Breakdancing in Russia
(moscowtimes.ru) Andrei, aka B-Boy Kolyuchy, has been dancing since the mid-1980s. Back then hip-hop music and break dancing videos were accessible only to two types of people: diplomats returning from abroad and Ulitsa Arbat souvenir or currency peddlers who were in direct contact with foreign tourists.
“There were events three to four times a year back then, mostly in the Baltic states,” Andrei said. Enthusiastic Soviet teens practiced in front of lacquered wardrobes in their parents’ bedrooms and went to events that were sponsored by Pioneer organizations.
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BPeople has since opened its own dancing school, and most members have day jobs: Lena is a doctor and mother of three children. Most dancers recognize that making a living on break dancing alone is not possible in Russia.
The central hangout spot was, and still is, Ulitsa Arbat.
As Pioneer organizations fizzled after perestroika, some people thought it was time to say goodbye to break dancing. “After the putsch, people got together on Arbat, had a drink in remembrance of break dancing, and buried a white glove somewhere in the neighborhood,” Lena said.
Although Lena said only about a dozen people were break dancing in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the mid-’90s, they continued to get together on the Arbat and mingled with other Old Arbat regulars. Until a local resident allowed dancers to hook up their boombox to the electrical outlet in her ground-floor apartment, one breaker would wrap his fingers with electrical tape and cut into the building’s exterior electric wires to get the music going, Lena said.
The hospitable Arbat resident was eventually featured in a 1996 break-dancing music video “Vy khoteli party? Ne vopros, nate!” (You wanted a party? No problem, here it is!) that boosted interest in the dance to a new level. Most Russian break-dancers started after they were awed by the jerky clip that featured dancers from both capitals showing off their moves to the approval of bespectacled Zora Mikhailovna. Mark of the crew AlltheMost is one of them.
“Break dancing, especially the footwork, is based on Russian folk dance,” he said, “in terms of energy and character, some of the dance’s roots are in Russia.” (more…)
I just did a quick search on YouTube for Russian breakdance videos. Yep, it’s pretty big over there. Little scared of most of what I saw, but (gulp!), its okay. Here is a half-decent sample I was able to find (I dunno, I guess the music is throwing me off).
Oh well, its your world, baby! Rock it however you wish.
