Advantages / disadvantages of going in first in a battle
Many times when the emcee says "crew a" and "crew b" you guys line
up. The music starts. And then the staring contest begins to see
who's going to go first. This is a crucial part of the battle
giving someone an edge before the battle even begins.
Advantages to going first-
in many judges eye's starting first show's more confidence (but
don't wait to long if your going to start it, otherwise it just
seems like "I'll go first.... If I have to :( "
The best/most crucial thing about going first Is YOU set the pace
for the battle. You set the bar for the first round, they have
to beat your set. If you think you're going to lose to your opp
(ie- you know them and what their arsenal consists of generally
and its bigger and better then yours) and you take it to them,
coming out aggressively the judges will see your energy and feel
it, as well as the crowd and you'll get bonus points for the round.
Now back to setting the pace- I personally set it off with smooth
toprock, clean transition from tops to ground (hopefully anyway haha)
and then have some hard hitting footwork or threading. Setting
the pace with some solid dancing and explosive footwork will now
mean, dancer #2 will have to follow that, if they don't dance or
aren't as explosive as you it's going to look like they're losing
(especially if it's a close battle). The next part is round 2.
You'll get to see what they have to throw, usually dancer #2 will
throw one of their sets they think is one of their better ones.
so now that you've seen what their better stuff looks like
(their rd they did in the first rd) you now know weither you
need to kick it up a notch and go even harder or if you should
just keep the same pace (depending if they can keep up with you).
This can also get into peoples heads because you WANTED to go
first, so they'll be concentrating on your rd more to determine
what they should do as opposed to going out and doing their own
thing.
Disadvantages-
If you go first the biggest drawback is there's no real chance
to "answer".
(Answering is a technique where if guy A does a chair, guy B will
do a chair but better then guy A to show they're better)
You have one chance to set the bar for the battle, its tough
because I try to gauge how good someone is by how they're handling
themselves (how do they stand, are they pacing, are they moving
to the music before they're even close to stepping out, are they
tryin to bring the crowd into the battle by clapping and getting
them hype for their round) because I don't want to go ape shit and
throw my best stuff because my opp might not be any good at all
and I'll have wasted a round. But if I throw out too easy of a
round and don't do my dope moves it leaves an opening for my opp
to take me out early in the game. Some battles are only 1 rd in
the prelims or quarters and you could get knocked ut because you
didn't judge your opponent correctly. This could also backfire
because there are bboys I call "sleepers" which is exactly like
it is with cars. They look trash but end up being super dope. I've
fallen for this many times.
So I throw out a higher level round (not my best but not an easy
to beat rd either) so I can find out how good my enemy is (if
I haven't seen them dance before)
And remember anyone can be beaten on any given day
Then there's the guys who ALWAYS go 2nd.
Advantages- the exact opposite of the first. You get to see what
level your opp is before you have to step out and do anything
so your goal is to simply beat their rounds. you can capitalize
on their mistakes and accentuate their flaws as your pro's
during your set.you can also increase the pace of the battle,
slowing it down (to me) isn't an option unless you can do it
right-start off with high energy toprock do a super fast drop
and then back up (I call it resetting) look at your opponent, shake
your head, and redrop at your own pace, to me this style of
battling is the only way to slow down the battle without it looking
like your losing the round. It's a lot easier mentally unless
your opp throws a good round in which case could lead to...
Disadvantages-
Case could lead to... You overthinking your round. Because your
goal is to beat their 1st round and then add some more to give
them a challenge for their 2nd set. But what's enough to beat your
opponent? Are you throwing enough, too little? You beat
their round but didn't do anything else... The judges will prolly
give you a tie or wave it in the direction of whoever started the
battle-reason being when you go 2nd you have an advantage but you
HAVE to beat them and make it noticeable. If people
can't see it they can't vote in your favor. Also you can't set
the pace for the battle. If you go 2nd its a game of simon says
and follow the leader, you can be explosive and that'd fine, but
if you slow down in your 2nd set or you aren't conditioned
for that explosiveness your introuble if you make it past this
battle.
All in all there are advantages and disadvantages to going first
and second in abattle. It really just depends on your battle
strategy, the music, and how YOU feel. Remember you dance your
way- don't fall into other peoples traps and dance how your opp
wants you to dance
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