SPELL-BINDING: A musical combo of taekwondo and B-boying mesmerised the audience.By Umer NangianaNot just singers, even martial artists and break dancers were on song. They demonstrated with spectacular skill and perfection what they are best at — taekwondo and break dance.These boys literally, flew high at the ‘Fly High’, the Korean Cultural Night organised by the South Korean embassy in Qatar in honour of their visiting President Park Geun-hye. Attended by dignitaries from Qatar, diplomatic corps and members of both communities, the show saw smartly dressed South Korean taekwondo players displaying martial art with finesse.Flying more than 15 metre in the air, at times, to take down wooden slabs held there by a fellow performer, the acrobatic martial artists were breathtakingly flawless. The displayed self-defence skills with a touch of music.The highlight of the show, however, was a musical collaboration of taekwondo with B-boying — break dance or urban culture. Imagine the martial artists synchronising their punches, kicks and aerial stunts with dance moves of the B-boys against slow-paced classical music in the background. It was magical.“There are plenty of B-boying teams in South Korea. However, we are specially trained in this form combining classical music with break dance,” Lee Seung Jin, the team leader of the B-boying team Jinjo Crew, tells Community.It is Jinjo Crew’s specialty, he adds. “Most people think that B-boying is just limited to fast-paced, high energy music. But, in fact, we alter it to suit any kind of music. We can very well make B-boying moves to any form of music being played at any pace. It synchronises perfectly,” asserts Jin.Performing all over the world for more than a decade, the Jinjo Crew has a dedicated infrastructure for teaching the art to interested youngsters. It is one of the leading B-boying crews in the world, collecting scores of trophies over the years.The company is also credited with popularising this form of art not only in their own country, but the outside world as well.“This dance is dynamic and very high energy. Few people can perform it like the Jinjo Crew, one of the pioneers in the urban dance culture. And it is we who have popularised this form of dance in South Korea where it is huge today. People just love it and it has spread to the other parts of the world as well,” gushes Jin.“There are hundreds of people in the world who are performing it in different styles today, but I would say no-one does it better than Jinjo Crew. We have won world championships and one-on-one competition many times.For the different categories of competitions, they have specialists in their union.Speaking about the history of the break dance club, Jin says it was the first crew to win five major competitions abroad. Globally renowned for its creativity and professionalism, Jinjo’s ambitions are to create and inspire a new movement through their uniqueness.“We train consistently and systematically by using various projects to always advance ourselves. We want to have an impact on the progression of South Korea’s cultural industry and we will always strive to be the best,” says Jin.Jinjo also made history by becoming the first B-boy team to claim five major titles in the 30-year history of break dance. There is no other team that can stand on its own against the talents of Jinjo Crew.Jinjo is also the first international crew to win the main freestyle session. In 2011 Korea R16 World Final, it won both for performance and team battle.In 2010 France Battle of the Year Final, one of the four major dance competitions in the world, Jinjo have performed as Korea’s representative and won before an audience of 40,000 — recorded as the most successful event of Battle of the Year World Final ever.In 2008 France Red Bull BC One, one of the four major World Championship contests for B-Boys, Wing, a Jinjo Crew member, became the world champion. When it comes to B-boying, there would be hardly anyone in the world better than these Koreans.President Geun-hye, who was on a three-day official visit to Qatar as part of her tour of four GCC countries, hailed these performances. She said such cultural events would further strengthen ties between South Korea and Qatar.The assistant minister for foreign affairs also attended alongside the minister of culture. It was a show to introduce South Korean culture to Qatari people.The South Korean president and the attendees showed great admiration for it.“Ties between Qatar and South Korea are developing and we hope that my visit would further enhance our economic, social and cultural relations,” the president told the audience at the reception.She said her country would extend all possible support to Qatar in order to make the 2022 FIFA World Cup a successful event. The B-boying and the taekwondo teams had come all the way from South Korea to perform at the show. Qatari and South Korean singers also performed a melodiously composed Qatari national song, “Allah ya Omari Qatar”. The Taekwondo Association also showcased Qatari children performing taekwondo skills they had learnt locally from South Korean trainers.The cultural show held at Four Seasons hotel was attended by Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Dr Hamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kuwari besides other government functionaries. The show also featured a play, Whale of a Time, showcasing Korean cultural diversity.The ceremony concluded with a beautifully choreographed climax where martial artists and B-boys held national flags of South Korea and Qatar in a formation.