Hit Tha Beat The City Beats

Mendoza will host HTB for the fourth time, the most important international festival of urban cultures in South America. From today until Sunday, the greatest exponents of each discipline will take the local scene.

The rhythm of the city has a certain tempo implicit, like a heartbeat that is constantly manifested in the traffic of its streets, schedules and days. A living organism to be read awaits not-so-linear eyes.

The city is crossed from the margins to its heart by a culture that is neither static nor functional to anyone. The pulse of this reading of reality implies understanding the city as a constant transit that modifies and adapts, the plane of a canvas that is written with the body.

From this notion of freedom, Hit Tha Beat (sic) is positioned to break the local siesta and open the doors of the city to the world.

For four days the greatest exponents of urban culture will settle in Mendoza to set the pulse for all the 'Bboys' and 'Bbgirls' who attend the workshops and MasterClass that will be taught from the universe of Hip Hop (rap, turntablism, breaking, graffiti) to other disciplines such as flatland, parkour, BDM, dance hall, popping, locking and house.

To better understand how this experience will be carried out, we spoke with Andrés Rodríguez and Gudi Salatti, responsible for HTB16, who explain why the primary capital in this event is not money, but respect.

In Mendoza there is a highly respected movement within the national level, and even outside the country, due to serious work that has been sustained over time. That's the key.

Don't mess up what you do and deepen it. That is why the world leaders of this culture respect the work that has been done in Mendoza for years and come to the province to give workshops and promote the local scene.

- How did this event arise?

- The proposal arises from a group of street dancers, from the municipal urban dance school of San Martín have been making a name for themselves in the dissemination and practice of different disciplines typical of urban culture, along with their codes and values.

- Why hold an event of these characteristics in Mendoza?

- For necessity. We start from “from the pop”, we start from scratch, we go from the beginning. This activity has been growing from the department of San Martín to now take over the center of the Capital.

It is an event with international characteristics that is expanding, which will be difficult to retain without the support of the State; we have even received proposals to take it to other places.

- In general terms, what is HTB?

- This is an event that brings to Mendoza the highest exponents of the disciplines that make up urban culture. There are four days of training and interaction between representatives from Argentina and the contingents arriving from Chile, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Mexico, the United States, Spain and Russia.

- What are the bases on which they are located?

- Hip-hop culture has a series of values ​​and capabilities from which to position itself. From that there are no limits. We start from a language without borders, no matter where you come from.

It is something extremely inclusive, each discipline enhances each person's abilities, we all have something in which we are better and in which we can add, we all contribute a particular “flaba” (flavor) to the culture.

- How is it different from other similar festivals?

- Perhaps the distinction of this festival is that we bring together all the disciplines of urban culture in a single event with international characteristics.

To put it in other words, it is as if you put together the dance world championship, the folklore festival and the barbecue world championship, all in one place.

- How long have you been working on this fourth edition?

- This involves logistics of a whole year of work that involves a team of more than 60 people interacting from different headquarters, where filters are made to select the best from each region to come participate in Hit The Beat.

We work from the independence of self-management to generate everything necessary.

- What is the THB16 proposal?

- MasterClass and international workshops will be held for each discipline with references coming from different parts of the world, such as Chile, Mexico and even Russia. In any place these workshops have a high cost, but here we have managed them in such a way that they are very accessible to everyone, to the point that the twelve sessions together have a lower price than a single one would cost.

We are also going to collect food to collaborate with an institution in need. There are also beginner-level activities and some for children.

As a novelty, we can comment that this year the winner of Breaking 1 vs 1 will travel to Taiwan to participate in the R16 final.

- What is the local reference?

- In Mendoza, Plaza San Martín is a reference for the movement of parkour, skateboarding, freestyle, and more. It is a culture of freedom where we can understand the city as a playground based on the transmission of art.

It's curious but while tourists stop to observe us and even take photos, the State chases us away.

Hit The Beat is something like “feel the pulse”, we believe that is the most important thing, if you can't feel you don't have a soul.

The city mutates into a living scene and language deconstructs in search of itself.

There are no limits on the walls and other elements of harsh geography that become the possibility of jumping.

It is not easy to improvise a path to avoid the obstacles of a city that maintains the stillness of the siesta.