Hong 10

Photo by Martha Cooper

“Because a lot of our competitive activities revolve around the battle,” explains Hong10, “we always need to be able to top ourselves and our opponents.”

At twenty-one, the Seoul-based B-boy is pushing himself and the art of competitive B-boying to higher altitudes with his trademark grin, gravity-defying moves, and oh-my-god-hit-the-rewind-button performance style.

Hong10’s balancing-act performances earned him his moniker, derived from a combination of surfer slang (“Hang 10”) and a play on his birth name, Kim Hong Yul (“yul” is “ten” in Korean). Along with the Expressions Crew, Hong10 won the 2002 International Battle of the Year in Germany, the B-boy equivalent of the World Championships; in the international recognition that followed, he has consistently ranked on top ten B-boy lists.

For the past four years Hong10 has served as a virtual poster boy for the UK B-boy Championships, an invite-only, eight-country competition. He’s also a member of the Project Soul crew, a sort of all-star crew of Korea, and if they defend their title successfully at this year’s October event, Korea will be the only country to take home three Championship titles from the UK competition.

B-boying, or breakdancing, is one of the most unique and rugged forms of dance; battling is the premier event of the style, with freestylers pushing themselves in a competition with few physical, mental, or creative boundaries for the body in motion. The raw style first arrived in Korea during the mid-’80s through hip-hop documentary Wild Style; a resurgence in the early ’90s, when Korean boy band Seo Taiji & Boys introduced their bubble-gum pop version of “Hip Hop Dance,” pushed it over the edge. “Kids started breaking their VCR’s, pressing pause and overusing the slow-motion feature trying to learn the dance moves by themselves,” recalls Charlie Shin, Hong10’s manager.

The popularity eventually brought foreign dancers to Korea, sparking a fresh infusion of instruction. Once Korean B-boys had picked up the foundations, their homegrown skills evolved along their current trajectory, dominating the international scene.

Breaking stereotypes about Asians and Koreans in front of audiences around the world and instilling a sense of national pride amongst Korean ex-pats, Hong10 trains with a focus on mental discipline as the primary avenue to express styles in freestyle battling, the ultimate exercise in creativity. “Originality is key…no biting or copying, just originality,” he explains. Kim likens battle strategy to playing a good game of cards. “You don’t want to show your hand too early, so you play it carefully. If your competition throws out a weak hand, you save your energy and your moves for the next round.

“I often look at my physical structure and the physical structures of the foreign dancers that I meet abroad, and I can’t help but feel like they are physically stronger than me—so I work harder,” says Hong10. Climbing the international dance scene in less than half a decade, Korean B-boys are known for their work ethic; their practice hours reportedly far outdo B-boys from other countries. “Look at the way our country’s kids cram for college,” jokes Kim. “Our country’s B-boys have the same work ethic.

“We are being recognized in an artform that is steeped in modern youth culture, a culture and artform that was developed in the South Bronx in the early ’80s,” reflects Hong10. “That artform is now going through its current evolution in South Korea in the new millennium, and I guess I have to take it step by step.” Like the man-to-beat gunslinger who can never rest, Hong10 is thinking of the next battle, thinking of ways to push himself to the next level. “Because there’s that saying,” he grins, “Above a man who runs is the man who can fly.”