Houston Breakin Scene | Bgirl City | Culture

It is hard to know where to begin, when speaking about our incredible experience in Houston, Texas at Bgirl City. Hopefully this post and these photos will capture the essence. I was flown out by the Bgirl City Team to judge the breaking battles during the hip hop event and to represent Tech Styles International (Bradford), making connections with bboys and bgirls and the local breakin scene. Houston is an amazing place full of culture, and you can feel the people have a strong identity and a great love for their city. I was told many times that Texans have their own ways compared to the rest of the USA, it is referred to as the Lone State. I could feel this was true and there were many similarities to Bradford in these respects. I definitely felt a connection with the way of life there and for such a big city it had a nice steady pace. The main differences I felt out there were the weather (which was fantastic, I will miss it a lot) and the scale of the city, everything is much bigger especially the roads (Freeways). All photos are captured on film using, vintage Minolta X-700. (Film Stocks; Porta 800, Ilford HP5 400 & Phoenix 400)

For the trip I was also joined by two dancers, Bgirl Labyrinth and Ammo from our crew, Clean North, who went to enter the 2v2 battle and to document the breakin scene and the Bgirl City weekend. Thankfully we had an amazing hometown host for the entire stay, which was none other than, Beast Boogie from the legendary Havikoro Crew. This was a major blessing as we stayed at his home and got the full Texas experience from start to finish, his hospitality was truly amazing. We have to give a massive shout out  to Beast Boogie as he really looked after us. From meeting his family to being taken around all the famous breakin/hip hop spots, it was fantastic.

We had a traditional Mexican meal, cooked by Beast Boogies family, which was incredible and learnt a lot about the history of breakin in Houston. Visiting the training sessions that have run for decades was a special experience, we could see there was a lot of respect and admiration for Beast Boogie from the local scene/community, which had built up over the years due to his dedication to breakin culture, being a teacher, performer, event organiser and member of two amazing crews Vicious Germz and Havikoro. I will always appreciate this trip and thank you once again Beast Boogie for everything, it was next level!

The city is full of people from different backgrounds, it seems that Texas is drawing a lot of people from around the world. The food was incredible, there was authentic cuisine but also Americanised fusions. We ate from traditional Taquerias to famous Texas BBQ and lots in-between, Cancun’s enchiladas were filling and homely, with refried beans, cheese and beef. Then a Horchata (cinnamon rice milk drink) on the side, it was all so tasty but not to be had before a battle haha. Although we usually eat healthy, we also had to try the famous hometown burger joint ‘Whataburger’ which has to be our new favourite. Patty melt’s are something I will miss in the UK for sure.

Taqueria Cancun

Bgirl City was such an inspiration and a refreshing event for me. To see all the positive energy and community coming together was amazing, this was definitely not a competition but a hip hop jam, with everyone giving their energy and time for meaningful exchanges in the cyphers, conversation, workshops and battles. They made a strong effort to value everyone who was present through holding panel discussions and offering 3 distinct workshops with prominent artists on the scene. Watching the award ceremony, honouring bgirls who made contributions to the event and scene was something special and everyone in the room was captivated.

I was also on the speakers panel and got a chance to talk about my journey as a dance, life in Bradford, the history of our scene, my inspirations and my views on the dance. It really was an amazing time and opened the way for people to come and talk with me throughout the weekend asking further questions and it allowed me to get to know them more also.

Being a judge is not easy and every time I represent as a judge, I treat it almost as if it’s a battle. I am ready, prepared, I cypher, warm up and get my head into the space. I know from years of battling most who enter put their heart and soul into the dance not just on the day but all year round. So we have to respect each dancer with fresh eyes and be present. I do feel judging is a large contributor to shaping the breakin scene in many ways, after an event, eyes are on the winners it builds reputation. It can unknowingly move the direction of the dance so it is important to make sure that decision is right. It needs to be towards the dancers who display the most style, passion, musicality, dynamics, flow, details, and overall skill, including many other factors.

I felt honoured to judge in a place with such a strong reputation for its bboys/bgirls. The over 40 battles were incredible and some of my crew even commented on how this held some of their favourite battles during the event. It was incredible to see these experienced veterans of the dance still looking like they were in their prime. I have been dancing for 24 years and am still a few years off 40, so I have admiration and respect to all who entered the battles, they were all inspiring and I pray I can continue to dance strong throughout my life.

Shoutout to Babygirl and the Bgirl City team for all the effort they put in and for creating a safe fun environment for the current and next generation of bboys and bgirls. Hip Hop was representing in full with Graff, DJs, MCs, there was even a hip hop flea market and poetry. The venue for the event was Bad Astronaut Brewery and it was great to see a local business supporting breakin culture, working together for the benefit of both. I do not see this often but it worked so well, I hope we can replicate this with local business’s in Bradford in the future with Tech Styles. The hip hop flea market was on another level with so many vendors, selling amazing new and vintage clothes, great food trucks and DJs were on playing throughout the whole day.

This trip was God’s blessing for sure and I am grateful for the work we are doing at Tech Styles International. I am grateful for the support of Arts Council England, which supports creativity and culture, allowing dancers like Labyrinth and Ammo to see the wider world of breakin and be able to bring the knowledge and skills back home. When we used to travel back in the day as young bboys, it was not easy and it took so much discipline saving up just enough to make it to events, not having enough for accommodation or proper food. It was very difficult and many events were not possible to visit at all. Sometimes this took up so much energy, we couldn’t even perform well when it came time to battle as we had worked so hard to get there. But Thank God, through the work at Tech Styles International, the new generation do not have to experience some of these hardships and they can better use that energy to progress in the dance, push the breakin community/scene and our city’s reputation forward. They can be happy, healthy representatives for our style, culture and tell the world who we are. Ammo’s wildcard invite to World Kidz Breaking Champion (Slovenia) whilst at Bgirl City is proof of this. The last year really has been a dream in so many ways, praise God.

Big shoutout to Trinity and N-tegrity, who joined us halfway through the trip and brought tons of energy and love. I know our Bradford bgirls loved spending time together for sure and the encouragement spurred them on in the battles too. It was great to see them represent so well. Shoutout to Asia One for being an inspirational character and encouraging in words and deeds. Big respect to Bboy Enrique from 3D crew for being a great presence. Big up also to Jay-Jay for being a great presence during our stay. Congratulations to all those who took the win in their categories and shoutout to all who entered, the passion and heart on the floor was amazing.

I could keep on writing more and more about the trip, it was amazing and so much was experienced in a short time. From my experience I would encourage anyone thinking of visiting Houston to do so, especially bboys, bgirls, hip hop heads or for the food alone. Definitely check out Bgirl City and thank you once again to the team for having me judge and sit on the discussion panel. I thank God, I got to experience it and I hope to visit again in the future. I will let the photos do the rest of the talking and hopefully from this post you will get a feeling for Bgirl City as an Event, Houston as a City the lifestyle and culture of breaking.

Shot with Minolta X-700. (Film Stocks; Porta 800, Ilford HP5 400 & Phoenix 400)