Breakdancing on roller skates is just one of many sights to be seen at this year's Global Hip Hop Showcase.
The Global Hip Hop Showcase was the endcap to the weeklong 2010 World Cultural Festival in Paul Robeson Cultural Center's Heritage Hall. Previous events in the week celebrated film, politics and art, leaving the Global Hip-Hop Showcase to end the festival with a celebration of music.
Headlining Friday's event was Breaksk8, a six-man roller skating and dancing team known for their performances on "America's Got Talent" and "America's Best Dance Crew."
The team performed routines recognizable from its television appearances along with more that most audiences had not yet seen. Breaksk8 also offered free T-shirts to the winners of a freestyle dance competition.
Also performing at the Global Hip-Hop Showcase was Penn State's own Raw Aesthetic Movement, commonly known as RAM Squad.
The team presented a breakdancing performance featuring a number of styles to entertain a surrounding circle of spectators.
Benjamin Rivera (freshman-electrical engineering), a member of RAM Squad, said he learned how to breakdance two years ago.
"I started out just like everyone else -- watching videos on YouTube," Rivera said. "If you want to do something, just get it and keep at it."
Another event of interest at the Global Hip Hop Showcase was the emceeing competition.
Competitors took turns on the microphone as they presented their rhythmic poetry to out-rhyme their opponent. The victor was determined by way of vocal appreciation as spectators were asked to shout accordingly for their favorite master of ceremonies.
DJing for the event was Herbert Jordan, known as DJ Scratchator, hailing from Brooklyn, N.Y.
He presented a variety of artists along with many of his own original mash-ups. One of Jordan's numerous mash-up songs was a combination of Notorious B.I.G. and Kanye West.
In this fashion, Jordan portrayed a number of genres stemming from the core of hip-hop music.
"It's all about hip-hop tonight, but we'll be playing some R&B, some old school, and some new school too," Jordan said.
The DJ's performance brought energy to the audience as, at one point, a large proportion of the auditorium quickly broke out into the electric slide.
Everyone else got a chance to be a DJ as well, as the event hosted a DJ Hero competition.
In this video game representation of the disk jockey profession, audience members had the opportunity to compete for victory and get a taste of the DJing life.
Stephanie Preston, interim assistant director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, said the World Cultural Festival was a one-day event in previous years but was expanded to a four-day event this year so more students could attend and see what they wanted to see.
"I love this," Rivera said. "You don't get a lot of this here at Penn State -- I wish we had more."
