Breakdancing in Kagin

The event that I chose to attend was the Break Dance Battle in Kagin Ballroom on Macalester's Campus on November 7th.
Although the event was intended to showcase music and break dancing I also found it to be an interesting space to observe representations of masculinity in a very masculine space. The majority of those battling appeared to be boys between the ages of 10 and 16. I suppose this was my first disappointment.
I attended the event hoping to see far more B Girls and only saw two, both of which clearly served the purpose of being “the girl on the team.” When they performed I could physically feel the expectations in the room change the same way they did when the smallest boys performed.
“Oh she's good, for a girl.”
An interesting parallel I drew was between the battle and the movie Paris is Burning about black queer balls. I saw the similarities between the two in the act of “shading.” In Paris is Burning the drag kings and queens use shading as a subtle form of intimidation while competing. One example of this may be miming the act of putting make up on your opponent while participating in a voguing competition. During the break dancing battle I saw the shading when the boys would give pelvic thrust or movements mimicking masturbation after doing a move they believed out shined their opponent. It's interesting to me that these two forms of intimidation were so reminiscent of one another even with one being in a queer context and the other being very heterosexual and masculine.
Another aspect of the break dancing that I was interested in was the fact that the space was not dominated by black males as I expected going in. I don't know a lot about break dancing but I do know it was started in black neighborhoods with hip hop. It was really interesting to see how this art form has been re-appropriated as a form of expression by other marginalized groups.
This being said I can't help be return to my earlier point about the lack of female representation I witnessed. It's too bad that a space thats doing so much good in so many ways still falls victim to patriarchy. Then again, when hasn't this been true?
I'm really glad I attended the break dance battle, although it was at the expense of other important events happening on campus. At times I think that being on this campus prevents me from interacting with real people, in the real world, doing real thing. This is not to romanticize the struggle of those “on the outside” but rather to keep things in perspective.