Cyphers only get smaller and smaller.
As the cypher gets smaller, bboying starts to go back to its beginnings. When the circle is big everyone can run sets and hit their power. As the circle starts to get crowded you won’t be able to hit power combo’s anymore or you will end up kicking people. You become limited to tricks and blowups. As the circle gets even more crowded you become limited to tops, drops, spins footworks and basic freezes. When the circle gets tighter you might only be able to hit tops, corkscrews, kneedrops, spins, cc’s, shuffles, get ups and burners. Lastly the circle will become so small that you can only dance up top with your toprocks.
There is a lesson to learn from this and also the reason why so many “bboys” here rock up to jams and don’t cypher.
Bboying was developed from uprocking/toprocking, then came drops and spins, then came footwork, then came basic freezes, then after all that was tricks and power and everything else. So when you cypher and the circle gets smaller and smaller, it’s like going back to the start of how this dance was created. When you first enter a cypher you may be comfortable with the size and think you can run your sets. Suddenly it gets smaller and you think “oh shit, i can’t do my power anymore”. Then it gets smaller some more and “oh shit, i can’t do my tricks and blowups anymore”. As the cypher gets smaller you will realize how limited you are and start to work on your weaker parts of bboying. Maybe you will realize that you can only do 4 different variations of footwork or 5 different toprocks. Maybe you only have 1 entry to footwork. Maybe you can’t do a freeze without kicking someone. Maybe you can’t control your footwork in small spaces.
I think a lot of “bboys” in Malaysia don’t cypher is because they have this competition mentality where you bboy to make sets. Then you use your sets to win competitions to win battles. Then if they cypher they are scared to waste their stamina they are saving for their sets in the battle, or they are scared if they run their sets everyone will know what they are going to do. It’s a cypher guys, just dance. Why practice 3 hours a day, everyday to rock up to jams and comps and warm up in the corner, then do a few sets and go home? I go to comps to dance with other bboys not to enter random battles chosen out of hats. So next time there is a comp stand up and join the cyphers. At least pretend you want to go down. Not everyone who stands around the circle will be able to get down, but when there are 3 ppl cyphering it feels a bit wack. If you are a bboy then come cypher. If you are a breakdancer then go back to your corner and warm-up.
I remember when the cypherz at BOTY Singapore got really small and people where trying to open the circle up cos many couldn’t dance in such a small space Felix and Farhan were dancing in the smallest circle with ease. When you cypher the real bboys will stand out from the rest. Also when you first cypher you are probably going to be wack, I still think I’m wack and really limited in my bboying but you can learn a lot from cyphering and improve your dance.
written by bboy ize(cypher kingz n floor tactics)
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