Breakdancing Wizardz turn up the heat

Auckland's breakdancing champions have their sights set on the international scene after being invited to perform in America. BERNADETTE RAE reports.

It's a long way to Philadelphia from West Auckland's Kelston Community Hall. But 14-year-old Sa Brown, his 17-year-old brother Andre, and friend and fellow b-boy Kieran Tamatoa have that city firmly in their sights.

The boys are the leading lights in the nine-strong breakdancing crew the Wicked Wizardz, and their plan to break into the hip-hop dance big-time began with the visit this year of Cool Heat Urban Beat.

The Wizardz, champions of the national breakdancing competition for the past two years, had passes to go backstage at the Aotea Centre after one of the Cool Heat Urban Beat shows in March.

"One of the guys asked us for a demonstration," says Sa Brown. "So I jumped in and did some of my moves."

Sa counts the "headspin," "double rocks" (spinning on the head with the body held at an angle)and "bowls" (a headspin performed in a crouching position) among his specialty moves.

And the professionals were impressed. An invitation was offered for three of the Wicked Wizardz' best dancers to join the Cool Heat cast on stage for their last Auckland performance.

"It was neat," they say of their 10 minutes in the limelight.

Now, the manager of the international touring company, Rennie Harris, has invited the boys to the International Hip-Hop Festival in June, offering free accommodation and entry to the week-long lineup of master classes with the world's best breakdancing exponents. The lads also have another opportunity to perform as cast members for Cool Heat Urban Beat.

The only obstacle in the boys' way is $11,248 needed for airfares for four - big sister and manager Tanya Brown will travel with them - and about $3000 for other costs including visas, passports and expenses once they get there.

Andre has a job in McDonald's but Sa and Kieran are students at Avondale College.

The Wicked Wizardz' normal budget can only just stretch to pay for hall-hire for their two-hour, twice-weekly practices. But Tanya is confident a sponsorship deal with Qantas and the Edge to cover the airfares will be successfully concluded. And the boys have lined up a busy round of performances and guest appearances, with an opportunity to hand around a hat, to raise the rest of the funds.

They are running a school social where the cover charge should net them about $200. There's a benefit concert on June 3 at the Westpoint Music Theatre, and they will be out in style at the Celebration of the Arts festival at Queen's Birthday weekend.

Breakdancing , the boys say, is one of four elements that make up hip-hop culture. The others are DJing, rapping and graffiti.

Breaking began on the streets of Los Angeles and New York in the late-60s and early-70s when black gangs incorporated movements from martial arts such as kung fu in displays that often replaced the need for physical violence in neighbourhood wars.

By the mid-70s breakdancing had reached the disco scene, with John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever, Roller Boogie and Xanadu, with Olivia Newton John giving it a face in the mainstream. Michael Jackson's famous Moonwalk and the film Flashdance indicated its continued popularity into the 80s.

But about the time Sa Brown was born, breaking was taking a dive. Now his generation seems to have taken up the cause again, dressed it in Puma States and slippery tracks and jackets - the preferred "gears" - and given it a new lease on life.

There are hundreds of breakdancing crews around Auckland, he reckons, all developing their own moves and own styles.

No "biting" - copying, either from the dance video clips which serve as a major inspiration, or from other crews - is a major rule. "Fresh," meaning original and creative, is preferred.

Attending one of the burgeoning numbers of breakdancing competitions is referred to as "going to battle." And the comment, if a rival crew looks exceptionally good, is "they're bad!" They don't have teachers and they learn, mostly, through watching videos, watching each other and practising for hours.

The Wizardz got together halfway through last year but they had already put in hours of individual blood, sweat and headspins in the school gym, any available corridor and at home.

It is artistry in radical action, acrobatics with attitude. Their air-kicks and freezes, flares and endless variations on gravity-defying head balances would challenge an Olympian gymnast.

They exhibit huge upper-body strength, balance and daring. And yes, it is dangerous.

Sa has misjudged a move and ended up with horrific grazes. Andre has damaged a shoulder and Kieran knows the agony of a badly pulled inner thigh.

"You could break your neck," says Sa. "And what about the guy we saw on a video whose hair got caught on a nail? His head stopped and his body kept spinning! But he didn't die."

For Sa, Andre and Kieran, the trip to Philadelphia is a big carrot to keep polishing their moves. But it goes deeper than that, they say.

"It's the challenge. It's the feeling of winning. It's seeing who is the best. It's being the champs. And it keeps us out of trouble."