MARYSVILLE It was a raucous crowd throwing down the beats while picking up the challenge at the Marysville YMCA during the sixth annual 360 Break Dance Battle.
The Jan. 27 event drew several hundred participants and competitors who paid $7 for the chance to throw it down with each other on the hardwood.
While music pumped through the sound system dancers ran the gauntlet with fast moves in the circle of spectators under the hot lights. A panel of judges determined the winners in single and team competitions. The teams were composed of three members and are called crews and 32 were expected for the three versus three battle. The one-on-one competitions were called footwork battles, and organizers expected 600 teens to attend.
Two demonstration teams from Seattle and Sacramento, Calif. were on hand and DJ Skeme Richards from Philadelphia spun the tunes for the Clearasil set. The festival is organized by teens and for teens and attracted kids from all over western Washington and Canada, including Robin Campbell from Victoria, B.C. The 20-year-old has been break dancing for six years and said he was B-boying out on the dance floor. Campbell is with the Filthee Feet crew, a seven-member troop.
I learned about it and I just got involved in it, Campbell said after working up a sweat in the one-on-one footwork battle.