THEM'S THE BREAKS

Dig out your old records by The Rocksteady Crew, Break Machine and The Soul Sonic Force. Locate that Betamax video of Wildstyle and purloin grandmother's kitchen linoleum for those almost-forgotten spins and whirls. Because, B-boys and girls, since the return of Run DMC and that all-grooving video, the return of breakdancing is imminent.
Which is why we've come to the Ardoyne Community Centre on a sunny Monday afternoon - drawn by the myth of The Belfast City Breakers, keepers of the flame after 15 years of literally doing the rounds. A dozen years ago, there were loads of crews in this manor - translating the energy and creative buzz from the Bronx and Brooklyn into a rough-house Irish equivalent.
Those numbers have dwindled to a few stalwarts: Willie, John, Boo and Paddy G (plus their mate Sconey who was otherwise engaged today). And we're watching, impressed, as this furious four turn up the music and launch into a powerful routine that involves much co-ordination and spine-challenging moves that nature surely didn't make allowances for.
The moves swiftly reveal themselves; from a few casual windmills and headstands, to the swipes and backflips that cause even the participants to gasp with the crazy demands of it all. There's a fun moment when a plastic chair is introduced into the act, and rapidly starts to orbit and tumble across the floor, with a perspiring breaker wrapped into the kinetic mass.
Little kids are standing by the door, copping ideas from their seniors. Willie prepares for his speciality, strapping on a helmet and pacing the varnished floor until he gets locked into the rhythm of the sound system. Then he's off and into a headspin, his legs splayed, controlling the move, and then slowing pulling himself into an inverted ball.
Minutes later, the guys have cooled down and are ready to explain their passion. It's a dedication that's brought them much acclaim at occasional jams and fashion shows in town, such as those organised by Chris Murray of the Apache clothes shop.
ghetto thing
"Breaking was the best thing that ever happened to the likes of ourselves," Willie states. "This is a cross-community group. When breaking started to happen, you didn't have to riot no more - you could actually dance against each other instead. That was the whole essence of it when it started in New York in the '70s. It was a ghetto thing, with rival crews challenging each other. Instead of fighting, they were dancing instead."
They all recognise that the form is becoming cool again, but Boo is adamant that trends are to be regarded with caution.
"I was asked by a taxi driver the other day, did we get into it because Run DMC got to number one. I was like, no, not really. The only reason that video worked was because people like ourselves stayed into it, and made it stay cool."
Boo talks about his visit to the World Breakdance Championships in Hanover two years ago, when more than 5,000 participants were freestyling in a couple of huge aircraft hangars. That's when he knew it was on the rise again. Last year, he took in the UK Fresh festival - three days in Folkestone which again confirmed that the interest was there.
"Breakdancing was massive," Willie explains, "and then the media killed it. They took the whole B-boy thing and pulled it out of the ghetto. most people liked it because it was hardcore, and that was lost. But it will never die. Because it's too good to die."
The Belfast City Breakers claim that themselves and an English crew, Second To None, are the only groups on these islands that have stayed together since the early days. Now they feel thay have a duty to make sure it doesn't lose focus again.
"What really killed it off here," Willie opines, "was the lack of funding. Nothing was brought in. The older ones didn't have the vision - to get other dance teams over, to bring it forward for the young. That's one of the reasons we're working hard again - to actually pass the torch on. We've been carrying it for too long now and my back's killing me!"
vintage stuff
At this point, Boo offers an interesting historical perspective."I don't think it's gonna die this time. When tap dancing came out in the '20s, people thought it was just a fad. And then somewhere around the '30s and the '40s, the old tap dancers were still doing it. They started teaching other people. Breakdancing is gonna be the same. Once it comes back a second time, it won't fade away."
Certainly, there's an indication in the Belfast clubs that the Ardoyne posse aren't alone in their views. A collective known as The Shadow Syndicate are organising the Skank nights at Thompson's Garage in Belfast on Thursday nights. Recent evenings have combined hip-hop with electro, hooligan big beats and techno-ska to great acclaim.
Guests have included Freddy Fresh ("the Super Mario of electro"), The Dub Pistols and the Athletico gang, who caused a tremendous rumpus lately. Lyndon Stevens, one of the regular hosts, talks about the appetite for old tunes like 'World Destruction' by Timezone (aka Afrika Bambaataa and John Lydon) and the electro-soul of Shannon's 'Let The Music Play'. There's a similar drift at the Front Page which has been hosting club nights like Research And Development and Breakdown. The latter venture brought Mekon over from England to play vintage stuff like #l-Naafish's thunderous hip-hop classic 'Hashim'.
There's never been many Irish hip-hop records on the scene. Scary Eire is the obvious example, and Ulster DJ Simon Milligan has been associating with De La Soul of late, hopefully with some actual recording in mind. And you could possibly argue the toss over House Of Pain, if you wanted. But the Belfast City Breakers have their eye on that prize also.
"We're pretty versatile," says Willie. "We also work as youth leaders, so we're teaching the youth to write songs, to express their feelings. One of the songs we did a while ago was called 'Green-White-Orange, Red-White-Blue'. and there was a track called 'Higher Force: Cross Community'.
"Basically, we call ourselves trouble-minded, because that represents everybody over here. It's their daily lives. Over here unfortunately, the war has always been a topic. But I'd prefer to see everybody happy." n