, REPRESENT,
Running Ben's Got Fonky Beet, Groovy Aggression,
WASA, Funk Trouble, A.N.T.M (ain't no tough musclemen),
Course in 2 Crew, Locked Up, Lockers A.D. Left2Lock,
Y2K, Raving Rabbids, Sunset Alleycats, Lock Out Loud,
aka Allen, aka Terence Tan, aka Edison Cheng, Marzipan,
KK, aka Nick Fai, Me.L, Charles Li, Andee, Justin Peng,
Mianbao, Lem, Baoxin, Limin, aka Samuel Lee, aka SHA,
aka NicoleClaire, aka Zee, aka Winnie Wong,
aka ELKE, aka Willy Ong , aka Michael, Machi,aka Trinity,
aka Tappy and Ti - Max,
Holy smack. That's a lot. For most of these entrants, it was their first time to come to Floor The Love and for a few, it was even their first time to Singapore. Big shout out to Lion T and VFOX poppers from Vietnam for coming all the way down here and to Super Snipers straight out of Jakarta too! And to Doug Lee Funk who flew in from Hong Kong for the jam! And my man Marcus from San Diego via Seoul!
Supersnipers (Indo) , DougLee Funk (HK), Kin and Mulder and Marcus (US) plus team Vietnam.
Ara, 1G, Ra, Jrong, Dong Woo and Bangster from Korea.
People from different parts of the world have different interpretations to the same dance. What was really valuable for people at this FTL was the variety of dancers from all kinds of scenes, up and coming ones like HK and Hanoi to more established ones like San Diego and Seoul. Everyone brought something forward to the floor and when they finished their battle or finished watching a showcase, I think most people took away something valuable from the floor as well.
Next Level Crew (Korea) Opening Showcase
AKA Ra, 1G, Jrong and Jinu put together this show to open Floor The Love. I think it's very soulful.
VFox and Lion-T from Vietnam Guest Show
It was the first time for VFox to come to Singapore, they are part of Big Toe Crew which is a bboy team that has been to Singapore before. When they contacted me about coming to FTL, they asked if they could do a guest show to share their dance with FTLers and to represent Vietnam popping and house. I said 'Sure, go ahead!' and here is the result.
During the break time between battles, Ben aka Psyk from Singapore Got Dance managed to capture some of the House circle at the event. I was too busy running around doing stuff to notice actually, but I'm glad Ben got it down - Singapore's first House circles and it was so international as well.
Battles
We had 16 Popping, Hip Hop teams, 8 Locking teams and 16 House/Waack dancers for this year's FTL. With Mulder spinning for Hip Hop, Popping and Locking and Yoshi spinning House, I think that the level of performance that came out of everyone was so high.
These are some of my favourites, but there are so many on youtube now, just search "Floor The Love 2010"
Scratch Marcs (SG) vs Dong Woo and 1G (Korea)
One of my favourite battles of the night.
1G (Korea) vs Trinity (Malaysia)
1G has got some muhfugging swagger. Trinity brought it hard too, I like her character.
But this video is my favourite video of Floor The Love 2010, it was made by David "stickman" who was Hip Hop Champion for Floor The Love 2007. It's so cool!
Days of Future Past.
When things finish, people always think about the beginning. As I was writing this reflection on Floor The Love, I began to think about the previous Floor The Love events and the progress the scene has gone through in the last three years.
For you guys who don't know, the first FTL battle event was in 2007 (but actually, there were 2 Floor The Love events previous to those that weren't battle events~ if you deep in the streets and you can tell me what they were, email me and I will give you a Floor The Love 2010 Towel!)
Floor The Love has hopefully inspired some dancers to freestyle, create and experience streetdance outside choreography. Choreography is dope, well written routines with a combination of technical ability and soul is always tight, but sometimes, you just have to listen to music and use your soul to move.
"Tribute to Floor The Love '10 and every single funky soul who came down.
This image sort of appeared in my mind after ftl when we were all interrogating aka kin. He was talking about dancing with feel, how dance should come from the heart, not the brain. He pointed to the speaker, then to his ear, then out from the other ear and made that 'X' sign with his hands. he did it again, pointing from the speaker, to his ear, then his heart, then spread his hands out to his body.
Inspired, i got home and created this as a small reminder to all, as much as to myself, to dance with my heart. Probably not as good as anything on photoshop, but still sincerely hope that everyone can understand what the picture means.
Speakers --> Ears --> Heart --> Body. "
I'm glad FTL is giving people the chance to exchange ideas with each other.
Anyways, like I was saying, when you reach the end, you invariably think about the beginning. And this FTL made me think that because especially of how Jinu, one of the judges from Floor The Love 2007 came back as a battle guest in 2010, everything has come by in a full circle. He's one of my closest friends in Seoul and for him to come down to support my jam by getting his own ticket for him and his gf really says something about him. What a guy~ ^^
Jinu, Chris and Cho Rong, before Jinu left on the Monday after FTL.
And, what a girl~! Waacking Jina, another judge from Floor The Love 2007 is coming back to Singapore as well~!~!
Jasmine and Jina at FTL 2007
She is one of my best friends in Korea and gave an intense solo waacking judge showcase at Floor The Love 2007. I think we held the first waacking workshops in Singapore way back in 2007 I think it was the first waacking solo performance in Singapore ever. Waacking Jina has been a member of Dream Girls Korea (with Princess 1G), Next Level Crew (with Ra, J-Rong, Jinu) and is now a senior member at Funky Lia's Insane Brain studio and Lockdarina, Korea's all star female streetdance team in Seoul.
She was really excited to share Waacking and Girls Hip Hop in Singapore (with the help of our translator Youn Mi) especially because it was her first time outside of Korea. Yes, she had to make a passport to get ready to come to Floor The Love 2007!
Since then, she has lived in New York, Japan and has been travelling a lot. I guess Singapore gave her the travel bug.
Since then, she has lived in New York, Japan and has been travelling a lot. I guess Singapore gave her the travel bug.
Jina with Dream Girls
Black and White from left to right,
Kyoung Mi, 1G, Yu Jin, Jina and Eun Ju
Colour photo from left to right
1G, Yu Jin, Jina, Eun JU and Kyoung Mi.
Black and White from left to right,
Kyoung Mi, 1G, Yu Jin, Jina and Eun Ju
Colour photo from left to right
1G, Yu Jin, Jina, Eun JU and Kyoung Mi.
Waackin' Jina solo Judge Show in Busan
Waackin Jina's workshops are on the 14th March at Music Garage Studios (the same place 1Gs workshops were) It's only $25 a pop. Register at sien_michelle@hotmail.com
The guy in the picture is my man Youngster of Woo Fam in Korea. Woo Fam is one crazy Krump crew. If you keep your mind open and see real Krump live once (and not that b.s .Krump that was floating around Singapore a few years ago. You know who I'm talking about) shit will make you say daaayyaaamm.
I normally don't plug peoples workshops on my blog, but damn, this is a good opportunity to learn high level Waacking and Krump from some phenomenal dancers. Waackin' Jina and Woo Fam Youngster in Singapore?! That is unbelievable.
FTL 2010 Results
Popping: Scratch Marcs
House: Jinu, Korea
Hip Hop: Neuron Crew, Korea
Locking: Y2K, Singpore
Judges: aka Kin, aka Ra
DJ Mulder and DJ Yoshi
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History of Floor The Love -
As I was finishing the reflections on FTL 2010, I thought I would continue and blog about the previous FTL jams because some people were asking me about FTL this year. So, presenting to you...History of Floor The Love.
I normally don't plug peoples workshops on my blog, but damn, this is a good opportunity to learn high level Waacking and Krump from some phenomenal dancers. Waackin' Jina and Woo Fam Youngster in Singapore?! That is unbelievable.
FTL 2010 Results
Popping: Scratch Marcs
House: Jinu, Korea
Hip Hop: Neuron Crew, Korea
Locking: Y2K, Singpore
Judges: aka Kin, aka Ra
DJ Mulder and DJ Yoshi
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History of Floor The Love -
As I was finishing the reflections on FTL 2010, I thought I would continue and blog about the previous FTL jams because some people were asking me about FTL this year. So, presenting to you...History of Floor The Love.
FTL 2007
When I look back at the past, at FTL 2007, it was a really simple and small jam. FTL came about quite by accident to tell the truth. Back in 2007, I had been working in Seoul for 2 years and I was looking forward to going to Singapore for a week break. My friend Freestyle Ali wanted to come too, cuz he had only ever been out of Korea once (for a competition in Osaka). So I thought, cool, we'll run some workshops and have fun for a week.
Then, House Jinu and Waacking Jina wanted to come too, so I thought..'Aite! Let's all do workshops and chill in Singapore for a week! While we here....why not put on a jam as well?' I used to throw bboy jams in Australia way back in the day, let's do a jam in Singapore! 2 vs 2 Hip Hop, Popping, Locking and 1vs1 Breaking!' It was literally, that level of preparation. Hahah.
I spammed 800 people on Friendster (haha, remember that? lol) with my event video for Floor The Love and the above flyer. It took a freaking long time to manually do that people.
I remember reading up on the rules for a lot of Singapore Competitions and they were like "Originality 10%, Costumes 20%, Stage Presence 15%..." so i thought I better do one as well.
Thus, the notorious Floor The Love Judging Criteria was born;
Costumes 0%
Makeup 0%
Crowd Response 0%
Choreography 0%
Rhythm and Timing 100%
Some dancers came up to me after the event was over and told me that they came to the event because they were impressed with the judging criteria.
And so, FTL 2007 happened at People's Association Oboxx Studio at Kallang and it was the boomz yo. The lineup was House Jinu, Freestyle Ali, Waackin' Jina and me. FTL 2007 had 100 spectators, 3 Hip Hop entries, 4 Locking entries, 8 Popping entries and 20 bboys. We had to get one more Hip Hop team from the audience on the day before we could start! lol ^^
Here is a very rare photo montage of one my all time favourite FTL competitors Jasmine Yap with us at FTL 2007. Thanks Jasmine, u know, we didn't even have a camera that day!
There was such a sense of purity at that event, it was everybody's first time to enter a tournament battle competition, everyone was new and everybody was positive. Even though I only had CDs and no mic (shouting and announcing the whole damn day), I had a good day. After the event was over, a lot of people said to me "Great jam, it was mad, you have to do it again next year!'
A real dope jam in my opinion doesn't need a big stage, lighting, makeup, cameras, a huge audience or anything like that. If you and your friends can go and dance to good music and make some new friends while you're there, that's all you need. Actually...a microphone would be good too.
Floor The Love 2007 Popping Finals, Saru 80 vs W.A.V.E.
After FTL, we had some workshops at Natasha Studios, at Claymore Rd downtown. It was good, it was our first time to be able to chill with Singapore dancers and hang out together. If you look at the pics carefully, I think you can recognize a lot of people!
In Freestyle Ali's popping workshop, he would tape the students doing a freestyle solo in class and play it back for them afterwards and show them what they needed to improve on. Public embarrassment is a time honoured old school Korean method of learning. ^^ But everyone got a lot out of it and Ali could give exact insights into every student's ability.
House Jinu had House and Hip Hop classes and if he looks familiar, that is because he is the same Jinu who entered Floor The Love 2010 in House and Hip Hop categories. Only now, his hair is really short.
Jinu: My hair is short now.
Jinu had one of the first house workshops in Singapore (previously, Jay-1 from NY Crew had a house workshop at Youth Park) and also one of the first Hip Hop classes that had an emphasis on the beat (as opposed to words - yeah, that's right, I said it).
When he came as battle guest at this year's FTL, he said that he couldn't believe that the event had got so big and the dancers had changed so much. It's only been 29 months since he came as a judge at FTL 2007 and there were mad numbers of House dancers and Hip Hop teams. 29 months... it doesn't sound like that long ago when you put it like that.
Waacking Jina's solo judge performance at Floor The Love 2007 was intense.She got it so bad, she's even coming back to Singapore this month! See above for details.
The Floor The Love 2007 lineup. Jinu, Waacking Jina, Angel, Chris and Freestyle Ali.
Locking Winner: Saru 80
Hip Hop Winner: Bearsticks 10
Breking Winner: Mahmud, RF, EG
Judges: Freestyle Ali, House Jinu and Waackin' JIna
Floor The Love 2008
This year, Bboy Larry of Natasha Studios hooked KSDP up with Eurhythmix, the dance club at Singapore Management University and we had a much bigger turn out than the year previous. 40 bboy entries, 22 Hip Hop teams, 21 Popping teams and 12 Locking Teams..we had to have prelims! I couldn't believe how many people came to the event. I'm lucky I hired a microphone that year. ^^
AKA Ra and Freestyle Ali were judges for FTL 2008. And obviously,they thought someone on the left won.
Locking category was the stand out side for me, because So Funky from Taiwan decided to come down and represent at the competition. It was the first time that experienced streetdancers came to Singapore to share their dance in a battle tournament and everyone learned a lot. So Funky Elmo and Yao Bai can really get down. But, Lion City Lockers' Sunset Alleycats Fong and Chunky were so funky, the judges had to ask for an extra round before they gave it to Taiwan. Lion City is strong!
Wow, I sounded so excited on the video. But, it was an exciting finals, all the finals were that year I remember. But~ the footage was lost, thanks to someone misplacing the tapes, so I only have a handful of footage for FTL 08 which actually bums me out quite a bit.
The memory is there though and it's a good one. I would say that this event is where the scene started to really come together and people started developing their ears and styles for freestyling and battling. A lot more combo tags than the first FTL, people were 'saving routines' for critical moments, but most of all people genuinely had fun at SMU. Such a cool day! ^^
Lion City Lockers gave the opening show for FTL, choreographed by Ceekay. Super Funky.
Locking Winner: So Funky, Taiwan
Hip Hop Winner: An and Hei, Singapore
Popping Winner: Strobin MArchine
Breaking Winner: Oneski, Singapore
Judges: Freestyle Ali and AKA Ra.
0 comments: Responses to “ Floor The Love (part two) History and the Future ”