Shady Ladies
So yesterday (Sunday 21 Feb), I entered my first dance battle-based competition which was the 2v2 freestyle section at Code Red held at Dance Generation studios by my good friend Lenny the Dragonlord. I saw my fellow Shady Lady – El - outside the studio and asked if she would enter with me, since my other fellow Shady Lady offered but was only doing it as a favour to me and had 2 other showcases on the day (heart you Wendy!) El had just come from yoga and was wearing a dress, looking very much as Chux described, “Mother Earth” but she was down. We thought it would be fun despite the fact it was very last minute and we hadn’t danced in a couple of months, let alone trained for a battle. For both of us, it was the first time battling in a comp.
The nerves were kicking in as we got up for the preliminary round, with El hoping she didn’t have to battle her boyfriend Solo, a 6-foot-something half African/half Samoan (?) yet funnily enough that’s what happened, purely by accident. So she stepped out first to the tunes of a track i’m in love with currently (Boyz II Men – Can’t Let Her Go) while he smiled with that really gross look of love (puke) on his face the whole time. Then he came out, I stepped out and don’t remember anything that I did, up-rocked his partner Dany back during his set and that was that. It’s always fun to battle bboys, to see their intensity and attitude up close and personal, but this battle wasn’t like that at all, they were just smiling the whole time like “oh they are so small, that’s funny, their moves are so girly” type of stuff.
We both got through since the judges were just choosing the Top 8 crews, and what do you know, we get put up against the other Shady Lady crew of Jessica and Anna, in the last of the quarter final battles. I was on the side thrusting and what not as DJ Libre played Janet’s “All For You”, and stepped out doing… I can’t even remember, some waacking and other bs… El freaked the music pretty good and with two ties and one vote to our side by Chux, we were through to the semi’s.
Battling Kou and Eriko was intense, with 2 rounds each person, these guys (as the overall winners) were fierce! Libre dropped the sickest track (Bucketheads – The Bomb) which got me pumping and I launched into it straight away, tiring myself out with all the jumping around and House moves. I thought my legs were going to die and looking back, I don’t actually know why I didn’t bring out waacking halfway. I knew Kou would come out with House/Waacking and he smoked me!!! That dude’s got so much stamina and has so much battle tactics its crazy. El repped so well, it’s hard to tell what she’s doing when you’re watching from the back so I just kept screaming to hype her up. Eriko came out BAM in the face with some punking and just killed the music. The same track was on so I thought “yes now I can start waacking” then after about an 8 count its switched to “COME ON RIDE THE TRAIN (WOOT WOOT) AND RIDE IT!” so hey the music changes I’ll adapt and first thing that came into my mind was some Middle School. WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING I was already tired, dehydrated and my legs almost numb from all the damn jumping, so yeah I pretty much lost focus and just wanted TO DIE. Kou came out, waacking again I think, then El then Eriko with her tank Locking and a huge kick to the face sealed their deal.
They totally deserved to win, I’m just glad to get the battle experience and they were so gracious, I’m happy to get smoked by such amazing talent. The way I see it, both El and I gave our best, came out with the battle attitude, listened to and felt the music, and had a bunch of fun. I tried honestly to show versatility in styles, careful not to bring out too much waacking since that’s mostly what I’ve been doing since I came back from NY in Sept. But when I talked to others about advice on improving, I realised waacking really brought out my character the most, and having my hair out to play with was my thing, whereas I wore a hat on the day, which gave me a different mood like real tomboy-ish. Oh well now I know.
So people have asked me why I waited so long to battle, I guess there hasn’t been an event that I could or was interested in entering. I’m either organising and/or judging the event, or the organisers are wack, or the judges are a poor choice – why put yourself in a position to have your dance ability, performance, etc judged by someone you don’t respect to give you their opinion, let alone let them judge you?! So I’ve made a stance and this was the only event that fit all the criteria. Next one is 360, and hopefully I can get some decent training in.
I’ll add the videos from the event once peeps post them up on Youtube, so feel free to email me, PM me your advice on how I can improve, I’m always open to constructive criticism and feedback and suggestions on how to take my battling to the next level 
Trina
