Off Tha Hook! Round TWO

Thursday 24th - Yes yes, once you make the audition for Off Tha Hook, you come back to the second round - the battle!!

This time its more tense. You know that all the shit dancers have been sent home and the standard of dancing must be higher. Think X-Factor in dance. All the embarrassing acts have come up, done their 'thang' in front of the judges and been given their verdict.

A few of the contestants we saw on Tuesday had made it through, and they were there outside, as well as a few new faces that took the second auditions on Wednesday.
This time we decided to take it easy with getting there early, instead, we chilled out a bit and even arrived late, around 09:30. Everyone was still waiting outside though, until around 10:00! The director's bitch (not his official title, but it near enough described him) announced "We'll be ready in 15-20-25 minutes... two, three, four hours??"
They led us down after about 20 minutes, as by now, after two days of auditions, its obvious people were having enough.

Round two involved a battle between two dancers/pairs/teams.
Unlike the rules pack, sent out to contestants, it didn't have to be choreographed this time. So you didn't have to do your moves for 1min 30 and exhaust yourself.

Its likely the producers were upstairs watching 'You Got Served' to brush up the rules of street battling.

The contestants were split into three groups, apparently, as this doesn't divide properly, and were put up against one another to battle. ONCE. The rules said twice, with two different opponents, but we can see the producer fucked up again and changed the script.
Now contestants had a choice of three tracks to dance to and both had 30 seconds to battle each, totalling to two minutes. When their time was up, a horn would blow and the other would come on. Who went first was decided by the flipping of a coin.

The stage was set up, the judges were in and the cameras were rolling. Sometimes. We were allowed to watch filming from the balcony as we weren't taking part.
Kayla took her place on stage. Inside, we were all praying that the director didn't see a mistake and have to re-record the entire two minutes again. This had happened to several other contestants, meaning they had exhausted a lot of their best moves already, and their opponents probably sussed their weaknesses.
Kayla's opponent was a professional popper. What happened next though changes the course of history for the U.D.S for all time...

The coin was flipped and she was given the choice of going first or second. She went first. Best to get it over with, and set the standard!
Here's a summary:

Kayla: Nice start, good moves, varied style.
Popper: Pop, umm... glide... small taunts
Kayla: *Bothered!* *Hand motion - shh!* Gets on hands into a handstand and bounces for a long time in front of him, then finishes off with a lot of aggressive taunts.
Popper: "Shit..." Glides about a little, jumps in Kayla's face (why?), does a suicide.

It was already over on Kayla's second go.
According to the judges, both did better in their auditions. Okay, fair enough, but Kayla was nervous, and there was more at risk. Obviously though, she made it through. A popper just doesn't have the moves to compete with a classically-dance-trained, British champion gymnast who can bounce on their hands! That chap got buggered!!
We went wild!!

Later that day, we were even asked to join the others in the arena to be part of the background audience. So if you look closely, you can see me posing pretty hardcaw and pretending to get excited over other battlers, even though I'd just seen the best defeat a professional.
Saying that though, watch out for the two breakers who both make it through, it's funny TV:

Presenter: "Who do you think won that round"
Breaker 1: "I did, of course"
Breaker 2: "What you talking about man, I ROASTED you!!"

They even played up to the cameras, which I like a lot! Breaker 2 is a short, well built black guy who can do about every breakin' move under the sun.
Also, lookout for the crew of three who get knocked out in that round, we were chilling with their choreographer all that day.

After filming, spirits were really high. We all left as happy as can be and even did some breakdancing on a moving tube (don't try a stunt like that kids).

We'll be notified when the finals come up, and when the show will be broadcast.