Hats are flying, shoes are flying and at one point even hearts!

   Mai Life witnessed a pioneering moment, and relates how

                         ‘Krumping’ officially started in Fiji.

By Harry Vosatabu

The date is 8 March, and the time is 7.10 pm, as the crews “BSQ” (Biscuit squad) and their challenger “Troop 10” get themselves hyped up and ready. As I slip in and out of the team-talk held by the champion BSQ team I detect confidence among its members whose ages range from 9 to 23.
“BSQ”, made up of Rotuman boys living in Vatuwaqa consist of 10 members led by George the General. They are renowned for their “Krump” style of dance.
 “Krump” is an acronym for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise. According to the urban dictionary, it is a dance form pioneered by Tight Eyez aka Ceasare Wills and Lil C among others. It is an aggressive and spiritual form of dance with Christian roots. Its movement include chest pops, stomps, armswings, syncs, puzzles, bangs and kill-offs.
Wikipedia says Krump is a more aggressive dance form and is intended as an expression of anger or a release of pent-up emotion from the struggles of life through violent, exaggerated, and dramatic moves. Variation, individuality, and movement are the foundations of the Krump or bobble-bounce. “Dissing” or jokes are often involved, as well as “sick” movements, such as snaking, grimey or other sorts of actions with a degree of sexual connotation. It also may or may not include fight moves and some gymnastics moves.



Krump is definitely not to be confused with other forms of dance like Breaking, Busting, Krunking, B-Boying, and in the Krump vocabulary all other forms are known as Clowning.  
BSQ won their first all-round dance competition in 2006 at the “Suva on sale Stomp Comp”. They had no choice but to win that night or they would have to walk home, since they had spent all the money they had to get to the competition. There was no doubting their determination.
Troop 10 on the other hand are known for incorporating break dance and hip-hop into their style. As I trail behind their leader, Samuela Taukave or Skillz as he is known to his crew, my eyes are instantly drawn to a young boy about the age of 9 or 10 practicing handstands next to some of the older boys who vigorously cheer him on. I start to feel invigorated by the overall excitement of the event. The morale for Troop 10 seemed high but initially I suspected that they were a little less confident than BSQ. It was their first public appearance and challenging BSQ wasn’t going to be an easy task. Marc Alfereti or Steekie told me about the Vatuwaqa based Troop 10.
“Dancing keeps the local youth community out of trouble and gives us hope in aspiring towards dreams,” he said. 
I hear encore and I know that competition has begun. As I rush to find a seat I catch a glimpse of BSQ coming through one side of the “Old Gym” doors all dressed in black and camouflage with a big black and silver flag hung proudly about them. The crowds are going nuts above me and I feel the adrenaline pumping. The MC announces the arrival of Troop 10 and the crowds go berserk. Troop 10 enters dressed in white.

They enter the center of the stage and the first bass beats of the ‘Suva city’ song bounce into rhythm. There is a very strong tension between the rivaling crews as they eye each other off. Tension you couldn’t cut with a knife let alone a chainsaw. I was proud to witness the birth of a new form for the youths of this country and the birth of that never-ending battle of expression that exists in all of us.
BSQ began in a tight huddle slowly bouncing to the beats, when suddenly out of the center come their smallest and youngest member, full of energy like an over charged battery ready to explode. This kid is only about 9 but dancing like an experienced veteran of Krump, slamming his hands against his chest and pointing repeatedly at his rivals. I hadn’t seen anything like it. It was visually explicit.
BSQ slowly rotated the dancers to showcase the ability and skill of their members and they were ruthless.
Towards the end of the second song the focus was taken off the BSQ dancer as Troop10 started to line up behind their leader and get ready for song close. I could feel the mixture of anticipation and electricity in the air as the song faded into silence and Troop10 stood tall.
The silence was only for a few seconds when almost like a Cyborg army Troop10 marched into the center before splitting into V formation and pointing at the BSQ crew. The BSQ retaliated by smiling and sitting down on the floor. Troop10 continued unaffected doing a modern-day Cibi, slapping their arms and knees as they marched on the spot. All of a sudden one of the members from the back ran to the front of the performance and pretended to gun down the members of his own group. They all fell to the ground, laying there for a while and leaving everybody including BSQ in a state of confusion.  The slow and steady hum of the song “Freestyler” by bomb funk MC began to wash the confusion and lift everybody’s state of mind into ecstasy. As the song played on Troop10 rose from the ashes and bounced in and out delivering over and over the same level of skill and moves we had seen from their counterparts.
BSQ’s Pretty Boy got everyone in a frenzy when he pretended to rip out the heart from one of the opposition and threw it into the crowd. This fired up retaliation from two Troop10 dancers who danced the position of a mad scientist electrocuting an angry yet talented Frankenstein… Crazy!
BSQ told me that they started their first public performance out the front of RB Patel in Nausori to attract customers and they drew large crowds but were stopped by the police after only one song. However, nothing was going to stop them on their journey to national recognition.
I highly recommend that you go and watch the next Krump public event because it is truly worth the $2 ticket. Overall both teams displayed fascinating and unique performances, and provided an experience that was truly exhilarating and electrifying.