16 World-Ranked Crews Battle It Out in Korea for No. 1 Prize

The Korea Tourism Organization and the city of Seoul have teamed up to host R-16, a B-boy competition that hopes to establish itself as a major international event in the world break dancing arena. The event, which will be held at Seoul's Jamsil Sports Complex and City Hall Plaza from June 1-3, 2007, will include a number of performances, a concert, a graffiti art festival, and plenty of breakin'.

(PRWEB) May 11, 2007 -- The Korea Tourism Organization and the city of Seoul have teamed up to host R-16, a B-boy competition that hopes to establish itself as a major international event in the world break dancing arena.

The event, which will be held at Seoul's Jamsil Sports Complex and City Hall Plaza from June 1-3, 2007, will include a number of performances, a concert, a graffiti art festival, and plenty of breakin'.

The KTO, in an effort to shift the focus of the Korean wave (a term that describes the rising popularity of Korean culture abroad) from pop music and television dramas to B-boys, is supporting breakdancing-related events in order to draw attention from fans in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe and America. Korean B-boys, in particular, have become a new Korean cultural icon through the numerous world competitions they have won over the recent years.

Included in the competition are sixteen crews from fourteen countries, including Massive Monkees from the US, Mortal Combat from Japan, and the 2006 BOTY champions, the Vagabonds from France. Two Korean crews, the Drifterz and the Rivers, were selected on March 31, after a fierce preliminary competition, to compete with the world-ranked crews.

Breakdancing competitions for R-16 ("R-stands for "Respect, Revolution and Ranking" and "16" represents the total number of crews that will participate in the event) will be held on June 1 and 2 at Jamsil Sports Complex. The first day of competition will include performance battles and the second day will include team battles. The top ranking crew of both events will be crowned champions.

On the third day of R-16, June 3, a concert will take place at City Hall Plaza. The crews participating in the battles and Korean pop stars will take the stage to perform together. During the event, a graffiti festival will be held at both the Jamsil Sports Complex in southern Seoul, and along Cheonggyecheon Stream in northern Seoul. Graffiti artists from around the world will ply their skills for all attendees, and KTO and the city of Seoul will carry out concentrated promotions to ensure visitors from both Korea and from abroad to attend the event.

Breakdancing sunk back into an underground scene after a short-lived period of popularity about 25 years ago, but the last few years have seen resurgence in this unique art form, particularly in Korea. A number of Korean crews have received top honors at competitions throughout the world, and as a result, B-boys have become part of the "new Korean wave".

For reservation and more details, please visit Tour2Korea.com (http://english.tour2korea.com/r16).
Also, Tour2Korea.com is now opening online events related to "R-16 Korea Sparkling, Seoul". A variety of prizes & gifts including 2 free R-16 tour packages will be given out to the winners.

Inquires: KTO Events Team Tel +82-2-729-9521/9524,
Email sesu41 @ mail.knto.or.kr
Website: http://english.tour2korea.com/r16

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