By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Over the past few years the term "b-boy" has entered the household vocabulary in South Korea, as the powerful dancers have come to symbolize the country's dynamic youth culture and can easily be spotted spinning out moves on palace courtyards in national tourism campaigns.
"Planet B-Boy" by Benson Lee, coming to theaters Oct. 15, introduces viewers to the origins of b-boying and culminates with the dramatic 2005 Battle of the Year, an annual b-boy "Olympics" that takes place in Germany.
Moreover, the documentary shows that reality is often more intriguing than fiction ― telling compelling human stories by delving into the personal lives of the b-boys and capturing the youthful verve and passion they pour into their art.
"I think b-boys are the greatest dancers in the world," the Korean-American director told The Korea Times in a recent interview in Seoul.
B-boys incorporate moves from various sources ranging from gymnastics to kung fu, but improvise dances that are colored mainly by their unique styles. B-boying is one of the four components of hip-hop culture, the others being DJ-ing, MC-ing and graffiti.
"Just like rock was a means of rebelling against the establishment for the older generation, hip hop provided a youth culture to people that needed one. For some, b-boy groups are like gangs that don't like physical violence. They need each other to express themselves," said the 38-year-old.
"I tried it in high school, I was really into it. B-boying was one of the most popular dance crazes and the beginning of hip-hop," he said about growing up in Philadelphia. The term "b-boying" originates from "beat boy," but it became more popularly known as ``break dancing,'' which was coined by the media when it became a nationwide hype in the United States during the 1980s.
Korea saw a similar trend, with the widespread popularity of rap and DJ-ing feeding into the dance component of hip hop. But here the process was "revolutionary rather than evolutionary," said Lee. Korean dancers began copying European b-boys in the late 1990s. But in 2002, Korea "appeared out of nowhere" to become the champions of the acrobatic power moves.
Lee attributes the mandatory military service here as the cause. "Korean b-boys are at the height of their career when they have to be drafted to the army. They pour everything into it. And of course, Koreans have this 'otaku' (obsession) with power and respect, and b-boying is one way to achieve it. Korean b-boys were copying others at first but before you knew it they started developing their own flavor and style," he said.
This rekindled in Lee an interest for his adolescent hobby, and inspired him to venture into the documentary genre. Scraping together funding for the film was tough, he said, particularly since he had to travel to different countries to cover national teams before the 2005 Battle of the Year.
Lee eventually decided to focus on the leading teams among the 19 coming from 18 countries ― Gamblerz and Last for One from Korea, Phase-T from France, Knucklehead Zoo from the U.S. and Ichigeki from Japan. He was beyond ecstatic when four of these five groups made the finals ― including Last for One. Luck seemed to have been on Lee's side, because he had initially hesitated covering the new group as Gamblerz was expected to win.
"Those moments were gold to me, seeing the world through the b-boy context, but I realized that we're going through the same thing," he said. The film features feverish battles between b-boys but interweaves anecdotes about family and friendship.
Lee made his directorial debut with the Sundance award-winning feature "Miss Monday" (1998). Lee's future plans include developing "Planet B-Boy" into a feature film with Sony Pictures. In the meantime, he is spending time in Korea to shoot another documentary, on the beauty of "hanbok" (traditional Korean dress).
"Planet B-Boy" opens in theaters Oct. 15. In English and some French and Japanese, with Korean subtitles. Distributed by Solgang.