#stepxstepdance

Naturally there have been hip hop events all over the world on the weekend of August 9 & 10 2014. But I can assure you without a shadow of a doubt non of them were as legitimate as The Notorious IBE. It is just a cold hard fact you do not become NOTORIOUS by being average.

You saw unforgettable battles? IBE had legendary battles AND featured one with new judging criteria: Undisputed.

You attended one of a kind talkshow? Try attending 7 !

You witnessed an exciting performance? Really- I BET

 yours wasn’t followed by a marriage proposal?

You saw a dope b-girl ? Nearly impossible. Because they were all in Heerlen.

You had merchandise? IBE had a market to MEET

 your every need and even frustration: barbershop, protect your neck massages, the flyest gear, rarest records yet if all the above failed you could Knock The Judges.

You had a panel? IBE had a 3 AM storyteller: Poe ONE.

You had great Dj’s? IBE had legends, strictly vinyl, Champion Sound and Wave!

You got your groove on? We are still trying to find the off switch!

I could go on but I’ll be short about it: the weekend was mindblowing. It was soul shattering, awe-inspiring and it is very hard to step out of the experience at once. Which is exactly why we don’t.

It’s nearly impossible to find the right words for the experience that is IBE. Big things happen there every year. Dreams come true. The impossible is getting the done. New goals are set, creativity flows NON-STOP and connections for life are made. You know it’s going to be a good weekend when people are tearing up the place on the first afternoon dancing to the beats of Nobunaga and Lu-Chi’sz in the pouring rain!

Speaking strictly for myself I will take it one step further. Officially CALLING

 it a straight up spiritual experience. I’ve grown as a reporter, a woman and a human being by working on a project for IBE. Hosting a talkshow with a nuanced subject is challenging to work out. After much contemplation and preparation it came to fruition better than I imagined it. The support from my guests, IBE visitors, dancers- even legends, was overwhelming.

Featured in the talkshow was Sonic (Natural Effects- Denmark). He ended second in the Seven to Smoke battle. Jessy (The Ruggeds-Holland) took it home but for me a true WIN

 at life is the fact one can still compete as good as ever and hold his own as an athlete at the respectable age of 38.

SONIC DURING THE SEVEN TO SMOKE

What has always been a mystery to me is how to return to ‘normal’ life or how to move on to the next event without properly letting go of the past 3 days? How does one process all these conversations, the parties, sharing, and moments of epiphany’s? I keep a little notebook but giving yourself some quiet time might work too. Maybe the important words find a way through the maze and pop back into your head. If all that doesn’t work luckily there is the IBE media team who captured you doing basicly any- and everything. A great example of that: Early monday morning, while chilling outside the HOTELROOM

 I showed my friend, photographer Mariusz the sketch I got from graffiti artist Leigh Redhead (UK). Took him a second to come up with a photo of Leigh making the actual drawing on FRIDAY

! That one and many more amazing action shots from him, coming soon!

Also impossible, but I did manage to pick two of my favorite items of the program. Here is a wicked clip of the second edition of Break Down the House by Kapela.

One of the new items on the program was storytelling in the middle of the night (yes dear Steppers it was 2AM) with Poe One. Enough said.

Furthermore my talkshow “The fifth element: understanding and overstanding” will be featured on Each One Teach One TV and the Prodance TV channel. Even though Poe One couldn’t make it on time because he was judging, MEETING

 him and his support to the project was definitely one of the many highlights of the weekend. He even dropped by just before the start of the show. Like always, it’s the little things in life. Because I had a notion that he wasn’t going to make it back I felt it necessary to try and put in a question that reflected him. On saturday he told me about how affected he is with the state of the world and wanting to make a physical gesture of support & unity to our brothers and sisters all over the world. I couldn’t quite make that a reality so me and bboy Manny (Soul Mavericks – UK) put our heads together and transformed this idea into a question that we could add on to the list last minute. “Do you have a different approach when entering a fragile zone, knowing that what you bring there might not change/ improve the general conditions of that place?”  It was answered by Sonic who gave a beautiful example from one of his own travels. Stay tuned.

What else can you expect to see from IBE by SXSTV Europe?

-A video interview with Mustapha Ajdour aka Wolf in English and Arabic (!)

This endearing young man from La Halla KingZoo recently won the Red Bull BC One cypher in Morocco. I first got in touch with him through setting up a connection for Ocke Films in 2012.

Wolf has been working very hard and since we rarely see each other, IBE was the perfect opportunity to shine a light on him.

-Several short interviews CALLED

 “Spiritual Street Sessions”

-A review of the movie “One world under a groove”.

-An in depth interview TBA

If you are LUCKY

 enough to see another edition come to live in 2015 – BE THERE.  Big up to 45-live and the entire organization of people that made this festival possible and brought it to another level yet again.

Follow Step X Step dance and Stefani on social media  stay updated on new footage!

Click here to see rest of the official IBE playlist.

Thank you to Mr P (The Ruggeds) and and big up to the entire media team, especially:

www.facebook.com/MariuszDyszlewskiFotografia

www.eachoneteachone.tv/