Going on five years of flavor! A New England favorite was put on pause but plans to return back to the scene, bigger & better than ever.
With its debut in November of 2016, Entering ShaoLynn began as a passion project of co-founder Brian Lim (known to the dance community best as Brian Pistols) as a way to give back to his hometown of Lynn, MA and celebrate it’s rich breaking history. It was important to Brian to curate a grassroots experience after consulting for various collegiate events within the Massachusetts community. It is through this extensive and ongoing engagement with the various facets of the breaking community that the moniker “the flavor continues” came about and stands today.
The first three Entering ShaoLynn events took place at the Visionspace Gallery, a local artist space, and quickly became a New England favorite attracting competitors and attendees from across the country. The event puts an equal emphasis on both the competition and cultural aspects of the dance form. After 2018’s event, it became clear that a larger venue space was needed to accommodate the exponential growth of Entering ShaoLynn. All three years at the Visionspace Gallery was free admission while accepting donations at the door; the donations were later used to fund youth programs at the venue space.
In 2019, the event took a different direction as part of a larger downtown Lynn block party. The cultural aspects remained while the competition was removed and replaced with a handful of exhibition match ups that also spotlighted other forms of street and club dance for the first time in Entering ShaoLynn history. It would be later in 2019 that “The Flavor Continues” (TFC) would officially publicize as a nonprofit organization serving the street and club dance communities within Massachusetts.
2020’s Entering ShaoLynn was highly anticipated amongst the breaking community due to the different direction taken in 2019 and finally finding a larger venue space to accommodate the growing event. It would be the first Entering ShaoLynn to be officially hosted under the newly formed TFC brand that has been serving the community since 2016. The Entering ShaoLynn series gained such national appeal leading the 2020 event to partner with other grassroots movements in San Diego and Virginia culminating to a final event at The Armory Center for the Arts in Somerville, MA. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, Entering ShaoLynn 2020 is postponed from its original April 4th date and has yet to set a new date.
A list of the recaps and highlights from previous events:
The Visionspace Gallery in Lynn, MA
Recap by Hak Focus
The Visionspace Gallery in Lynn, MA
Recap by Hak Focus
The Visionspace Gallery in Lynn, MA
Recap by Hak Focus
IronBound NorthShore Neighborhood in Lynn, MA
Recap by FNS Studios
Center for the Arts at the Armory in Somerville, MA
In collaboration with Break-NG's "Coast to Coast" qualifier series in San Diego, CA,
and Elusive Crew's "Enter the Shadow Realm" qualifier event in Annandale, VA
Promotional content by Bao Pham