Other Interests: Photography, snowboarding, wakeboarding, reading
Profession: Just Dance

Motto: “Always be the best that I can—no slacking!”

Titles
2001 1st place Be B-Boy, Japan
2001 2nd place Dance Delight, Tokyo
2002 1st place Style Wars, Korea
2002 1st place HipHop Connection B-BOY Master Vol. 1
2002 1st place B-Boy Unit Vol.4, Korea
2002 1st place B-Boy Master Championship, Korea
2002 1st place Be B-Boy, Japan
2002 1st place Battle Of The Year, Korea
2002 1st place International Battle Of The Year, Germany
2002 2nd place UK B-Boy Championships, Solo Battle, London
2002 1st place UK B-Boy Championships, Crew Battle, London
2002 2nd place FreeStyle Session Japan
2003 1st place B-Boy Master Mixed Battle Vol.3
2003 1st place France Hip Hop Planet
2003 1st place UK B-Boy Championships, Crew Battle, London
2003 1st place Pro-Am Euro, France
2004 1st place B-Boy UNIT Vol.6. Korea
2004 1st place B-Boy Challenge Vol.4
2004 2nd place UK B-Boy Championships, Solo Battle, London
2004 1st place UK B-Boy Championships, Crew Battle, London
2004 1st place Freestyle Session Korea
2004 1st place B-Boy Challenge Grand Championship
2005 1st place K.O.B.E Battle, Japan
2005 1st place FIFA Hip Hop World Challenge 1on1 Battle
2005 2nd place UK B-Boy Championships, Solo Battle, London
2005 1st place UK B-Boy Championships, Crew Battle, London
2005 2nd place RED BULL BC ONE, Berlin, Germany
2006 1st place RED BULL BC ONE, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2007 3rd place RED BULL BC ONE, Johannesburg, South Africa
2007 1st place Warsaw Challenge, Poland
2007 JUDGE Battle of the Year World Finals, Germany

Profile
HONG 10 is the champion of the RED BULL BC ONE 2006 in Brazil. He is constantly at the top of his game and is known as one of the most creative and strength driven B-Boys in the world. He is a former member of the Korean crew Expressions, currently a member of Drifterz Crew and a member of the Korean all-star crew Project Soul with members from Rivers Crew. Recognized for his extremely complex, clean, and intricately creative style, he won 2nd place in 2005’s RED BULL BC ONE, 1st place in 2006 and 3rd place in 2007. His signature moves are Bridge ’90s, Chair Flares, Chair Threads, Drop Chair Freezes, and the HONG 10 Freeze.

The first time Kim saw breaking was on a video he borrowed from a friend. It was the “US Freestyle Session 3” and he was blown away by what he saw. He started breaking with his friends and at first, they were just just hanging out and having fun. He ’s still surprised by what happened and how he got where he is now.

Kim’s name in Korean is HONG Yul, and Yul translated into Korean phonetically means ten. So his name is HONG 10. It sounds like Hang 10 which is a term for a particular move in surfing. Kim loves snowboarding and wakeboarding, is an avid photographer and also reads a lot. He gets a lot of support from his family. Even though they are constantly worried about his health and his future they stand behind him and always cheer for him in competitions. Kim’s crew is like family to him as well. They are his strength, his peers, his critics and his number one support.

Kim aims to make dance his career. He knows it’s going to be hard, but at the moment he doesn’t have any other plans. He would like to get more involved in the other elements of Hip Hop culture as well, but is too busy breaking and so for now just wants to be the best B-Boy he can.

For HONG 10, a good B-Boy is someone who has respect for this art, the other artists around him, for those who brought the culture this far, and for the younger generations that hopefully will take it farther. A good B-Boy/Girl is someone who wants to learn and be humble. “It’s great to win battles and gain respect but it’s a two way street and you have to give respect to earn respect!” Kim is grateful that he learned about Hip Hop culture and that it has given his life a direction.

His battle strategy is to know his opponents and to be flexible and responsive to their attacks. He tries to pace out his endurance and strength to last until the final rounds of a competition. Kim makes sure that his endurance has been developed to last longer than the others, by vigorously training his cardiovascular system. He’s an organized battle strategist. He sorts out his body and his mind and then calmly calculates what he must do to win. He has a big repertoire and makes sure he has his weapons ready and knows when to drop which move.

The scene in Korea is constantly growing. B-Boys are in commercials, music videos, and TV shows and there are several battles each month. People are very interested in breaking, and Koreans are proud that their countrymen have won so many international competitions. But HONG 10 is worried that the scene is becoming commercialized and over exposed and that this could lead to its destruction the way it did in America in the ‘80s.

HONG 10 has learned that winning is important but isn’t everything. Coming in second in competitions that he really wanted to win has kept him humble and kept his competitive fire alive. It only brings him back to the lab to reinvent himself. He is still growing and really excited about where this road will take him.

Asked how he judges a battle HONG 10 says, “I judge a battle round by round, watching carefully what is done and how the dancers complete each round. I base my judgements on execution and how well and clean the moves of each competitor are. I look for depth and composition within each dancer’s moves and how well they work with the music during the battle. I always take into consideration character and flavour and how well these things are portrayed and as this is a battle, the person who wants to win the battle really better show it! This is Hip Hop and if you think you’re killing it, you better make that obvious! At a competition like the RED BULL BC ONE you have to take each mistake the participants make into account because some of these B-Boys are flawless. It’s not an easy job and I will take it very serious!”