Hip Hop Fest ‘Celestial Cyphers 2013’ at Hyderabad attracts talents from across the nation

A two-day All India Hip Hop Festival and Competition ‘Celestial Cyphers 2013’ held at Hyderabad attracted young talent from across various places across India viz. Mumbai, Vizag, Delhi, Indore, Bangalore, Assam, etc. The event held over the weekend here at a city school premises with workshops, showcase, battles & competitions was participated by 80 young Hip Hop lovers. In the results announced late evening on Sunday, Hyderabad’s Bboy Ex-t from Proximity Crew emerged as the champion in Top Rock category in Break Battles, while Sohail Singh from Vizag was adjudged as the Runner-up. In the Footwork category in Break Battles, B-boy Dr. Blaze from RSU Crew, Hyderabad was adjudged the winner while B-boy Illusion from Funky Disorders Crew, Mumbai was the Runner-up. In the Crew on Crew, it was the FNS Crew from Bangalore that won the prize. In the House Battle, it was Superhit from Famous Crew, Mumbai who was the winner, while in the All Styles Battle which had a two on two competition, King and Superhit, Famous Crew from Mumbai were declared the winners. Sphere FX from Mumbai won the Beat Boxing championship. More than 300 dance lovers witnessed this unique and day long festival.

All the winners were given Cash Prizes besides Gifts and Certificates. The Winner of Break Battles got cash prize of Rs 20,000; House Battles Rs 3000/-, All Styles Battles Rs 5000/- and Beat Boxing Battles Rs 5000/-.  Speaking on the occasion, Ram, Artistic Director of RAM’s Step Up Dance Company, the organizer of this unique event said that the Hip Hop culture is fast catching up in Hyderabad. The objective of the Festival is to unite the hip hop lovers and artists all over the country and showcase and cultivate Hip Hop in its truest form, Ram said. Ram’s Step Up Dance Company, the Hyderabad based premier dance school takes the pride in conduct the event on a national platform with the guest faculty and judges who are well known and respected artists in the field of HIP HOP, Ram said.

The Judges of the Celestial Cyphers 2013 included Breaking category — Bboy Bunny (from ROC Fresh, Mumbai); House Battles category —Yash Mhatre from Kundu’s House Project, Mumbai; All Styles category — Elvis a.k.a. Style E from Kundu’s House Project, Mumbai. Top rock, Footwork, Freezes and Power moves were the parameters on which the dancers were judged. The Judge for Beat Boxing was Jaydeep Hora from Indore, another judge was DJ Lethal A from Bangalore.

Second year in a row, the Festival and Competitions were held in various style of Hip-Hop which include Break Battles, House Battles, Beat Boxing Battles and All Styles Battles. The atmosphere at the venue was filled with excitement and energy as the young ones danced enjoying the day. Back to back battles such as breaking, housing, all styles and beatboxing and special performances by Deaf way, Furor, Twist n Turns, etc. were held --- making the event huge and fun filled with healthy competitive spirit. Even the Judges took to the stage much to the delight of the audience.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Celestial Cyphers, Elvis a.k.a. Style E, a House, Hip Hop and All Style Dancer and Trainer said that Hip-Hop culture is just taking off in India. First started in India in 2006, it has just started and is still in growing stage in Hyderabad. Based on the number of enthusiastic dancers that he has seen here in city, he said that Hyderabad will grow much faster than Mumbai. It just needs more teachers. Elvis said that it is mostly guys who are coming forward, but even girls can too take up the dance form. Hip Hop is not just head-spins, but Top Rock, Footwork, etc. also count, he opined. Hip Hop can be just a hobby or a way to stay healthy and active or it can be taken up professionally to make a living, he said.

Judge for Beat Boxing Jaydeep Hora said that Beat Boxing is still new in India and has witnessed much growth in the last two years. Beat boxing is the art of producing musical sounds, drum beats, etc. using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It is very popular in Mumbai and Bangalore, he said.

People around the world assume Hip–Hop to be just a music genre / dance style, but it is more than it. It is a culture to all the Hip-Hop pioneers with no limitations/boundaries for innovation. This culture has been evolving continuously ever since. Hip-Hop precisely has four strong pillars viz. B-boying / Breaking; Graffiti;     Djing; Beat boxing/Emceeing. Breaking / B-boying is the strongest pillar among the four. informed Ram of RSU DC, the organizers.

As part of the festival B-Boying Workshops, which included Dance, Dj-ing and Beatboxing were held on Saturday evening and were well attended by the enthusiastic youngsters. In these workshops, dancers of all age groups got an opportunity to gain the technical and true knowledge about Hip Hop.