Battle of the Year Central Europe 2015

A great line-up and a lot of space were offered for Bboys and Bgirls at the Battle of the Year Central Europe at Volkshaus in Zurich (Switzerland) on 26 September 2015. The hosts Mario Bee (Netherlands) and Cédi (Switzerland) created a good atmosphere and gave all participants a warm welcome with motivating words for the preselection which started at 14:00 o'clock. DJ CrosOne, Julnako, Ob One and Renegade cared for the right beats.

The event started with the preselection and the TOP16 round for the 1vs1 B-Boying Battle at the BOTY International in Germany and the Freestyle Session World Finals in the US. From the start all 53 participants staged energetic battles and the excitement rose with every move, beatkill and the thrilling skillz of each dancer. After a short break the programme continued with the Battle of the Year Kidz Shows in which 5 Swiss young talent groups took part. Directly after the shows the Kidz Battles took place in order to determine the winner. The Groove All-Stars (Switzerland) stood out from the others and decided the battle in their favour. The Ill Souls (Switzerland) reached the 2nd place.

The first highlight that night were the TOP8 of the 1vs1 Bboying Battles. The semi-finals were like fireworks - in the first Battle Dr. Hill (Mexico) and Lagaet (Portugal) delivered a battle at eye level. In the 2nd semi-final Spin and Sunni from the Soul Mavericks (UK) faced each other and also here the desicion was close. At the end Lagaet and Sunni got to the final and it was as exciting as expected. In the 5 final rounds they pulled out all the stops and after winning the first two battles Sunni gave away the next two ones to Lagaet. So after the 4th round it was a thrilling moment with 2:2. At the end the 5th round went to Sunni who won the battle with 3:2.

It was a great atmosphere at the Battle of the Year Central Europe. 6 crews from Switzerland, Croatia, England and Austria presented amazing shows including good themes and inspiring messages. In the first semi-final Soul Point (Switzerland) and Team Austria (Austria) competed in a tight contest. At the end Soul Point won with 2:1 against the Bboys from Austria. The 2nd semi-final was between Soul Mavericks (UK) and the Perfect Circle Crew (Croatia). A classical David & Goliath Battle in which the favorites from London prevailed despite a powerfull performance of Perfect Circle. At the end Soul Mavericks got the title for the "Best Show" and the 1st place at the BOTY Central Europe. The ticket for the BOTY International in Braunschweig (Germany) on 24 October 2015 is thus assured.

It was not an easy game for the judges Storm (Germany), RoxRite (USA), Crazy (Switzerland), CrosOne (USA) and Renegade (UK). However, the new judging system of and8 contributed a great deal to render the process and the evaluation easier and more transparent. The relief of the jury after that long day was clearly visible. A big thank you goes also to Nicole & her team of NoEasyProps for the entire organisation.