'Life of a B-Boy' is a hip-hop drama telling three break-dancer's stories of how they got into dancing. Rather than being 'oh my god my life was hard and then i danced and lo! all was well!' it was more like breakdancing was something that intruiged them, terrified them, and ultimately became their lives. They seemed to have been sucked into it rather than having a 'Hello Dolly' moment about it.
It was darker than I thought it would be. This is a good thing. I've seen my fair share of preachy vocation crap.And rather than focus on their evil parents, soul-sucking school-lives or bitchy girlfriends it focussed on their dancing and how it feels to be in 'the circle'.The circle is a single spotlight on the stage in which the performer dances. They were amazing and it's not just a case of 'I can't do that, therefore it is good'. It was more a case of them taking an art-form and streching it to it's limit so that it was spell-binding. I make it sound far more twee than it actually is.
The best part was that we sat in front of Jocelyn and Kirsty (who are twins) who love to express their reactions to things. Loudly.
Breakdancer: *spins on his head*
Jocelyn and Kirsty: BRRRRRRRAP!!
Breakdancer: *flips over in the air*
Jocelyn and Kirsty: OH MY GOD MAN! That is siiick!
Breakdancer: My Dad left us.
Jocelyn: WHAT?!LOL!
I love sitting near those two at shows. At 'Virgins', whenever someone swore, they'd kiss their teeth and say "That's not on man."
At the end, one of the dancers ('Steady'- he was lush) came on an introduced each of the dancers. They all had little smiles on their faces as they danced. They really are great. Finally I can understand my DJ Format CD ('Music for the Mature B-Boy').