The Eye of the Lion

Layer: 03
On Crashing: The Lion is the king of the jungle. To be king, you must know the truth and know how to utilize it to your advantage. Below is a list of truths. Only those who understand these truths can be king. These truths were handed to you to help guide you in the world. [On Making Plans] ~The difference between knowing the truth and not knowing could be the difference between life and death. Denial of the truth is to live in negligence and dishonor. It must never be ignored.

~The Eye of the Lion is then governed by 5 constant factors: 1) Music 2) Space 3) Crew Morale 4) Practice 5) Commander ~Music is the blood of a dancer. What symmetry is to architecture, rhythm is to music. A DJ has an excuse to change the music. A dancer has no excuse to get off the beat. ~Space is the environment; large or small, you must own it. If you dont take control of it, itll be taken from you. Energy is also a part of space, both with the crowd and your crew. If your crew doesnt match that energy, whether with a receptive crowd or not, then youve already lost the battle. ~Crew Morale is shown by how excited you are just to be battling together as a unit, how much you trust your commander and his ability to inspire as well as lead you in to dangerous territories without being affected by the music or space. Its also shown in how well you know your routines to not let your crew down when the commander calls them out in times of battle.

~Practice is no ones responsibility but your own. Those with more stats have more practice under their belt. Those with more practice have better chances of winning. Practicing takes time away from other things in life you could be doing, but not should be doing; define that for yourself. BUT IF YOU CANT PRACTICE, YOU SHOULD NOT BE DANCING!!!!! Bottom line. *Note that rest is important too. Without it, you become unfocused. You must ask yourself, what in your life is worth doing and why? In turn what is worth giving up to accomplish my goals? This will help you determine your priorities. Sitting down to write a list of these things can help you have a visual reference so that you can always come back and change it if necessary. ~The Commander is your territory/ sponsor representative and is usually the battle leader. His role in battle is to observe & call out solos or routines. A good commanders character shows a balanced amount of wisdom, sincerity, courage and restraint. Knowing when to hold back is just as important as knowing when to unleash your best moves. ~Your commander should know these 6 principles. Those who follow them will be victorious. Those who dont will fail. ~Therefore, when determining the stats and strength of your crew versus others, you should compare yourself based on this criteria:

1) Which of the two crews has a higher morale? 2) Which of the two commanders has the best ability? 3) Which crew would be more comfortable with any given space and/or music? 4) Which crew practices the most? 5) Which crew has more experienced dancers? 6) Which crew has fairness and consistency in how responsibility and profit is shared? ~Of course, when taking these things into consideration, you have to be adaptable (especially to music and space.) You should always be willing to modify your plans when necessary. ~All warfare is based on deception. ~You must appear weak when you are ready to attack. You must seem to lack control when you know exactly how to take control. If you know that the other crew should have the advantage, then you should never appear as if they do. ~If the other crews confidence is on lock and cant be shaken, you must be prepared for them. If they appear to be comfortable with their space, you must turn the space to your advantage. If they are a superior crew to yours, avoid them unless you plan to bet against yourself.

~Betting against yourself should be apart of your planning and deception. It should be the decision of the entire crew. There are advantages and disadvantages to doing so. ~Advantages: *Analysis of an enemy in battle is a valuable skill and should be harnessed with diligence. *Doing so allows the exploitation of an enemys weakness. *Weaknesses are exploited when ones greatest asset in dancing becomes invaluable *Thus, true power comes from restraint and calculated attacks. Not impulsive flamboyancy. *Planned betting against yourself can help you understand your enemy better to prepare for the next battle ~Disadvantages: *Always keep in mind that every battle lost is stats lost for you and your crew. Loose to many points and no one will want to battle you at all. *Everyone in the crew needs to know your plans and agree with them to avoid losses and contempt amongst the crew. This can affect crew morale. *You could be giving away too much of your own style that others would easily know how to defeat you.

~There are more advantages than disadvantages to betting against yourself, but it should only be used in the short term to attain the long term goal of being the best and getting paid more. *Although winning the battle is the object of the battle, you learn more by losing. [On Waging War] ~A battle can happen anywhere, anytime, any place, announced or unannounced. ~To announce a battle, you must do your own promotion for it, however you must never draw unwanted attention to yourself (e.g. from police or any other type of authority) Done successfully, you will keep our world protected & out of sight of the public. *Jeffex1.com & Cirquitree.com are great resources in helping us promote in the right way. These sites are there to improve your game as to when & where battles are happening as well as tips & tricks on the latest styles & moves. Its your responsibility alone to stay in the loop. ~The advantages to announcing a battle are to maximize the potential for an audience. The more people that are watching, the more that people vote, the more money everyone can make.

~There are no advantages to unannounced battles that are greater than announced battles, but you must always be prepared to defend your honor, crew & territory at all times. [Attacking By Stratagem] ~You may gain the territory of an enemy by gaining the support of their sponsor. ~To acquire this sponsor is when your enemys sponsor has lost all faith in its own crews ability to excel. ~Although more territories means more sponsors which means more money, conquering all territories is not the supreme goal of any crasher; the supreme goal is to become the best, to live your life and know that no one can ever defeat you. This is a symbol of your freedom. This is a symbol of your power; for true power lies in the influence. ~An example of true power is one who can break the enemys resistance without even having to battle. ~Someone whos unable to control their power becomes easily irritable, acts impulsively without consideration of how their space or morale are affected, and is not worthy of being in command let alone being a crasher.

~A commander, unable to control his irritation, will launch his crew into battle without concern of victory or loss of the battle. Thus territories will never be overtaken and you may end up losing your own. ~A wise leader will know what to do with the territories theyve acquired; which should primarily be equal distributions of wealth and responsibility for sponsor errands. ~Should you lose your own sponsorship your choices become very specific: 1) Your crew can train harder to try and take back the territory you lost or try to take anothers territory because it may be harder to retake your own. 2) Your crew can decide that you may not be strong enough to take over territories, thus can ask to merge your crew with anothers. But your crew must be willing to submit to the other crews leadership unless otherwise specified in your agreement. 3) Retire your crasher and admit defeat. You must announce this publicly at the next event in an arena you can attend and hand your crasher over to the MC of the battle. This will clarify confusion of status and you wont be considered a coward for avoiding battles. The MC will know what to do from there. ~There are 2 ways in which a commander can ruin his own crew:

1) By not treating his crew as in the same way he would treat his family; as an extension of himself. 2) By not knowing the skill level of dancers in which he works with. Thus deploying them unaware of how they may or may not influence a battle at all. ~With this, we may know the 4 essentials for victory: 1) You will win if you know when to battle and when not to battle 2) You will win if you know how to handle both inferior and superior forces. 3) You will win if the same spirit to battle animates throughout your whole crew. 4) You will win if you prepare yourself, and wait to take the enemy unprepared. ~Theres a saying that goes, Know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Know yourself but not the enemy; every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. Know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. [On Tactical Disposition] ~To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

~Always initiating battles implies confidence and abundance of strength. Always being called out to battle implies weakness and cowardice. ~So being able to hold your ground securely is to have a strong defense. To be able to defeat your enemy is take the offense. ~You can battle anyone, anywhere, anytime. But always picking battles with people or crews who are obviously weaker than yours is in its own way cowardice. ~The dancer who is clever at battling is not just one who wins frequently, but wins with ease and style. ~Thus he doesnt care deeply about his reputation for having crazy moves or being flashy. ~He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory because it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. ~A dancer will understand this as giving every move a purpose; not just an attempt to hope the move will be fresh and/or people will feel it. ~In essence it is the battles in which you are uncertain of victory or loss that are the worthiest challenge. Regardless of the outcome, these battles will always give you the greatest admiration of the audience.

[Energy] ~In dancing, there is a difference between moves and movement. ~A good dancer is one who is not limited to the idea of having an infinite amount of moves in their arsenal, but one who allows the energy of the music and space to carry their movements to new levels of expression. ~Every art-form has its limitations; music has at most 19 notes depending on which instrument you play not to mention that the human ear can only hear 20Hz - 20KHz of sound frequencies. But the combination of frequencies and melodies anyone can make is infinite. ~The human eye can only see 7 colors in the spectrum of light. (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) but a painter can combine these colors to create an infinite amount of shades and hues. ~Almost every human body is born with two arms and two legs. As they are attached to you, they can only be moved into certain positions. But the combinations of those positions are infinite. ~A good dancer is willing to take his energy and push his boundaries a little more each time while never exceeding his limitations.

~In battle, there are no more than two methods of attack; individual dances (solos) & group routines (commando). These two combinations give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. ~If solo and commando attacks build onto each other in turn itll be like moving in a circle, youll never come to an end. Who could exhaust the possibilities of their combination? ~A crew relies on the effect of combined energy. Thus must always choose individual dancers they know will be an attribute or an asset to the crew. ~When a commander utilizes the individual members of his crew and the combined energy as well, a crew becomes a juggernaut in the true sense of the word. Juggernauts are unstoppable once it gains enough momentum. [On Weak Points and Strong] ~All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. ~Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety or circumstances. ~Just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.

~Those who can modify their tactics in relation to the opponent and thereby continually succeed in winning, may be called an OG Commander [Variation In Tactics] ~The commander who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his crew. ~The commander who does not understand these, may know music and space very well, but wont be able to turn his knowledge into practice. ~There are five dangerous faults which may affect a commander: 1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction 2) Cowardice, which leads to revocation 3) Bad temper, which can be provoked by insults 4) An over bearing since of pride, which is compensating for personal insecurities. 5) Over working his crew, which exposes him to worry and trouble. [In Battle / On the March] ~If the enemy is holding back, theyre relying on the advantage of their reputation with the audience.

~If they keep calling you out or provoking you, then theyre anxious to see your best moves. ~If you know they are skilled but seem easy to defeat, then you know theyre baiting you, trying to exhaust your arsenal of moves first. ~Humble words and a calm demeanor in battle is a sign of confidence. Violent language and erratic behavior is a sign of instability.

~Therefore dancers must be treated in the first since with humanity, but kept under control by means of iron discipline. ~This is not to say you should not go out and enjoy yourself in the best way you know how; sideshows, functions, thizzing, etc. But to break a cardinal law of crashing is to dishonor yourself and bring shame to your crew. This is grounds for revocation of your piece.

*You may try to save some face by ~Crews uniting without a sworn covenant challenging your accuser to a game of is a sign of treachery. burning. ~If one seems to never keep an eye on the clock, then he is either a great fool or is prepared and expecting to die. ~When a crew is handing out rewards too frequently, it means they are at the end of their resources. ~To begin by bluster then later to take fright shows a lack of intelligence. ~When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths from other sponsors or crews, it is a sign of truce. ~If you are to acquire new members, and you punish them before they grow attached to you, they will not prove to be loyal. However, if you do not punish them for faults after they have grown attached to you, they will also be useless. ~Anyone willing enough to wear a crasher piece is one whos willing to put their life on the line for something they truly believe in. ~To think the life of a crasher is luxurious and decadent is to think poorly of the since of purpose in a life that comes from hard work and dedicated practice. ~If a commander shows confidence in his crew but always insists on his command being obeyed, the gain will be mutual for the entire crew. [On Maneuvering] ~We may take it then that a crew without a base of supply and practice is lost. ~We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbor.

~We are not fit to lead a crew into battle if we are not familiar with the musical variations and styles; hip-hop, dubstep, house, breaks, funk, etc. ~Let the earnings of the crew be divided up equally; when you take over new territories, share the responsibility of the errands of your sponsor. [On Terrain/Music] ~To a dancer, music is his terrain. Familiarity with the terrain is key to survival. Although there are innumerable amounts of genres and subgenres in music, all crashers should be familiar with these 7: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Hip-Hop/Rap Funk House Dubstep/Garage Glitch/Broken Beat Breaks Drum & Bass/Jungle

*Any crasher who says that they only listen/feel hip-hop and not electronic (or any other type of) music is the same as someone saying they only drink wine and not beer. Both are made with the same equipment, techniques, methods and even sounds. (In fact they both come from street culture) Feeling the music comes from a matter of taste that can be developed over time. Any crasher that doesnt refine his musical pallet will not last long. ~In battle, if music is playing that both crews are feeling, and both crews are of equal strength, its not easy to provoke the other crew and you will be at a disadvantage. ~Music that you feel 100% is always your crews best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces victory, and shrewdly calculating the difficulties and dangers, constitutes the test of a great commander. ~A dancer or a crew can only be defeated by faults of his own. ~Things like you not feeling the music is you not taking responsibility to understand a different perspective. A person with less skill than you may be feeling the music more thus has a greater chance for defeating you in battle.

~With this, there are 2 things to take into consideration *I do not anticipate a battle to Classical or African music, however, being well versed with music in general can only help you.

~The commander who advances without coveting fame and quits without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his crew and become a better dancer, is a lion in and of himself. ~Regard the members in your crew as you would your brothers and they will go with you into the most precarious situations. Look upon your crew as your family and they will stand with you through death. ~Thus if you know the enemy, know yourself and your crew, your victory will not stand in doubt. If you also know the music and the space, you may make your victory complete.

~When battling another crew that the audience favors equally, is contentious ground. ~A battle where each crew is familiar with the music is open ground. ~A battle in which one crew is taking over the territory of another is an intersecting ground. ~Battles in which no crew is familiar with the audience or music is called difficult ground. ~Battles in which a crew is forced to battle previously unannounced (taken off guard) is hemmed-in ground. ~Battles in which a crew is forced to battle one after another with little rest between (especially in defense of territory) is desperate ground ~A commander should carefully study the well being of his crew, be sure as to not overwork them. Concentrate your energy and overtax your strength. Keep your crew dancing while devising unfathomable routines. ~Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared. ~The principle on which to manage a crew is to set up a standard of courage that all must reach.

[The Nine Situations] ~The Eye of the Lion sees 9 varieties of ground: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) Dispersive ground Facile ground Contentious ground Open ground Grounds that intersect Serious ground Difficult ground Hemmed-in ground Desperate ground

~When battling in your own territory, it is dispersive ground. ~When battling in enemy territory thats not far from yours, its facile ground.

~At the critical moment, the commander acts like someone who just climbed to the top then kicked away the ladder. He carries his men deep into hostile territory before he shows his hand. ~Its the crews disposition to offer an obstinate resistance when outnumbered, to dance hard when he cant help himself, and to obey promptly when the points are against him as the clock runs out. ~Confront your crew with the deed itself; never let them know your design. When the outlook is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy. ~If your crew is tight, you can pit them against even the most OG/skilled opponent and will prevail. Plunge them into the most dire straits of a battle and they will come out victorious. ~For it is precisely when a crew has the odds stacked against them that theyre capable of pulling off their best material. ~Success in battle is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemys purpose. ~Taunting or provoking or insulting an enemy is always in favor when it is used as a means to destabilize them. Never out of a personal sense of superiority.

~No commander should put his crew into the field merely to gratify his own ego. Nor should he use his crew to battle another crew out of a personal vendetta. ~When in any negotiations, whether it be with sponsors, other crews or your own, be stern so that you may control the situation. [The Use of Spies] ~You will no doubt be asked by your sponsor to run errands for them. Sometimes spying on other sponsors or other crew activities will be an errand needed to perform but also is necessary for understanding the enemys tactics, strategies and moves. ~You could have a crew of 1,000 people, but if you do not know your enemy, the effort spent will have been wasted, for their strategy could outmatch yours. ~Hostile crews could face each other for years, striving for the victory that could be decided in a single battle. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemies condition simply because you dont want to spend the money to find out their plans is at the height of inhumanity. ~A commander who acts as such is no leader, no present help to his sponsor, and no master of victory.

~Thus, what enables a sponsor and a good commander to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge. ~Though I believe in God and I believe in meditation, I believe in the wisdom of experience and I believe in deductive calculation; foreknowledge cannot be obtained from any of these abstractions without concrete evidence. ~Knowledge of the enemys dispositions can only be obtained from other men. ~Hence the use of spies, of which there are 5 types: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Local spies Inward spies Converted spies Doomed spies Surviving spies

~Having doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy. ~Surviving spies are those who bring back news from the enemys camp. ~Hence it is that with none in the whole crew has more of an intimate relation to be maintained than that with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved. Spies are not always crewmembers but the responsibility should the spy be captured or discovered falls on the responsibility of the crew. ~Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sense of sound judgment i.e. sagacity. ~They cannot be properly managed without a respect and straightforwardness i.e. laconicism. ~Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports. ~Be subtle and use your spies for every kind of business. ~If a certain piece of information is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, you must never trust that person again along with the one who told him the secret for he has become a converted spy.

-When these 5 kinds of spies are all working at once, no opponent can discover your system. This is called manipulation of the threads. It is the sponsors and commanders most precious faculty. ~Having local spies means employing the services of someone who works for that territory in which you are trying to acquire information. ~Having inward spies means making use of officials of the enemy. ~Having converted spies means getting a hold of the enemys spies and using them for your own purposes.

~Whether the object be to squash a crew, take over territory, or assassinate an individual, it is always necessary to begin by finding out the names of everyone involved who assists the enemy; from sponsor history to familial knowledge. Our spies must be commissioned to ascertain this information. ~The enemys spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, etc. anything necessary to gain loyalty and trust. Thus they will become converted spies and available for our service. ~It is through the information brought by the converted spy that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. ~It is owing to this information that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy. ~Lastly, it is by his information that the surviving spy can be used on appointed occasions. ~The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and from this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality given that the spy still have value to the crew.

~Thus it is only the enlightened sponsor and wise commander who will use the highest intelligence of a crew for purposes of spying and thereby they achieve great results. Spies are a most important element in warfare, because on them depends a crews ability to battle. ~Such is the Eye of the Lion