Seattle-area break dancers compete against national crews at 'Takeover'

The best break dancers from across the country will battle for the crown.

At Seattle's Takeover, homegrown competitors will show off their moves against crews from Atlanta, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Vancouver. It all goes down tonight and Saturday night.

"Seattle is not the traditional place for hip-hop — cities like New York are," said Ricky Chon, 26. One of two University of Washington graduates coordinating the competition, Chon has promoted break-dancing events in Portland, California and Alaska. "I want somebody from New York to witness what we have up here and what we have to offer."

The first night is all local: Seattle crews will compete for a chance to go on to the second round the next night, where they will battle crews from around the country. Those competitors were chosen from preliminary contests in their home cities. The winning crew takes home $2,000.

Judges include Terry "Domes" Guillermo, from Massive Monkees, the Seattle crew in the running for MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew"; Eddie "Eddie Styles" Gutierrez, from JabbaWockeeZ, the winning crew from the first season of the MTV reality show; and Orb from Seattle crew Circle of Fire, who was featured in a Dockers iPhone ad.

"For me the most important thing is execution," said Guillermo. "I also look for musicality, originality, difficulty and presence. ...

"The b-boy vibe here is a lot different from anywhere else. It's more about cultivating expression, rather than just battling. I've heard b-boys from out of town say that they love coming to Seattle because they feel so free when they dance and the vibe is inspiring."

Promoter Chon is expecting crowds of 500 to 800. His co-promoter Tim Uomoto adds that Takeover is "family friendly," focusing on the general demographic of 14 to 24, but open to folks from all walks of life.

The two have started a nonprofit centered on break dancing, called Outshine Productions.

"We hope to do a number of things with our organization, like free classes for at-risk youth and a couple of fundraisers too for local nonprofits," said Uomoto, 25, who has been break dancing for the past 10 years. "We try to bring the community together and have them see how amazing this culture is."

Marian Liu: 206-464-3825 or mliu@seattletimes.com