Former best friends turned rivals in a common life passion, Josh Ayers and Omar Davila (along with Romeo Navarro) star in filmmaker’s Marcy Garriott’s 2007 Audience Award South by Southwest Film Festival winner, Inside The Circle.

The breakthrough documentary captures B-boy and girl culture, a blend of music, hip- hop, and “b-lives”. The film captures the passion and struggles that the dancers share, humanizing hip hop culture and its trend-setters.

Inside The Circle is a compilation of four years in which Garriott follows the story of Texas’ most talented b-boys. A former engineer and, essentially, an upper-middle class White girl, Garriott’s “roots [didn't] indicate her as the typical b-boy enthusiast, but she is ‘truly in the heart of it’,” said Beth Portello, of Cinema Libre Studio.

Garriott said that many people, including her, were not aware how big the underground b-scene was and how worldwide it is.

“Doing the movie was a revelation. I couldn’t believe how big b-culture was underground and I wanted to bring it to people’s attention,” said Garriott of her first experience watching B-boy dancers. “People (the dancers) threw me into it. The dancing is about things going on in their lives and that’s what people want to see.”

Garriott said that the actual dancing is directly tied in with the personal lives of the performers. “They bring life issues into dance-whether it’s joy, anger, frustration, or pride, it gets expressed in their dance. It’s fascinating to see that intertwined in their dance,” Garriott said. “The dancers take the audience on a real journey. Three years. You really see Ayers and Davila grow up beautifully and their passion for dance is obvious. It’s a moving experience for people to see.”

Garriott said the audiences were very diverse. The film screened at 30 festivals in nine countries and competed against Indie, Latino, Dance, Human Rights, and Hip-Hop films.

“The audience seemed grateful to have an insight (into the B-boy culture),” Garriott said. “One of the best parts was to get that diversity of audience everywhere we went. There were people who knew a little about it, some who knew quite a bit, and others who were hearing about it for the first time,” she said.

Keeping personal friendships apart from the rivalry that comes from being competing dance crews is not always easy, as Davila explained.

“Everyone has a different personality. When they dance it comes out – the emotions. It also depends on the day,” Davila said. “I just try to keep it separate in general. I’m not the type of person who opens up right away. I have to make sure it’s someone who’s there for me.”

Davila began breaking when he was twelve as a result of his friendship with older kids from his neighborhood who exposed him to B-boy culture.

“I didn’t know anything about hip-hop or the B-boy culture before,” Davila said. “It was a year or two into it, that I met a friend from Chicago who knew a lot more about it and that’s when I was exposed to it more-worldwide and learning about it.”

There are four basic elements that serve as a foundation for B-boy dancers. Toprock refers to upright dancing and shuffles done when entering a circle,hence the movie title, Inside The Circle. Downrock refers to floor dancing. Freeze are poses that add interest and flavor to a combination. The fourth element is Power.

There are a variety of components that make up B-boy styles. Power consists of full-body spins and rotations that give the illusion of defying gravity. Headspins and backspins are some power styles. Abstract is a broad term that can include freestyle movement to hot beats, threading footwork, house dancing, broken link styles and circus styles such as balance and tricks. Trick style combines many difficult trick combinations to outperform the rival B-boy. Flavor focuses more on footworks, upworks, and poses.

Omar said that Texas B-boy culture, especially his style dancing, is an “all-around style.”

“Texas B-boys are more known for innovative style,” Davila said. “It’s like drawing a painting, sketching it, outlining it, and then coming out with the details. It’s new school mixed with old school. It’s dynamic and explosive.”

Davila currently works for an entertainment company and is an independent contractor. He lives in Dallas, Texas, where his crew is based off. He is also a member of New York’s defending B-boy champions, the Mighty Zulo Kings, who have a free-style possession of their own.

An international B-boy sensation, Davila knows what it takes to make it inside the circle. “It takes time, discipline, and you have to be strong mentally. As far as being expose and compete, you have to be really prepared,” Davila said. “It’s a mental thing not a physical thing you have to overcome. ”

His message to aspiring B -boy and B-girls is to “just have fun with it.” But to “just be prepared for everything it brings.”

April 2011