After hours of back flips, head spins, fancy footwork and crowd approval, We Came to Win was announced the winner of this year’s IL Breaks V competition on Saturday night.
Dozens of dance teams called crews came from across the country to battle each other for this year’s title. The winner of each battle was decided by judges: Machine, Check-it and Roxrite, all of whom are respected in the break dance community.
They judged on a variety of criteria, but one of the main factors was honesty. The judges made a point to the dancers not to try to act like they did a flawless routine if they messed up, as well as not trying to impress the judges with fluffy footwork that they knew wouldn’t cut it.
The event pumped the booming bass of hip hop music through the Illini Union ballrooms A, B and C for hours as the playing field continued to narrow down. The evening was a blend of competitors’ battles, exhibition battles and 10-minute intermissions.
The crews defied perceptions of human body movement as they impressed audience and judges alike with moves that included one-handed handstand spins, sliding inverted on the head for several feet and in-your-face kicks and body rolls.
Although the crowd could appreciate something from nearly every crew, the winners from each battle were strongly supported.
Ultimately, it came down to two crews: We Came to Win and Self-X. Ironically, We Came to Win took the title with huge support from the audience.
