Battle of the Planet

A Grandmaster Flashback into the Future of B-Boy-ism...courtesy of director Benson Lee's brilliant doc 'PLANET B-BOY'

I'm old enough to remember the Rock Steady crew (heh!) and the age of 80's breakdancing. Old enough to remember sitting in the theater with my best friend Wilfredo and his little brother Edgar, watching Wild Style, the movie that showcased the street ballet that was breakdancing. From that day forward, we decided to become breakdancers, forming our own dance crew called the Forbidden Planet Crew. Practicing on a cardboard canvas in my grandmothers house, we sought the thrill and joy we saw on that screen. The street fame that the Rock Steady Crew had attained through becoming one of NYC's top crews.

When I sat down in that seat tonight...that teenager returned. For a moment I was transported back to the days when the street was king and dance & music was the message through which we communicated. Even as I type this, the chill that ran down my spine seeing the swirl of balletic movement choreographed to the hip-hop beat, has taken me again.

'Planet B-Boy', the child of director Benson Lee, is not a attempt so much to revive the artform in a commercial manner. More, a awakening of spirit and a colorful and wonderful glimpse into the lives of many acrobatdacious and artful dodgers of the world of B-Boy.

'Planet' provides more than just the most fantastic dance moves I've seen since Baryshnikov. It offers hope to young people all over the globe and allows us to share the motivation, desperation, evolution and maturation of all the dancers that are followed throughout the film.

I won't write much more, for fear of giving up too much of the film (YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM IN THE THEATERS). I will tell you that if you are old enough to remember Melly Mel, Kangols, Shell Toe Adidas and Lee Jeans, then you will absolutely scream with joy when you watch this movie. If you aren't old enough to remember, you will witness for the first time, power, speed, motion, poetry, love, hope, and...beauty, it their truest form for the very first time.