One of these Jams & Battles - Beast.Mode in Vienna (Austria)

On Satuday 9th April 2016 the international Beast.Mode Battle took place at Hallmann Dome in Vienna (Austria). About 400 visitors had come, among them about 180 dancers from all over Europe. In addition to some workshops with the judges which had already taken place on the day before, there was also a local rap performance.

The first participants had arrived punctually in front of the Hallmann Dome at 14:00 o'clock and the organisation team started with the check-in which was very disorganised. Unfortunately they didn't expect that high number of participants and had no alternative plan. For this reason the check-in was very chaotic and the preselection started just one hour later. The floor in the hall which was in advance promoted as a basketball hall with a parquet floor, was covered with black plastic flooring for protection against damage. This is completely understandable BUT very inconvenient for a dance event! The actual dance floor in the middle of the hall was proportionally much too small. The place for the DJs was arranged in a distance of about 30 meters in front of a stage and people had to make a hallway to allow them to see the dancers. It goes without saying that this enormously distroyed the whole cypher feeling. In addition there was a complete overmodulation of a much too oversized music system. The volume and the delay were not conform to the conditions and for this reason many dancers and spectators had sometimes to put their hands over their ears. The organisation team couldn't get a grip on the overmodulation of the microphone until the end of the event as well. This is very sad because such mistakes gnaw a great deal at the quality of the event.

Nevertheless dancers who partly travelled from far away didn't want their day spoiled and many of them danced in a few smaller cyphers around the mainfloor, exchanged views and talks and experienced many exciting battles. You could see some Soul Train lines and some dancers who found complete expression in Newstyle Hustling.

A lot of groove in the 1vs1 Hip Hop Battle
The preselection of the 1vs1 Hip Hop category was well filled with 80 dancers. Among them some known faces such as HonyZuka from Ghost Flow Movement (France), Regina and Mulla from Russia as well as Olga Lock who as the only Austrian dancer managed to enter the final round of the best 8. The big final was between Regina (Russia) and Moomy (Slovenia) where Regina from Zoo Clan persuaded the judges until to end and won clearly with 3:0 against the creative and multifaceted Moomy.

Good flow in the 1vs1 Popping Battle
The international 1vs1 Popping Battle started with approximately 60 participants. Here also the TOP8 were chosen to dance in the final round. Alina Hrytsenko aka Avis was the clear favourite and fulfilled this role in the quarter final against Dominick from Poland and in the semi-final against Budhha from Portugal. The other semi-final was between Esam from the Netherlands and Yosha Pop from Hungary. Yosha Pop was able to decide the battle in his favour and entered together with Avis the last final round. Avis was shining like a diamond with her brilliant skills and won against her strong opponent with 2:1.

Pure energy in the 1vs1 Breaking Battle
That were about 50 Bboys and Bgirls who signed up for the Breaking Battles. Among them there were also a lot of young dancers such as Ibot, K.Y.S. or Elly-B from Salzburg, Alex from Linz and Majko from Slovakia. Majko was chosen for the TOP8 but because of the big time delay he went home and for this reason Bboy LackiStrike from the Rize Rockaz from Linz got his chance. Bboy Smiley from Vienna had to stop his participance after being nominated for the TOP8 due to his injury and was replaced by Kidoum from "The Only Kingz" from Linz (Austria). You could enjoy some very interesting battles full of energy between Ghostface and Harlekin or Intus and Rock'n'Rolli. The great final was between Marson from Opatow Flavours from Prague and Rock'n'Rolli from Hakuna Matata from Innsbruck (Austria). Already in the previous battles Marson had revealed his weak point in the second round and thus Rock'n'Rolli had tactically an advantage which he used with sovereignty to decide the battle in his favour.

Red Bull BC One Wildcard for Rock'n'Rolli
Doubtlessly deserved the Austrian dancer Rock'n'Rolli won not only the 1vs1 Breaking Battle but was also given the last Wildcard for the Red Bull BC One Austria Cypher by Mauro Peruzzi aka Cico. For more information please read our official report.

1vs1 Hip Hop Battle:
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Olga Lock // Regina = 0:3
Vesna // Honyzuka = 0:3
Mommy // Yang Steph = 2:1
Mula // Komplex = 3:0
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Regina // Honyzuka = 3:0
Mommy // Mula = 2:1
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Regina // Mommy = 3:0
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1vs1 Popping Battle:
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Dominick // Avis = 1:1 Paradox (Tie)
::: Avis wins 2nd round with 1:2
Budhha // Fero = 2:1
Esam // Kiddy = 2:0 Paradox (X)
Allstar // Yosha Pop = 0:3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Budhha // Avis = 0:2 Cico (Tie)
Esam // Yosha Pop = 0:3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yosha Pop // Avis = 1.2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1vs1 Breaking Battle:
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Kidoum // Marson = 0:3
Harlekin // Ghostface = 0:3
Dr. Ill // LackiStrike = 3:0
Intus // Rock'n'Rolli = 1:2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ghostface // Marson = 0:2 Cico (Tie)
Dr. Ill // Rock'n'Rolli = 0:3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rock'n'Rolli // Marson = 3:0
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Conclusion!
As conclusion it can be said that Beast.Mode is one of those Jams & Battles which could be great but at the moment the organisation team put very little value on details and circumstances. It's a pity because the concept and idea behind it are good. We hope for improvement and wish the organisers better success for the next plannings.