Red Bull BC One

**Titles** - **2008 1st place** Chelles Battle Pro (Paris, France) - **2008 2st place** Bboy Unit Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine) - **2008 1st place** Hip-Hop Connection: Arena (Pesaro, Italy) - **2009 2st place** A New Hope 2 (Sacramento, USA) - **2009 2st place** Chelles Battle Pro (Paris, France) - **2009 1st place** Circle Prinz Finland (Helsinki, Finland) - **2009 rep. Ukraine** Team Europe at IBE (Heerlen, Holland) - **2009 1st place** Jam Master (Kharkov, Ukraine) - **2010 1st place** Outbreak Europe (Banska Bystrica, Slovakia) - **2010 1st place** UK Scandinavian Elimination Solo (Helsinki, Finland) - **2012 1st place** Red Bull BC One Cypher Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine) **Profile** Andrii Gregul aka B-Boy PLUTO from the Ukraine is a smart and low-key guy, a power mover with an incredible flow, but also well versed in footwork and elaborate transitions. Like fellow Ukrainian B-Boy Kolobok, who competed in the RED BULL BC ONE twice, he is a member of Ruffneck Attack. PLUTO first discovered breaking in a video clip on TV when he was around twelve years old. He tried some of the moves in his living room, but didn’t really have any understanding of breaking at that time. Later on, in 2000, Anton, a friend from the neighborhood showed him some moves and then gave him the videotape of Battle of the Year 1999. In the beginning of 2001, PLUTO began practicing seriously with some friends and discovered that B-Boying ran in his blood. His main inspirations were the Style Elements on the BOTY 1997 tape and the Rock Force Crew on the BOTY 1999 tape. Apart from dancing, PLUTO loves all other elements of Hip Hop culture, too, but at the moment is mostly interested in creating beats. “Drop beats, not bombs!” he says. Andrii got his B-Boy name from his good friend Scream, who started calling him PLUTO many years ago because Andrii’s face reminded him of the lazy dog from the Disney cartoon. “And also at that time I was doing really lazy power moves.” PLUTO and his crew are eager to spread Hip Hop culture in the Ukraine. They teach young B-Boys and B-Girls in their school “Ruffneck Studio” in the center of Kiev. The studio is open for everybody who wants to learn about Hip Hop culture. It’s the same place where the first generation of Ruffneck Attack started to practice. There are four groups studying in the studio. Each group has ten to twelve people and practices thee times a week. There are an impressively large number of B-Girls practicing at the studio, some of which have formed their own crews, like the Rocking Chicks, the B-Girl crew that won the B-Girl Battle at the IBE this year. Some of the students become members of Ruffneck, like B-Boys Slef, one of the new generation B-Boys in Ruffneck Attack. Most of the time, PLUTO feels comfortable and relaxed on stage, but at big events like the UK B-Boy Championships, IBE or R16 he is still nervous. “It’s really an honor to be invited to events like that and then you feel the pressure of the responsibility.” But like many other B-Boys and B-Girls, PLUTO prefers battling in the ciphers to battling on a stage. At the beginning, his family thought B-Boying would just be a hobby for Andrii, but after about five years, they had to realize it was something more serious. When they started seeing the progress in his career, they began supporting him. PLUTO studies tourism and business administration at the National Aviation University in Kiev. He will finish his studies at the end of 2011. It’s hard for him to balance the dancing and travelling with his studies and he already had some problems with the university due to his schedule at one point. Luckily his parents are very supportive and understand that B-Boying is essential for PLUTO’s happiness. PLUTO feels that Hip Hop culture is not only an art form but a state of mind. “Hip Hop is a way of thinking. It’s hard to explain, but through Hip Hop is how I see this world.” The Hip Hop scene in the Ukraine is still young. There are not many Hip Hop heads who know how to organize events. During the last two years, PLUTO’s crew and other B-Boys from the Ukraine started travelling and spreading the news about the B-Boy scene in their country. PLUTO and his crew are trying to integrate their heritage into their dance by including steps from the “gopak” into their top-rocks and footwork. Gopak is the famous powerful Ukrainian folk dance with jumps and impressive leg work, which supposedly has a connection to the fighting techniques of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and is only executed by men.