&ldquo;I thought it was a rumour,&rdquo; says the 22-year-old B-Boyer Sayem Shaikh, when asked for his reaction to news that the international B-boying competition, R16, will take place in the city on Sunday. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2012/may/Korea-finals.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 331px; " /> Performances at the R16 tournament in Korea Bboys and Bgirls from around the country will be in the city to participate in the event, thanks to the efforts of B-boy enthusiast Paritosh Parmar and his friends Keith Dias, Jitesh Jaggi, Farhan Khan, Kapil Lathurm and Siddharth Chaudhary. &ldquo;R16 is one of the biggest Bboying battles in the world. It is a government-sponsored event in Korea,&rdquo; says Parmar, who was keen to bring the competition to India after seeing videos on the competition. &ldquo;I wrote to the organisers, sent them videos of the scene here and asked for their permission to hold the competition,&rdquo; shares the 24-year-old, who had to wait a year for his dream to materialise. &ldquo;I wanted it last year, but they asked me to wait a year. I got my license in January of this year,&rdquo; adds Parmar. With permissions in place, Parmar and team got busy trying to rope in sponsors and spreading word about the event. &ldquo;We have around 60 participants. We&rsquo;re expecting around a 100 at the time of the competition,&rdquo; he says. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2012/may/Patitosh19.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 386px; " /> Parmar, who organises B-Boying competitions, every year, says, &ldquo;It started out as a small friendly battle between crews.&rdquo; But an increase in interest translated to an increase in the number of participants, which in turn meant larger crowds. &ldquo;Last year we had around 700 people in the audience,&rdquo; says Parmar referring to the national-level B-Boy competitions, now known as The Culture. With B-Boying experts from Korea, Taiwan and Nepal coming down to judge the event and a grand prize that includes a trip to Taiwan for the South-eastu00a0Asian finals, Parmar hopes to pull in a larger audience. According to Shaikh, who is known as Bboy Majin in the world of the street-style dance, once referred to as breakdancing, says, &ldquo;I think the B-Boying scene in the country has changed over the last two to three years. When I started out in 2006, there was barely any awareness, but things are different today.&rdquo; &ldquo;I am participating to encourage others to participate,&rdquo; says Shaikh, who is part of the Indian B-Boying Federation and has been practicing for up to four hours on weekdays and up to eight hours on weekends. Fifteen-year-old Kannan Kakkara, who has also been practicing rigorously for the competition, says, &ldquo;I was thrilled when I heard the competition is happening in India. It&rsquo;s such a rare chance.&rdquo; Tejasvi Patil, who calls herself B-Girl Phoenix, is one of the few girls participating in the event, and though looking forward to it, is unsure of being able to make a career in dance. &ldquo;Though I would like to dance all my life, I am not sure how it would be possible.&rdquo; What is R16? R16 is the annual international B-boy tournament held in Korea. R stands for &lsquo;Respect&rsquo;, while the &lsquo;16&rsquo; refers to the number of B-Boy crews from different countries. Crews compete in a two-day tournament for the world championship title. The tournament was first held in 2007 in Seoul and is seen as being a celebration of youth culture. <h2 class="footer_style"> On: Sunday, 2 pm At: Games Hall, Andheri Sports Complex, Andheri (W). Call: 9819885539 Log on to: http://totheculture.com/r16-india</h2>

R16, the international B-Boying competition comes to India for the first time. The Guide chats with B-Boyers to find out more about the scenes that has dancers contort their bodies in various ways

B-Boys and B-Girls, rise, your time has come

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B-Boys and B-Girls, rise, your time has come

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