Russian breakdancer tracks down participants from 1986 festival
May 8, 2016 3:13 PM   Subscribe

30 years later - they've still got it! Proving again that once you are badass, you are always badass.
posted by youdontmakefriendswithsalad (13 comments total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
Short article in English:
Breakdancers from countries of the former Soviet Union held a flash mob to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first breakdancing festival in what was then the Soviet Union. Fifty people from 15 countries took part in the event.
...
Modern Tants 86, the USSR’s first breakdancing festival, was held in Estonia on April 26, 1986, although breakdancing penetrated the country as early as 1984.
Here's three photos from Modern Tants 86 (Facebook), which is the only thing I could find of that old festival online, though I'm only searching for this phrase, and not how it's written in Cyrillic.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:59 PM on May 8, 2016


"Fuck the police guy" at 2:36 has DEFINITELY still got it.

Actual highlight is at 4:51, where one of the cutest things ever happens.
posted by selfnoise at 5:00 PM on May 8, 2016 [10 favorites]


What festival was this?
posted by gt2 at 5:01 PM on May 8, 2016


Oh, didn't have filthy light thief's post yet.
posted by gt2 at 5:02 PM on May 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's obvious that some of these people are either still in a scene, or they're dance teachers/dancers. Some of the others... aren't! And that's OK! They've all got better moves than I've got, all of them, and as a teen in 1986, I would watch b-boys and girls bust some serious moves on torn-up refrigerator boxes on my street every day.

Mad props, though, to Alexander Kolosovsky, the guy at 2:36, and Vladimir Stuhinskiy, the fellow at 2:52.
posted by droplet at 6:02 PM on May 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


excellent! i love stuff like this.
posted by lampshade at 6:33 PM on May 8, 2016


I am totally in love with the guys who look so obviously MiddleAgedDudeTM, but then they bust a move and damn, they've still got it.
posted by bardophile at 7:40 PM on May 8, 2016 [4 favorites]


There's a couple of soviet era breakdancing scenes in the excellent 1986 'Courier' film by Karen Shahnazarov, especially extended scene at the end:

https://youtu.be/QSc3uk8Q5w4?t=4818

It's got subtitles and the whole movie is well worth seeing..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courier_(film)
posted by rainy at 7:59 PM on May 8, 2016 [3 favorites]


By the way, this was Shahnazarov at his peak, by early 90s his work was getting weaker already and now from what I heard he's a bit of a Putin lapdog.

[edit] another breakdancing scene: https://youtu.be/QSc3uk8Q5w4?t=368
posted by rainy at 8:09 PM on May 8, 2016


I like to think that in another 30 years there will be people busting the same moves while in residential care (body popping probably takes on a whole new exciting dimension in one's 80s).
posted by rongorongo at 11:58 PM on May 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


I love that some of them have obviously kept up with current styles and techniques, but I also love that some of them are helicoptering and roboting like it is still 1984.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:58 AM on May 9, 2016


Ahh, what fun! I'm staying home sick today and am considering making gifs of a number of these...
posted by oh.ghoulin at 8:33 AM on May 9, 2016


Great video! I am from Ukraine and was doing break dance in early 2000's which was very popular at the time..
A lot of these dudes have somewhat serious faces which makes the video very funny.
posted by eli77bk at 11:31 AM on May 9, 2016


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