hankyoreh

South Korea's "B-boy" dancing team Gambler placed first in a competition in the United States, the country where the dance style originated.

B-boy means "breakdancing-boy," but the style is different from '80s breakdancing in that it fuses traditional moves with a more modern hip-hop style.

Gambler won the B-Boy Hodown dance competition, held in Houston, Texas on December 3 (Korean time), defeating the Vicious Turkeys Crew, last year's champions. Gambler had previously garnered the top prize at the Battle of The Year in Germany, the UK B-Boy Championship in Britain in 2004, and the Battled Mash in France in 2005, the British and German competitions representing two of the four top world competitions in the genre.

The B-Boy Hodown competition began accepting international competitors last year. So far, U.S. teams have dominated the competition. Gambler won the top award by defeating about 30 teams from the U.S., France, Canada, Mexico, and Denmark. Choi Ji-hun, of Gambler's management agency, said, "It's meaningful that Gambler won the competition upon its first invitation, showing South Korean B-boys' world-class capability."

So far, South Korean B-boy teams have shown their chops at various international competitions. At Germany's Battle of The Year, South Korean teams Gambler, Visual Shock, Expression, and Last for One picked up awards between 2001 and 2005. In October this year, Last for One and Drifters won second and third place awards at the German competition.

The B-boy dance scene is one of South Korea's new cultural phenomenons. Currently, about eight teams, including Gambler, Last for One, Drifters, Extreme, Maximum Crew, Rivers, and Expression, represent the cream of the crop of Korean B-boys. Including amateurs, the number of teams reaches about 20, with the number of B-boys in South Korea estimated at about 3,000, largely comprised of high school and university students.

"In the 1990s, B-boys had a negative reputation for being thuggish. But B-boy dancing caught on after 2000, when local teams won at international competitions," said Lee Yong-hi of the B-Boy Association. "Companies and viewers alike are paying attention to B-boys."

After returning home on December 5, Gambler will embark on a performance tour to Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Mongolia. Ahead of this, Gambler signed a 100-million won (US$100,000) contract to become commercial models for Korea’s Kookmin Bank. They were also invited to perform in Beijing on the eve of the 2008 Olympics.

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