Eleven of Zimbabwe’s best hip hop dancers are off to represent the country at the African finals of the international Battle of the Year (BOTY) B-boy dance competition to be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 27th to 30th September.

B-boy is an acrobatic form of Hip Hop dancing originating in the United States of America and now practised all over the world.

Six countries will take part in South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa, Morocco and Zimbabwe. The winning team will represent the continent at the international finals on the 7th of October 2009 at Volkswagenhalle, Braunschweig, Germany.

^ Some members of the Flip Floppers dance crew practise at the Celebration Centre in Harare.

Team Zimbabwe, known as the Flip Floppers, is an amalgamation of the best dancers from different crews around the country. They were selected after a series of elimination bouts which culminated in a grand finale, watched by over 300 people, at the 7 Arts Theatre in Harare on August 1st.

Eight dance crews took part, namely Most Wanted, Rolx, Harmony, 116, Extremme Blitz, Inmates and Flip Floppers. The first two teams hail from Bulawayo and the rest are from Harare.

Three of the dancers in the final team are from 116, one is from Inmates, two from Most Wanted and four from Flip Floppers.

The dancers have no trainer and have choreographed their own moves. They are being assisted though by Dennis Boddy, to tighten their routines. The team has been training every week day (8am-5pm) at the Celebration Centre in Harare since August 3rd.

The Zimbo Jam visited them during one of their training sessions and we were impressed by what we saw. It normally takes up to three months for a dance crew to get together a routine, but these young men have under a month to perfect their B-boy moves.

^ Hip Hop acrobatics. One of the criteria for judging the competition is the difficulty of moves.

The team members are Lesedi Mzwimbi (a.k.a Lyce- His brother Lebo is the Idols Africa presenter), Joshua Saunyama (J-Lock), Blessing Fire (Chris Styles), Moses Matimba (F.1), Ben Deuschle (Ben-Jo-D- His mother is gospel diva and Pastor, Bonnie Deuschle), Adrian Zenasi (Professor), Tatenda Nyamangara (Bolo), Collenson Kwapesa (Destro), Paul Gwandu (Blade), Fidelis Burawa (Slasher) and Mitch Green (Trixtah).They will be judged for synchronisation, difficulty of their routines, power moves, precision, creativity and execution.

The team jets out of Zimbabwe on the 27th of this month and returns, hopefully with the title, on September 2nd. Initially they were intending to go by bus, but South African Airways came forward and sponsored tickets for them. Other sponsors are Spar which is supplying water for rehearsals, Faithwear with two sets of attire and a tracksuit for each team member, Zuva with clothing and grooming, World Wide Scholarships (WWS)- tracksuits, Creative Computers- cash for out of pocket expenses and Celebration Ministries International- food, water, cosmetics, a rehearsal venue and cash gifts.

The Zimbabwe leg of the BOTY event was organised by Jibilika Entertainment.

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