Dare to win

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: These chaps got to be called spineless. They wouldn’t mind that either. Being doubted for spine does not make them shameless. They will rather take it with a smile. “Have you got rubber in place of spine on your back?” It is a provocation they have always taken with pleasure. B-boys, so are they called. Dance is perhaps not the apt term to define what they do. They hop around with single hand, swivelling their entire body in motion. With their heads fixed on the ground, legs stretched upwards, hands sprawled on either side, they could move, first slowly,  then faster and faster like a helicopter flapping its wings as it gathers momentum. In the middle they could tangle their feet, spring up to a height and fling themselves to the ground, their back banging with a thud.“We could almost hear our bones crack when we do that,” says Dev, the lead choreographer of ‘De-rock you merz’, the first B-boying team in Kerala. They have literally swallowed their pains on their way to colour their passion. Whenever they had been gifted with gashes during practice, they would return to their homes at midnight on tiptoe, not waking up their parents and would curl up on their beds, giving out bouts of pain in muffled moans and deep breaths, all through the night.“I would rather bear the pain than stand my mother’s chidings. She would mercilessly ask if I have really gone out of my wits to break my bones for such nonsense,” says Midh, another member of the troupe. It was this short-statured, brawny youth who won the title at Amrita’s dance reality show ‘Super Dancer’ (2009) and it was for him ‘De-rock you merz’ first performed on mini-screen. During one of the rounds in ‘Super Dancer’ they decided they would do B-boying. On stage these lads were simply automated machines, their every move synchronous and every step tuned to precision. At the end of the performance, Kala master, one of the judges, went up to these youngsters and spurted out some Tamil which meant “Unbelievable. How do you guys do this?” For the five young men - Dev, Midh, Vishnu, Arun and Deepu - it was a realisation as to how far they had danced along from the time when they first performed during an anniversary of their residents’ association. “We were almost hooted off the stage  during that performance. It was then that we decided that we will make them gape at us in awe,” says Juan, a close friend and supporter of the B-boys.The days that followed were of hours and hours of practice. Dev would browse through the dance videos on internet and would fashion new steps out of the videos. They found in their agile, bony physique the celerity to perform a top-rock or down-rock, one of the few steps in B-boying. Constant prodding among themselves bolstered them up to form a B-boying troupe, though it meant sharp frowns from their parents. Each one perfected himself in one move or the other. Midh had felt like his head splitting in pain before he had mastered the art of head hop in which he could set his body spinning with balance resting on his head. The occasion to prove themselves came during an art fest at Tagore Theatre two years back. Major troupes were performing and here was a clutch of young men with a dance form totally unheard of. But the organisers were generous and their generosity was requited with sheer skill and magic. Five minutes did they perform and the ovation that followed sounded even longer and there also happened the moment they cherish the most. Actress Khushboo who was present among the crowd came in search of the wonder boys just to congratulate them. “It was just a word of compliment from her. But it meant a lot to us,” says a glowing Dev.These young men have to their credit over 300 shows all over the country. Even when new members have come and gone, the five chaps have persisted with B-boying. They have not also lazed around with their studies. All the five members are graduates and they say that they have never neglected their academics. The troupe has also opened a school for B-boying, which is also the first in South India. For them B-boying is all about effort. “Talent is not the matter. You should have the mettle to strain till you attain perfection,” says Dev. Their show lasts only for seven minutes and their preparations begin months back. ‘De-rock you merz’ which currently has 14 members, has its aims well worked out like a perfectly composed freeze. They will be flying to Mumbai for the ‘Battle of the Year’, international B-boying competition in July. They aim nothing less than the top spot. “We want to be the number one B-boying team in India,’’ they say.  Well, all we can say is ‘All the best, you spineless brats’.