B-Boy Battle

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, you will suffer a defeat for every victory gained. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will collapse in every battle." - Sun Tzu

So I went with a friend to the International B-Boy Championships a couple of weeks ago at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. Here is a clip of the final round:

The Art of War

The art of war is of vital importance to mankind. It is a matter of life and death: a road either to safety, or to ruin. Hence, it is a subject of inquiry which cannot be neglected on any account. The art of war is governed by five constant factors that must be considered in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions on the battlefield/dancefloor. These are:

1. The Moral Law


2. Heaven


3. Earth


4. The Commander


5. Method and discipline

Warfare is Based on Deception

Hence, when able to attack, one must seem unable; when deploying his forces, one must seem inactive; when he is near, he must make the opponent believe he is far away; when far away, he must make his opponent believe that he is near.

Gavin at 1 week after birth (make sure your audio is cranked up!):

If the enemy is secure on all fronts, be prepared for him. If he is superior in strength, evade him. If your opponent is quick-tempered, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are unexpected.

The victorious b-boy completes many calculations and preparations before engaging in a single battle. He who loses a battle makes but few calculations in advance. Thus, many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much less with no calculation at all! It is by attention to this critical point that one can foresee who will win or lose.

A wise b-boy makes a point of foraging on the enemy. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one's own strength. In war then, let your overriding objective be victory, not lengthy campaigns. Through this principle, it is revealed that the fate of a nation rests on the critical decisions made by its leaders in battle. The men on whom harmony depends: whether the nation shall be in peace, or in peril.

Some Wacky Top Rock from 2005

The Strategy of Attack

When you engage in actual battle, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their spirit will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. If the war is dragged out beyond a standard duration, the strain will exceed the resources of the nation.

Now, when your weapons are dulled, your spirit damped, your strength exhausted, and your treasure spent, other b-boys will spring up to take advantage of your calamity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that follow.

Thus, we have heard of foolish haste in war, but never is cleverness associated with long delays. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. The highest form of military warfare is to disrupt enemy plans; the next best is to prevent the unification of enemy forces; the next is to engage the enemy in the field; and the worst policy of all is to attack fortified cities from foreign distances.

Random Windmill

If a general becomes weak and succumbs to enemy provocation, then he will be unable to control his irritation, and launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.

Therefore the skillful b-boy subdues the enemy without any fighting; he captures cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations on the battlefield/dancefloor. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the enemy's Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by strategy. Only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war can thoroughly understand the beneficial way of executing it.

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:

1. The victor knows when to fight and when not to fight.


2. The victor knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.


3. The victor has soldiers motivated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.


4. The victor makes preparations while patiently waiting to take the enemy unprepared.


5. The victor has superior b-boy capacity and is not distracted by judges and crowds.

Click here for more footage.

Tactical Disposition

The good b-boy puts himself beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waits for an opportunity to defeat the enemy. The power to secure himself against defeat lies within his own hands, but the opportunity to defeat the enemy must be provided by the enemy himself. Thus, a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.