Today I replied to a facebook post by my dear friend DJ Renegade, on another discussion about BITING. This is a topic we have been discussing and debating forever. Renegade posed some very good questions such as:
I need your views and clarity on some issues that need to be discussed. I don’t think there are simple, single right answers but we should be able to reach some sort of consensus. We are in a point in history where we need working definitions of certain things. The time for personal, uniformed views is coming to an end.
Of course, this is about judging.
Bites and repeats specifically.
What is a bite and how should it/they be penalised?
What is a repeat and how should it/they be penalised?
How do you identify a bite? How much knowledge does it require to be aware of every move created and their owner?
Is it even possible nowadays?
How much ‘flipping’ is enough and how do we decide?
If I take a move and cross my legs or touch my left nipple while doing it, is that a new move? I don’t find that very creative at all.
Is there a hierarchy? ie which is worse? Are 2 small bites equal to one big one?
Is biting style worse than biting a move?
What is a ‘move’?
When does a ‘move’ become bite-able? ie windmills, swipes, halos etc all ‘belonged’ to and were the signatures of someone at some point, when do they become public domain?
If you got a move from a crew member is it a bite? If I taught you all your vocab, where does that fit in?
I see whole crews of people ending in a baby or chair freeze. Is that bite-repeat? Extra penalty?
To his post I replied with:
Awesome questions Kev.
The questions you pose is the reason why I believe that judging should be categorized into the different perspectives (angles, takes, approaches, views) of breakin. Each perspective on breakin should be judged by a qualified specialist in that particular view (value).
Biting is a value that isn’t shared by everyone. Those who do share that value, weigh it differently.
With that said, I believe that someone who is respected, acknowledged and has proven to understand and demonstrate, what is originality (and biting) should be on a panel to judge and take care of the whole biting aspect.
You can’t teach every Bboy out there, how to judge on bites, especially when they don’t value biting in their own dancing.
But for other people, particularly the 90’s golden era Bboys, originality and biting is extremely important, studying whose move is what, and properly changing them is a mandatory requirement.
Now about BITING VS INSPIRATION
Anytime someone throws down a move, style, step or concept that was created by someone else, without flipping, changing, adding creativity to, leveling up, with the exact same entrance and exit, (outside of a response to say I can do that shit too) is a freakin BITE.
How a move becomes universal, is when a signature move, becomes flipped, upgraded, added to, with tons of variations by the culture, then the core move itself, becomes universal. For example, Uzeerock, does his signature elbow spin. In the far future, people will find ways to flip it, like airflare into it, switch elbows, hop it, curl into ball, put their legs in lotus, find amazing combos into and out of it… basically take it to the next level. At that time, the Uzee elbow spin will become a universal move… but for now, nobody can do it. lol
Ownership of move, belongs to a Bboy and in many cases, the crew that created that particular style of movement. For example, we can expect everyone in my crew Supernaturalz to be doing and sharing all the moves in our history to keep our style and history alive. We will be working to do it better than everyone else.
How do we penalize Bites?
Well I think it will be unfair to just throw out penalties for bites like “You lose because I think i saw that move before!” that would not be fair. Bad judges would use that as an excuse to make people they don’t like, lose.
Instead, a system should be giving points…. errr should i say “PROPS”, for CREATIVITY, and it takes a judge who really values creativity in order to spot creativity.
I think a better way to handle the whole judging creativity, is to ask the community, who do they feel or believe to be the cultures leading authorities on ORIGINALITY and CREATIVITY? Then whomever the culture selects, ask them how they would judge it.
That may be the best way to approach the whole biting topic. Ask the experts
PS. Anyone reading this, which Bboys out there do you feel represent Originality, Creativity the most and who you would trust in their opinions in regards to biting?
