300 hip-hop wannabes step above the rest

FROM James Brown to Justin Timberlake, hip-hop dancing has been around since the 1950s, and who would have thought it but the Irish are pretty good at it.

Over 300 competitors are expected to compete in the Irish Hip Hop Crew Championships next Saturday at Gleeson Hall in Dublin Institute of Technology.

Now in its fourth year, the event has gone from strength to strength since 2006 when only 50 people took part.

Director of Irish Hip Hop Productions Tara Treacy said the popularity of hip-hop dancing in Ireland had exploded in recent years.

“It’s become huge in Ireland. There is so many kids in here taking it up now. It’s taught in schools all over Ireland and in practically every community centre in the country,” she said.

The competition has three categories: Junior (7-12 year olds), Varsity (12-18 years old) and Adult (18 years old upwards). Such is the popularity of hip-hop dancing that Irish dancers have become some of its best practitioners.

In the World Hip-Hop Crew Championships in 2006, the Irish junior crew finished third, while in 2007 they finished fourth, a remarkable result given the dance form’s cultural home has always been in the US.

“We are so small compared to the US and other countries, but for some reason Irish kids are so passionate about it. In fact, the USA have struggled to place in recent years.

“European teams often learn the background and study history of hip-hop better and it seems to stand to them,” said Ms Treacy.

The director of Irish Hip-Hop Productions was at a loss to explain the explosion in popularity of the dance form here, but felt technology had a role to play.

“I suppose its featured so much on TV now, and with YouTube and the internet, kids can access the moves so easily,” she said.

For the first time this year the first and second placed crews in each category will get to represent Ireland at the world championships in Planet Hollywood on the main strip in Las Vegas.