Red Bull BC One Austria Qualifier 2016

It was a classical jam night, entirely dedicated to toprock, footwork, powermove and co. In the official qualification round for the last available places for the Red Bull BC One Austria Cypher 2016 about 150 dancers had come together in Vienna on Friday 22 April. After the preselection and a total of 28 battles the 9 finalists, who together with the 7 invited ones would fight for the "Throne of Austria", were determined.

Punctually at 18:00 o'clock the moderation duo consisting of Dr. Ill and Knuffelbunt started with their opening speech including some introductory remarks on the preselection. In short show-battles all 57 participants presented the jury consisting of Lil Ceng (Germany), Wing (Korea) and Mounir (France) an extract of their skills. Afterwards the best 36 were chosen. In addition a further battle between Smi Lee from Dornbirn and Turtle from Vienna was needed. In the end Turtle was able to battle his way into the 1st round of the TOP36. To the music played by DJ Fleg (USA) who - needless to say - showed his total musical class, many known names of the scene but also a lot of young Austrian newcomers were rocking on the battle floor.

A strong presentation was delivered by Bboy Ibot, Elli Funk and Elly-B from Salzburg, Nonsense from Vienna, Marci Marc from Dornbirn as well as by Marox from the The Only Kingz from Linz. In the battle between the both crew members Ghostface and Dave from the Power Tricking Crew (PTC) from Feldkirch (Austria) there was an unfortunate crash. Dave who suddenly made a flip to the front, was standing too close to Ghostface and hit him with his heel at a point which causes some really painful bell-ringing. However, after a short break Ghostface was able to stand his ground again and was back on the dance floor to continue his battle. With a lot of energy and motivation he showed that there's nothing that can knock him out that easily and won with 3:0.

Clear words from Mounir
Before the 2nd round the judge Monnir Biba aka Mounir said a few brief words to all dancers. Above all he wanted to make clear that Austria has some potential Bboys and Bgirls who don't need to hide, even internationally! However there's too little motivation visible to develop oneself further in workshops, to learn new things and to open oneself to understand other persepectives. He told about the lifestyle and the possibilities back in the 1990ies and compared them with those of nowadays. To get to the heart of the issue he said that our scene has become very comfortable in many fields and that he personally doesn't see young but also elder and more experienced dancers having the urge to travel and thus to create more exchange in experience and knowledge.

finalists and the draw
After the battle in the second round with the TOP18 of the preselection the 9 qualified finalists were determined. Due to a long lasting injury the Wildcard winner Bboy Guti from Prodigyy from Dornbirn had to cancel his participance on the day before. This way a place became free and had to be filled again. Afterwards the battle duos for the TOP16 were fixed and you can look forward to exciting battles between El Vasi and Valo or Rock'n'Rolli and Avatar Joe. In the following you will find all evaluations and the results of the qualification:

1st round / TOP36:
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Smi Lee // Turtle = 1:2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Marci Marc // Yourlife = 2:1
Headrush // Miracle Smile = 0:3
Sophiela // El Vasi = 1:2
Kidoum // Uncle Willi = 1:2
Legacy // Jedi Jule = 0:3
Ghostface // Dave (PTC) = 3:0
Fifty // Cellar = 3:0
Amin // Avatar Joe = 1:2
Elly-B // LackiStrike = 0:3
Nonsense // Kimo = 2:1
GiantRock // Marox = 2:1
Stifler // LeeTo = 3:0
Patrix // Lil Sunji = 2:1
Ibot // Animus = 2:1
David // Coolboy = 0:3
Showtime // Dr. Ill = 1:2
Ghostrider // Elli Funk = 3:0
Blanco // Turtle = 3:0

2nd round / TOP18:
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Marci Marc // Miracle Smile = 0:3
Uncle Willi // El Vasi = 1:2
Jedi Jule // Ghostface = 0:3
Fifty // Avatar Joe = 1:2
LackiStrike // Nonsense = 3:0
Stifler // GiantRock = 3:0
Patrix // Ibot = 2:0 Mounir (Tie)
Dr. Ill // Coolboy = 3:0
Ghostrider // Blanco = 0:2 Lil Ceng (Tie)

Qualified for the top 16:
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• Miracle Smile (United Minds)
• El Vasi (Funky Monkez)
• Ghostface (Power Tricking Crew)
• Avatar Joe (United Minds)
• LackiStrike (Rize Rockaz Crew)
• Stifler (Prodigyy Crew)
• Patrix (Hakuna Matata)
• Dr. Ill (United Minds)
• Blanco (Hakuna Matata)

A short summary
It's great to see how much effort the organisers of Rookies at Work and the Red Bull Austria Team put into this event every year and thus make an important contribution to the relatively small Austrian scene. Also the free workshops with TOP Bboys of the scene offer above all young Austrians great opportunities to develop further. This is good and deserves a big thank you.