International Breakdance Event

The Notorious IBE (international breakdance event) was founded in 1998 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Between 1998 and 2006 the event took place in the Nighttown Music Theatre in Rotterdam. In 2008, after a two year break, the festival moved to the city of Heerlen in the south of the Netherlands.Today the IBE is an annual 3 day festival, gathering more than 10.000 visitors from all over the world.

Unlike many other hip hop dance events, the IBE is set up like a 3 day festival. The festival visitors can visit / or participate about 35 dance programs in 10 different locations called "Cyphers". Each year the IBE invites world renowned dancers (breakdancers, lockers, poppers, house dancers), DJ's, photographers, video editors and special guests from the international dance scene. The program includes dance battles, workshops, talkshows, dance shows and music performances. The IBE entrance ticket gives free access to all "Cyphers" and activities during the event.

Heerlen, the city of IBE, is located in the province of Limburg, a touristic part of the Netherlands. The festival's organisation is committed to help every person who wants to come to the event by offering help with group arrangements, bus tours organized from different countries and a low budget accommodation called the IBE Sleepover.

The IBE is commonly known for presenting special dance programs like Seven2Smoke and the Longest BBoy Move Battle. In recent years The Trukendoos XL TrickBattle, The Footwork Battle and The Powermove Battle have grown in popularity. Since 2008 IBE is hosting the European Finals of the UK BBoy Championships. With 80 crews participating it's the biggest Breakdance Crew Battle in Europe. Since 2009 more and more dancers from the stand up scene (Popping, Locking, New Style & House) visit the festival for the stand up dance competitions.

Highlight of the festival is the All Battles All. This is a special program in which the top dancers of countries or continents are being selected to compete in a 3 story arena without judges and time limits. In recent years the All Battles All featured teams from USA, Korea, Japan, Russia/Ukraine and Europe. In 2011 the Latin American continent was represented for the first time by a team with dancers from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.

External links

• The Notorious IBE Official website
• IBE Is Me Promo Clip 2010, by Antoine Schirer and Sylvain Malacria