Battle of the Year, commonly referred to as BOTY, is an annual international breakdancing competition that began in 1990. It has been regarded as the premier b-boying competition in the world and has been referred to as the "World Cup of B-Boying". Regional qualifying tournaments, also known as ''preliminaries'', are held worldwide culminating in the ''BOTY International'', the world finals event which is currently held at

Sud de France Arena Sud de France Arena (also known as the Arena Montpellier) is an indoor arena located in the Montpellier suburb of Pérols, in the south of France that opened in September 2010. It has a seating capacity of 14,000 spectators, ...

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. For the first twenty-three editions, Battle of the Year was a crew competition; in 2013, a one-on-one competition was added. Since 2014, the one-on-one portion of Battle of the Year is one of ten tournaments that are a part of the

World BBoy Series The Undisputed World B-Boy Series is a b-boy or breaking championship series established in 2013 that connects the renowned solo international b-boy competitions worldwide. The Undisputed Masters. After the series has been concluded, mostly at th ...

. The competition spawned the 2007 documentary ''

Planet B-Boy ''Planet B-Boy'' is a 2007 documentary film that focuses on the 2005 Battle of the Year while also describing B-boy culture and history as a global phenomenon. This documentary was directed by Canadian-American Korean filmmaker Benson Lee, shot ...

'' as well as a 2013 eponymously named feature film ''

Battle of the Year Battle of the Year, commonly referred to as BOTY, is an annual international breakdancing competition that began in 1990. It has been regarded as the premier b-boying competition in the world and has been referred to as the "World Cup of B-Boying" ...

'', both directed by Benson Lee. It has also gained attention for positive promotion of hip-hop culture and social unity. "Hip-hop events such as the Battle of the Year create spaces for a globalization from the bottom, bringing people together across the barriers of geography, language, and race."

Past Battle of the Year results

In 2006, 2 semifinal battles were implemented, with the winner of each battle advancing to the finals. The losers of the semifinal battles do not battle each other; therefore, there is no longer a fourth-place award. Until 2006, one battle was held solely for first place and one battle was held solely for third place.

Past Battle of the Year Solo Champions results

2016 season

2016 World Finals results

Best Show: Melting Force

2016 International 1 on 1 Battle results

Bruce Almighty () earned a bid to the Undisputed World BBoy Series in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

at the end of the 2016 year by winning BOTY Solo.

2015 season

2015 World Finals results

Best Show: Doble KO

2015 International 1 on 1 Battle results

Menno () earned a bid to the Undisputed World BBoy Series at the end of the 2015 year by winning BOTY Solo.

2014 season

2014 World Finals results

Best Show: Fusion MC

Crew List for 2014 World Finals

2014 International 1 on 1 Battle results

Alkolil () earned a bid to the Undisputed World BBoy Series at the end of the 2014 year by winning BOTY Solo.

2013 season

2013 World Finals results

Like in 2012, Battle of the Year 2013 included an additional semifinals placer to add additional battles to the tournament. Six crews qualified after the showcase stage of the competition consisting of the two highest scoring crews automatically qualified for the semifinals and four crews competing for the two remaining places against them. Best Show: The Floorriorz

Crew List for 2013 World Finals

2013 International 1 on 1 Battle results

2012 season

2012 World Finals results

Battle of the Year 2012 included an additional semifinals placer to add additional battles to the tournament. In 2012 six crews qualified after the showcase stage of the competition consisting of the two highest scoring crews automatically qualified for the semifinals and four crews competing for the two remaining places against them. Best Show: Vagabond Crew

Crew List for 2012 World Finals

kamikaz crew Algeria

2011 season

2011 World Finals results

Best Show: Vagabonds

Crew List for 2011 World Finals

2010 season

2010 World Finals results

Best Show: Mortal Combat

Crew List for 2010 World Finals

2009 season

For the first time in the Competition's history, a 1 on 1 Tournament was held for b-boys who weren't competing as a part of a crew. The first 1 on 1 Battle of the Year final saw Lilou of Algeria defeat Morris representing the U.S..

2009 World Finals results

Best Show: All Area

Crew List for 2009 World Finals

2008 season

2008 World Finals results

Best Show: Top 9

Crew List for 2008 World Finals

This list is in chronological order by date qualified.

2007 season

2007 World Finals results

Best Show: Turn Phrase Crew

Crew List for 2007 World Finals

This list is in chronological order by date qualified. Preliminaries that have not occurred yet have a colored background.

2006 season

2006 World Finals results

Best Show: Vagabonds

Crew List for 2006 World Finals

Series Format

World Finals Format

The format comprises firstly a showcase round in which all crews perform a routine of no more than six minutes in length demonstrating their ability in the different styles of breakdance. Judges rank all competing crews by evaluating certain criteria based on the shows. Following the showcase round, the top four crews are selected to take part in a crew-vs-crew

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

playoff. In the semifinals, the top-ranked crew battles the 4th-ranked crew and the 2nd-ranked crew battles the 3rd-ranked crew. The winner of each semifinal then battle each other for the championship. An award, "Best Show", is also given to the crew that had the best-scoring showcase.

Scoring Criteria

Judges evaluate the showcase round on two main elements, artistry and

technicality The term legal technicality is a casual or colloquial phrase referring to a technical aspect of law. The phrase is not a term of art in the law; it has no exact meaning, nor does it have a legal definition. It implies that strict adherence to the ...

, each of which includes several criteria. The artistry element includes

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, synchronicity, and

choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...

, among others. The technicality element includes toprock, uprock, footwork, and

power moves Power moves are dance moves which are loosely defined as moves relying on speed, momentum, and acrobatic elements for performance. They are prominent in B-boying, often the centerpieces of routines featuring the other elements (toprock, downrock, ...

, among others.

Qualification and Preliminaries

The champion of the world finals is always invited directly to the following year's world finals to defend their title. All other crews qualify via preliminary tournaments, although historically there have been a few instances of directly-invited crews (usually when there is no preliminary in that crew's region). Qualification is moving towards a two-step system consisting of individual country preliminaries followed by regional preliminaries. Historically, each country had an individual preliminary and sent one crew to the world finals; however, countries have become more and more

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

alized over the years. For example, starting in 2007, there is a new BOTY Asia regional preliminary that will send the top 3 finishers to the world finals; in 2006 and years prior, Asia region countries such as South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan had their own preliminaries and sent one crew each to the world finals. The following is a chart showing the regions and countries in the region, as well as number of crews sent to the world finals, for the 2007 season. ''*'' Winner of BOTY India will participate in BOTY Asia from 2011
''*'' BOTY North East Europe regional preliminary was canceled. On July 10, 2007, it was announced that BOTY North East Europe member countries would be allowed to enter BOTY Scandinavia.
''**'' On September 7, 2007, the BOTY USA 2007 qualifier was announced; however, it was canceled less than one month later.

World Finals Format History

Prior to 2006, the current championship playoff system was not used. Instead, there were only two battles: two crews would compete for first place, while two other crews would compete for third place. While a "Best Show" award was still granted based on showcase performance, the judges would also rank the crews as to who they thought should participate in the championship battle. This resulted in frequently-occurring situations where the crew that received the "Best Show" award was not even able to compete for the championship, as they were picked for the third place battle instead of the championship battle. Examples include three "Best Show" winners in the final five years under the old format: Break the Funk (2004), Fire Works (2003), and Visual Shock (2001). The change to the playoff system also brought the world finals format into line with some of the qualifier formats, such as the BOTY Korea Preliminary, which has been using the four-crew playoff system for years. Starting in 2004, a strict 6-minute time limit per crew on the showcase was enforced for the world finals, with scoring penalties assessed for going over time. This was enacted so that the world finals event would finish in a shorter time period. The 6-minute limit was quickly adopted at preliminaries. In 1990, when the event was known as the ''International Breakdance Cup'', there were only shows and no battles. From 1991-1996, there were battles resulting in a crowned champion, but no "Best Show" award was given.

Media

An official

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

documenting the event is usually released a few months after the tournament. It is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

best seller on breaking and hip-hop media retail web sites. Several

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

have been produced based on the competition, including the 2007 feature-length documentary

. The film premiered at the 2007

TriBeCa Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

and was released on DVD on November 11, 2008. A movie based on this competition, called Battle of the Year, was released on September 20, 2013. The film was directed by Benson Lee, who produced Planet B-Boy, and featured famous artist

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

in the primary role. On occasion with the annual competition, a CD/ LP titled "The Official Battle Of The Year Motion Soundtrack" is released since 1998. It features some of the leading B-Boy Funk artists such as Mr. Confuse, Cosmic EFI, DJ Nas'D, Esone, Def Cut, Cutmaster GB, and DJ Phantom. The cover artwork is drawn by

Graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

artist Mode 2.

References

External links

Battle of the Year
official website
Battle of the Year TV special
at MixeryRawDeluxe.TV {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of The Year Breakdance Street dance competitions Culture in Braunschweig World championships in dance