#jd 2014

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Yesterday marked the final Juste Debout until 2016 as Bruce Ykanji announced the International competition would take a 2 year break as the arena, Bercy, in Paris would undergo renovations. My first thought before the finals was a little sad to not see such great competition from all over the world come together in Paris for the finals. Juste Debout has so much rich history with street dance contests and many dancers who battle today have dreamed of dancing in the Finals.

My thoughts changed dramatically as I viewed the effect of the changes made to competition this year at the Finals. Each of the qualifying winners,instead of going straight to the Top 16 on the Bercy stage like previous years, would be put into a Top 32 bringing in 16 French qualifying dancers to compete at Moulin Rouge the day before the Finals. Maybe this had been announced prior to this years updates on qualifiers and we just missed it, but my thought is the old adage of “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Additionally, it’s great for competitions to always seek new things and grow from past experiences, but for something as big as Juste Debout where you have qualifiers all around the world…keep with the same routine. Especially since Juste Debout stands as the annual Olympics of stand up street dance competition and dancers from all over the world are continually inspired by training to make it there representing their country!

Only one category had US representation, ControlBotics (Jon Boogz and Popping John), in the final day of competition since they were able to make it through the French pre selection all the way to the semi finals. Of course we are super proud and happy to see our homies representing our country in the Popping category, but we also wanted to see our other representatives who rightly won the qualifier in NYC go up against other countries. A category highly favoring France was Locking with 6 spots in the Top 8 with French duos and only 2 others such as Italy and Germany.

Now it can be said the other countries dancers did not represent enough to be in the Top8 and should prove themselves better next time, to which I agree. Now on the flip side,competition on the final day on the Bercy stage is different than having an extra day where you have to battle in a Top 32, it’s about the moment to represent your country as well as respecting the other countries competing. There were many dancers from other countries people were waiting to see on the stage in all different categories, and they worked hard to deserve to up there (as such in previous years).

My whole point is once again the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” I show nothing but respect for Juste Debout, Bruce, and all those involved in the competition because of the legacy and opportunities JD has provided for thousands of dancers. My goal for this article is to show that winners from the individual qualifiers should have competed on the Bercy stage as others did the years before. Competitions like these show the cultural significance and how Hip Hop is celebrated via the dancers walking the stage with their flag waving proudly, competing against each other, and vibing off another countries dancing.

We hope in 2016 when Juste Debout returns, the old method of competition is re-instituted so dancers from all nations can compete against each other helping grow the positivity of Hip Hop around the world. There’s more to be said about the actual final day of competition, but as with all of us we have various opinions on the way we view judging decisions and so forth. We are blessed to be a part of this community and hope to do whatever we can to expand and grow dance all around the world.

Thank you and Keep Stepping and a BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE DANCERS WHO REPRESENTED!!

  (Franky Dee & Majid Winners of Hip Hop, Photo Credit: Little Shao/ Juste Debout)