Hip-hop competitions merged for first time

As the stage lights brighten, the bass begins to drop – softly at first, then louder, echoing off the UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center walls. Onstage, the dancers embody the beat through their dynamic performances. Head spins, flips and dance movements demand the audience’s full attention and the crews compete for hip-hop glory.

This is not Spring Sing. It is BreakLA x Battle Royale, the largest hip-hop competition to be held at UCLA.

UCLA’s Street Dance Collective and Omega Sigma Tau will host BreakLA x Battle Royale on Friday at LATC, combining BreakLA’s break-dancing competition with Battle Royale’s UCLA dance crew competition for the first time. Throughout the event, YouTube dance sensations will entertain the crowd between performances, and an international break-dancing crew will compete in the BreakLA competition.

Last year, BreakLA was created as a B-Boying competition. However, Battle Royale has been a tradition for UCLA’s dance crews for the past six years. This year, Alex Zai, fourth-year chemical engineering student and senior executive producer of BreakLA x Battle Royale, said he wanted to leave a legacy at UCLA before graduation by combining the two together.

“I got inspired after watching Spring Sing. Right now I want to build a reputation for (BreakLA x Battle Royale) and eventually make it into a self-sustaining event,” Zai said.

While Zai said he has high hopes for the future, alumnus and executive producer Albert Aparicio said he is focusing on improving the event and making it a success this year. To do so, he said the producers are addressing the audience’s major concerns. Aparicio said that BreakLA was held in Ackerman Grand Ballroom last year and featured a barricaded stage at ground level, where the audience was forced to crowd around to see the action.

“Last year at (BreakLA) viewing was very obstructed, but LATC’s aerial view solves that,” Aparicio said.

Like BreakLA, Zai said this year’s event will also fix previous issues with Battle Royale. Although Battle Royale has been a huge success as an intimate competition at Los Angeles nightclubs between the four main UCLA hip-hop crews – ACA Hip Hop, NSU Modern, Samahang Modern and VSU Modern – Zai said transportation has always been an issue.

“If it’s going to be a UCLA dance competition, host it at home and make it convenient for students to come,” Zai said.

Despite the improvements being made this year, the executive producers said their main concern is filling up the more than 5,000 seats at the LATC. Zai said in the past, the events have had crowds predominantly composed of UCLA dancers or members of the Los Angeles dance community. Zai said that last year the audiences at BreakLA and Battle Royale overlapped, so this year the challenge will be to get non-dancers to attend.

Komo Yamashita, a third-year international development studies student and Street Dance Collective member, said the guest performers will be a treat for the dancers in the audience. However, TV stars – like D-Trix from “America’s Best Dance Crew” – should also help attract the greater UCLA community.

“If you really aren’t aware of the caliber of these crews, you might just think it’s just another hip-hop event,” Yamashita said. “But it’s the equivalent of seeing the most skilled DJ in the world.”

In addition to D-Trix, BreakLA x Battle Royale will feature Poreotix from “America’s Best Dance Crew” and YouTube sensation Mike Song as well as world-renowned Korean B-Boys Jinjo Crew.

“We’re bringing in really dope B-Boy crews so that people can be exposed to something they usually don’t see,” Zai said. “Jinjo Crew hardly ever comes to the U.S., so it’s rare to see them compete live.”

With such high-caliber performers, Aparicio said the event will not only inspire fellow dancers, but also encourage a lot of people to take part in the dance community.

“Just to see that our UCLA dance crews are affiliated with people like Mike Song I think can definitely spark a lot of interest,” Aparicio said.

Unlike Spring Sing – which has a campuswide demand – Zai said BreakLA x Battle Royale has not had the time to create a brand within students’ minds. However, Yamashita said he expects a positive reaction from the UCLA community.

“The reaction is going to be huge,” Yamashita said. “If these crews can’t impress the student body, I don’t know what can.”