2008 – The Notorious IBE comeback.
After an absence of almost 3 years “The Notorious IBE” is finally happening. A total new festival, bigger than ever, more international than ever but still presented with the same dedication and attention that IBE is known for.

IBE 2008 Facts.
Festival edition: 8th since 1998

Festival days: 3

People working in IBE organisation: 15

People working at festival days: 125

Festival locations: 6

Invited artists: 100

Visitors: 5000 indoor, 3000 outdoor stage

Visitors from: 33 different countries

Number of festival programs: 32

Festival Funding:
-City of Heerlen
-City of Kerkrade
-Province of Limburg
-House of Arts Limburg
-Urban II

Festival Sponsors
-McDonalds
-Eastpak


 

 

About IBE
On June 6,7 and 8 the city of Heerlen will host the 9th edition of the International Breakdance Event “IBE” one of europe´s leading hip hop dance events.

It all began in 1997 at the “Nighttown” music theatre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Marcel Haug a program manager at Nighttown had noticed the re-birth of Breakdance in The Netherlands and was assigned by “Nighttown” to organise a program around Breakdancing. Haug contacted Tyrone van der Meer a local hip hop promoter who at that time had been organizing bus tours to Breakdance festivals in Germany. Together Haug and Van der Meer started to work on setting up an international festival presenting all elements of hip hop culture but with a strong focus on Breakdance. The festival was named “International Breakdance Event Rotterdam”.

IBE 1998 – First edition
For the first edition of IBE on May 27,28,29 the festival invited a large number of popular and legendary dancers and crews from the European Breakdance scene. Crews and dancers like Battle Squad, Flying Steps, South Side Rockers, Second to None, Crazy Force Crew and Ykan ji performed their dance shows at IBE. Also famous Dutch MC’s like Brainpower, Zombi Squad, E-Life, Shyrock and Postman performed on stage and in the outdoor graffiti exhibition some international renowned graffiti artists like Quik, Mode 2, Bates, Swet, Rew, Pone and Delta did live graffiti paintings. The first edition of IBE was a big success and generated a lot of public and media attention for the growing popularity of Breakdance in The Netherlands.

IBE 1999 – World famous Rock Force vs The Family battle
In september 1999 the second edition of IBE featured an incredible battle between the Rock Force Crew from USA and The Family from France. One year earlier at the 1998 Battle of the Year, World Championships the Rock Force Crew won the Breakdance world title against The Family after a controversial judges decision. Just one week before the 1999 World Championships both crews settled their dispute at IBE. The battle turned out to be a thrilling gladiator fight, taking place on the floor, between the crowds, without any judges, time limits or special rules. The Rock Force vs The Family battle turned out to be a highlight for Breakdancing in the late nineties and put IBE on the map of established international breakdance events.

2000 - No IBE
Due to the lack of financial support and funding IBE did not take place in the year 2000. Also on of the IBE founders Marcel Haug left his job at Nighttown. The other IBE founder Tyrone van der Meer started a new co-operation between his company Dutch BBoy and the Nighttown music theatre and started to work on getting the IBE back for the year 2001. IBE

2001- Introduction of “All Battles All”
In 2001 with the help of the 2001, Rotterdam Cultural Capitol of Europe organisation IBE celebrated it’s third edition. Tyrone van der Meer changed the format of IBE. The first day the festival hosted the Battle of the Year: Benelux a qualifier for the annual world championships in Germany. On the second day IBE presented “All Battles All” a dance battle featuring the top dancers from the best Breakdance nations in the world. The concept for “All Battles All” was modeled after the 1999 Rock Force vs The Family Battle at IBE. This means an raw and energetic dance battle in the middle of the crowd, without judges and special time limits. The first All Battles All featured dancers from France, USA and Germany.

IBE 2002 – Introduction of Seven 2 Smoke
In 2002 the IBE organisation introduced a total new battle concept under the name of Seven 2 smoke. In a Seven 2 Smoke battle eight individual dancers try to beat all of their opponents within 20 minutes. The concept for this battle was made up by Tyrone van der Meer, and members from Rotterdam based crews 010 BBoyz and Got Skills. After it’s first introduction at IBE 2002 the Seven 2 Smoke battle was picked up by Breakdance festivals worldwide and became a very popular battle concept.

IBE 2003 – Introduction of The Stand Up Dance Battle
In the year 2003 IBE introduced another successful battle concept called The Stand Up Dance Battle. In this battle it’s all about finding out who is the true King or Queen of the dance floor. All dance styles except Breakdancing are allowed. Every competitor does a short freestyle presentation on any type of music played by the DJ.The Stand Up Dance Battle is one of the few dance contests were dancers from different styles like Popping, Locking, New Style, House and Streetdance compete in the same competition. The 2003 edition was the last festival featuring a Battle of the Year: Benelux qualifier on the 1 st day of the festival.

IBE 2004 – IBE becomes “The Notorious IBE”
In 2004 the name “International Breakdance Event” was officially changed into “The Notorious IBE”. By this time IBE had gained an international status of being one of the few massive Breakdance events with attention for crowd participation in the battles and time and space for Breakdance circles.
IBE got more established as a two day festival presenting different battles, competitions and aspects, Breakdance culture.

IBE 2005 – Korean dancers take over IBE.
By 2005 Korean dancers were dominating the international Breakdance scene by winning numerous events and competitions. In IBE 2005 the “All Battles All” program featured highly anticipated battles between the USA, Korea, Germany and France. All clashes between these countries displayed an impressive high level of Breakdancing. To many “The Notorious IBE” in 2005 was the most successful festival edition in IBE history.

2006 – Notorious IBE cancellation.
After a very successful festival in 2005 misfortune struck and in 2006 The Notorious IBE edition had to be canceled. Due to bad management the “Nighttown” music theatre, home of IBE since 1998, was declared bankrupt and was forced to close its doors. The IBE organization had to look for a new festival location.

2007 – New city, New location, No festival
In the spring of 2007 the IBE organisation was contacted by the Music Arts School of the city of Heerlen in the south of The Netherlands. Both Music Arts School and the city of Heerlen showed great interests of hosting IBE festival editions for the future. A new IBE organization was established in order to present a new IBE festival. However time turned out to be too short to present a total new IBE festival in 2007. The comeback of IBE had to be postponed till june 2008.