The Impact Of KungFu Movies On Bboying - by Eric pellerin

Some of you may have already read this, it has been posted all over the net, and is in fact quite old (from 2003 to be exact).

Back in the mid-to-late 1970s, the earliest power moves of Breaking were created by B-Boy masters living in New York City. One of the biggest influences on the creation of moves like the "headspin" and the "windmill" was the Hong Kong kung fu movie. B-boys watched the amazing physical abilities of their favourite kung fu actors in films by Shaw Brothers, Seasonal Films, and Golden Harvest Studios. They imitated and expanded upon the ritualised combat they saw in these films, adding new moves to their dance.

These films were seen in the US, but only in a limited number of theatres in major cities. In the book Kung Fu: Cinema of Vengeance (1974), Verina Glaser said, "The basis for the success of the kung fu films in the States was the same ghetto audience that carried the wave of ‘black’ Hollywood action films a year or so previously." In New York City, the two places to see kung fu movies were 42nd Street and Chinatown. Kung fu movies placed the majority of importance on the action, and less time on character development and production values seen in Hollywood films.

There was a big parallel between Hong Kong and NYC. Hong Kong and New York were both densely populated, with a large divide between the rich and the poor. Both cities had high crime rates and tough ghettos. These films were made as escapist fantasies for the people of Hong Kong, and they ended up serving the same purpose for the inner city youth in the United States. Ken Swift said "Every kung fu movie was like styles, people got they ass whipped, and they went back and got revenge, and it was cool, and that was like something maybe we saw this as kids in the hood, as something we dealt with every day in our lives, you know what I’m saying, dealing with the way we had to live, in school and at home."

The year was 1971 and America got its first taste of the exciting and dance-like choreography of Hong Kong martial arts films with the Shaw Brothers production King Boxer (AKA Five Fingers of Death) starring Lo Lieh. At this time, Hip-Hop as we know it did not exist. Street gangs like the Black Spades and the Savage Skulls fought each other in the streets of the Bronx for control of turf. Eventually, the pre-rumble dance of these gangs would be incorporated into the Hip-Hop dance known as Up-Rocking. Trac 2 of Starchild la Rock, a legendary b-boy crew from the seventies, related a story about the gang origins of Up-Rocking. He said that the night before a rumble, the gang leaders had a dance off with each other, one on one. This let everyone in the area know who was going to be involved in the real deal the next day, and anyone else should stay out of the way.

During the time that street gangs in the Bronx were at their peak, kung fu movies became enormously popular in America. After Five Fingers of Death, the films of Bruce Lee were released to great success. The popularity of Lee and his films created a demand for kung fu movies in the United States. Bruce Lee was the most popular kung fu star in the world, and Golden Harvest became the second major studio in Hong Kong. Along with the Shaw Bros. they produced the vast majority of martial arts films made in the British colony. After the death of Bruce Lee in 1973, Hong Kong produced kung fu films that tended to be formulaic until Lau Kar-leung began directing in 1975. He showcased authentic kung fu techniques with films like Challenge of the Masters, Executioners of Shaolin, and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (AKA Master Killer).

While Lau Kar-leung was directing his debut film Spiritual Boxer, Hong Kong street gangs in New York City were giving way to a more positive counterpart known as crews. Many of the gangs' former members turned to dancing and block parties as an outlet for their energy. The most instrumental person in this change was former gang member turned DJ, Afrika Bambatta.

Instead of fighting each other in the street, the B-Boy crews like Starchild La Rock and Rock Steady Crew battled each other with their dance, known as b-boying, breaking, or rocking. Like rival Clans seen in kung fu movies, B-Boys would test each other to see whose style was the best. On the jade screen it was Snake Fist vs. Eagle Claw or Shaolin vs. Wu Tang. On the streets it was the Disco kids vs. Starchild La Rock or Rock Steady Crew vs. the Floormasters. With competition heating up, the next generation of B-Boys took inspiration from different sources to up the ante. According to Trac 2, Latinos added their own flavor to top-rocking, and footwork. He said in 1978 the foundation for modern B-Boy power moves were laid down.

Around the same time in 1978, filmmakers in Hong Kong were revitalizing the kung fu film with sub-genres like kung fu comedy. These movies accentuated more acrobatic movement in their choreography, influenced by the actors and directors training in Peking Opera. Yuen Wo-ping, Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung all graduated from sifu Yu Jim-yuen’s Peking Opera school and went on to make some of the late seventies' most dynamic films like Snake In the Eagles Shadow and Knockabout.

Going to see kung fu movies on 42nd St. became a ritual for the youth of New York City. B-Boys especially took to the films, with their physically dynamic choreography, which was closer to dance than actual combat. Bruce Lee in real life was a Latin dancer. He was the Hong Kong Crown Colony Cha-Cha champion in 1958. In his movies, he does a form of footwork that is very similar to top rocking. While serious filmgoers denounced kung fu films, the B-Boys took to the films as their own. Ken Swift explains, "42nd St. was like 'wow!', these are subtitled, they’re putting these English voices over, these movies aren’t even made in the States, that’s even more like ’wow!,' you feel like you’re really a part of something."

The DJ’s, MC’s, B-Boy’s, and graffiti artists would go to see these films together, and it was a participatory experience. They would get so hyped up during the film that they would argue and fight with each other during the film.

After watching the movie, the B-Boys would leave the theater hyped off the energy they saw on the screen from movies like Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Mystery of Chess Boxing, Crippled Masters and many more. Trac 2 and his brother Danny said that kung fu movies are a fever you catch. After seeing martial arts on the screen, they wanted to try it themselves. Some early B-Boys studied martial arts. Trac 2 took Shotokan Karate for two years. He said that a lot of the early B-Boys studied karate. Bust most of them just imitated the movements they saw without any formal training. As Ken Swift states, "Realistically, [we] leave the theatre and just want to kick the shit out of people. I mean we would walk uptown and sometimes just kick somebody… You know, we would do a demo on somebody, and start doing exactly what we saw in the movie, not knowing what we were doing, but just imitating it to the max."

Besides just imitating the kung fu by fighting each other with a Mantis Fist, Monkey style, or Crane style, the kung fu started to find its way into the dance. B-boy KWON of Swift Kids said, "As far as the martial arts goes, that gave a lot of b-boys ideas as far as doing things on the floor and expanding their ideas for movement and bringing out their character. "B-Boys appropriated visually dynamic movements they saw on the screen, and made them their own. The fight scenes in kung fu films were choreographed following a specific rhythm between the performers. The kung fu actors had to follow each other’s movements like dancers. You can see fight scenes being choreographed like this in Jackie Chan: My Stunts.

It was only natural that B-Boys would be attracted to these movements that were close to what they were doing already. Lil’ Lep explained how the kung fu movies directly effected the dance and his crew, the New York City Breakers. "Kung fu movies were important, because we learned from them. You know Flip (Flip Rock AKA Bobby Potts), he does a lot of flips, and they do a lot of flips in kung fu movies. You know my man Chino (AKA Action), he does a lot of flips too. My thing is my swipes, headspins."

B-Boys would take certain movements they saw in the kung fu films and work them into the dance. Lep brought his own innovation to the headspin. Instead of doing it from a standstill position, he went into the headspin from footwork. He calls this the pencil headspin. In the movies Drunken Master, Killer Army, and Shaolin Temple there are moves when an actor will spin on his head ½ or a whole rotation. Ras, AKA Ray from Floormaster Dancers ( Brooklyn ) said, "Kung fu played a part in my life. You see the styles they had, they spin on their heads, like b-boying, they had windmills, they were doing the helicopter, which is the swipe. We looked at these things, we used it as dance. Ray learned Aikido in the marines, and loved the way he could manipulate an opponent’s body weight with the Japanese art. It is hard to say if the influence was always direct, or if it happened because of repeated viewing of similar movements and was appropriated subconsciously.

One thing that Ken, Trac, and Lep all brought up when asked how the films influenced them was routines. The elaborate choreography of Hong Kong martial arts movies inspired the B-Boys to choreograph their own routines with two or more dancers. In kung fu movies and B-Boy routines, creativity and constant practice is what makes the choreography. I asked Lep about the choreography he was involved with in the New York City Breakers. "If we didn’t’t do it right, we would have to do it over and over until we got it right, you know, that’s part of being a professional dancer."

The B-Boys that started out imitating their heroes on the big screen eventually got to be in movies themselves, performing their own footwork, kicks and flips in films like Flashdance, Wildstyle, and Beatstreet. Beatstreet features the rivalry between RSC and NYCB prominently in the story line. Kuriaki is doing footwork, and Powerful Pexter says, "You’re biters, all you’re homeboys are biters." Kuriaki responds, "I ain’t never stole no moves from you, your moves ain’t’ worth to be bit, so what’s up with that, punk?" After this exchange of verbal confrontation, the two crews agree to battle each other at the Roxy.

Ken Swift talked about going to Japan to promote Wildstyle on the Wildstyle tour in 1982,"We took Japan by storm, I think they were shook, that movie Wildstyle, was like hard, rugged, rough Bronx. They show burnt buildings, the whole shit, and I think these people were just blown away by this shit that came from those conditions."

Ken was amazed that in Japan , American culture had already impressed the Japanese in a big way. He saw 20 Japanese Elvis impersonators where they were previewing the movie. He saw Japanese rock groups including a Japanese Kiss. While the Japanese were emulating American culture, American youth was appropriating from Asian culture, and showing the result to an Asian audience for the first time. Ken Swift, "We had to really show the influence of kung fu, martial arts, of kung fu movies in a dance piece, when we went to the Akasaka blitz, in Tokyo , and be in front of Asians, that was strange. We were like, ‘Yo, we’re inspired by these people.’ It was strange, we were concerned, we’re like, ‘how are they going to react to this.’ I don’t know, the audiences are funny, they can be quiet as hell through the whole show and then at the end, just (claps), and you’re like ‘OK, OK’, you thought they hated it. Some of the audiences are very reserved, everybody really enjoyed it.

After Beatstreet B-Boying, or Breakdancing as it was known to the general public, became a nationwide phenomenon. Two West Coast movies were released, Breakin’, and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo that featured popping and locking and some b-boying. These movies were produced by Golan Globus, who made movies like Ninja 3: The Domination and later Bloodsport with Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme has a cameo in Breakin’ as a crowd member on the outside of the circle.

B-Boying’s popularity soared and "how to" books and records were released. The dance was exploited and mass marketed for two years, and became the "in" thing. Then in 1985, almost everyone stopped dancing. B-Boying was burnt out from overexposure. Diehard B-Boys kept dancing, but to the rest of the country it was considered over. Co-incidentally, around the same time, production on traditional kung fu movies ceased in Hong Kong in favour of modern thrillers and comedies. One of the new films was a Breakdance comedy directed directed by Yuen Wo-ping, Mismatched Couples starring Donnie Yen. You can see the influence American culture had on HK at the time. The moves that were inspired by HK cinema made their way back into the genre they came from in their American B-Boy form. B-Boying also shows up in Drunken Tai Chi and I Will Finally Knock You Down Dad, two of the last traditional kung fu films produced in the 80's.

In the early 90s B-Boying and the traditional kung fu film both made a comeback. The movie that brought the kung fu film back was Tsui Hark’s Once Upon a Time in China starring Jet Li. The new wave of kung fu films following the success of this film featured different styles of camera angles and editing. The choreography was enhanced with wirework, which allowed characters to fly. This style was previously seen mostly in swordplay films.

While directors in HK were bringing the kung fu film back, RSC came together with the Rhythm Technicians and Magnificent Force to form Ghettoriginal. This unit produced and performed dance theater about their experiences in B-Boying. One production they performed was Shaolin Temple Hip-Hop that was part of the play Jam on the Groove in 1996.

Shaolin Temple Hip-Hop was a piece that Ghettoriginal put together not to educate people, but as Ken Swift said "It was a bug out skit, lets have fun with our inspiration, one of our favorite inspirations, as B-Boys, that meant so much to us coming up. "They played with the themes in kung fu movies and recreated on stage what might happen in a kung fu film."

The main character, Flo-Master (who is a Taekwondo stylist and has studied jiu-jitsu and kickboxing) wants to be like Jackie Chan. He falls asleep while watching a kung fu movie in a theater, and wakes up in his dream. In the dream he is a wanderer.

Kung fu movies continued to directly inspire B-Boys in the 90s. Ken Swift formed his own chapter of Rock Steady in 1996, RSC Seven Grandmasters, based on the Joseph Kuo movie 7 Grandmasters. RSC Seven Grandmasters was a battle clique. Ken Swift, "And that was the elite unit of Rock Steady that was all about win, lose, or draw, battling anybody, going out there to war, and it had the same concept as Seven Grandmasters, going all over the country, doing different styles, fighting and challenging, that’s a little what the movie was about."

RSC Seven Grandmasters were Ken Swift, Honey Rockwell, Mr. Wiggles, Flo-Master, Gizmo, Orko, and Katsu. Representing in Europe were Bruce Wayne and Tony Zoom. Pending to get in at the time were Remind and Crumbs (SEC) and Wicket (Ren). All the members had to train in the other members' styles and strong points. Kung Fu and B-Boying have many different styles. Each member of the Seven Grandmasters was an expert in their particular style of B-Boying. Trac 2 told me that B-Boying has never been about an individual, but partners and crews. B-Boys need others to inspire them to advance their skill level and creativity.

The movie 7 Grandmasters also inspired Ken Swift to create a new move. "In the movie, the brother was on the floor, and he grabbed his hands and he pulled and he slid on his butt, and he kicked this dude, I have a forearm glide that I do, called ‘flowing downstream’ that was inspired by the film."

On March 24, 2001 Koncrete Jungle’s 1st Wu-Shu and B.Boy/B.Girl Dance Challenge was held. The event was presented by the American Wu-Shu Society and Ken Swift Productions. Wu-Shu is the style of martial art practiced by Jet Li. One of Jet Li’s contemporaries from the Zhejiang Wu-Shu professional team, Hu Jianqiang, performed at the event. Master Hu was in Shaolin Temple and Kids from Shaolin.

There was an informal battle between some of the B-Boys and Wu-Shu athletes on the carpet. They were showing each other their skill in acrobatics, and trying to outdo each other. Also, some of the Wu-Shu athletes jumped into the circle to dance. One of the Wu-Shu athletes, Tsuyoshi Kaseda, entered the B-Boy competition and showed everyone his distinctive style. With events like this one, B-Boys and martial artists can exchange ideas and inspire each other in person.

Kung fu films are enjoying a renaissance on the big screen in America. The Chinese language film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee won four Oscars at the Academy Awards and was awarded praise by both critics and fans. B-Boying has made a comeback appearing in numerous videos. Huge martial arts productions are coming to American movie theaters. Lau Kar-leung’s Drunken Monkey is a throwback to the kung fu films of the '70s. Jet Li and Jackie Chan both have careers in Hollywood. Li's Cradle to the Grave co-stars DMX. Hip Hop now directly influences an art form it was inspired by. Kung fu films have been with B-Boying from the very beginning, since the street gangs watched the films on 42nd street. Kung fu movies will always be a part of hip hop culture.

Thx to Koreanroc.com