Popping the Electric Boogaloos

The event also attracted street dance enthusiasts from abroad. Masako Mochizuki and Yuka Mochizuki, a mother and a daughter from Japan who are both learners, traveled to Shanghai to attend the SFB after volunteering in Jinan, Shandong province to accompany young Japanese street dancers to the competition. Yuka Mochizuki says that she watched the 2023 Chinese street dance film One and Only 26 times.

After the event, Hu took a short trip to Zhengzhou, Henan province, to attend the opening ceremony of a new dance studio founded by his friend, popping dancer Shi Jiankai, but could not stop thinking about the further development of street dance.

In a post on his social media accounts, he pondered the characteristics of a new style of street dance, if one should be created.

"It will have roots, technical inheritance and cultural sedimentation; it will have independent technical concepts, features and systems," he wrote.

The new style will also be challenging and fresh, requiring open-minded thinking and appealing to audiences regardless of cultural boundaries or social classes.

"The creators need to have a clear mind and body, truly listening to, observing and feeling (the world of dance)," he wrote.

Xing Yu contributed to this story.