A dance-off held at Barrows Hall on Friday night to promote nonviolence turned into a chain-reaction fight that required UC Berkeley Police to evacuate the building.

Bones Entertainment, a non-profit organization founded by Richmond resident Raashida Manning, hosts “turf wars” where dance groups compete in “turfing,” a kind of dance that combines street dance, hip-hop, popping and mime.

The “Face Off” dance, which started at 6:30 p.m. on the 8th floor of Barrows Hall, had about 400 people in attendance according to police. By 8:30 p.m. it turned into a fight involving around 20 people, but no injuries were reported.

Manning said she started Bones Entertainment two years ago after her nephew was killed. She said she wants to promote nonviolence by giving young dancers a place to compete.

“These kids do this dancing, and there’s not really a place they can go to do this,” Manning said. “I’ve worked with all the dancers in the area and they do it to stay out of trouble.”

Manning said she had five security people at the event Friday. None of her previous four dance-offs turned into fights, she said.

The event, which is supposed to be “family-friendly,” had a handful of children as young as four years old, according to UCPD Sgt. Frank Jacques.

Police arrived and approached Manning before the fight broke out, she said, because they had not been informed that the event was taking place.

“That was a shock to me because normally the cops on campus do know,” Manning said. “They even told me that the school was supposed to notify them but they didn’t.”

The fight broke out quickly and had stopped by the time the police arrived, Manning said. The police stayed by Barrows Hall to make sure the building was completely evacuated.

“I was mad because our group didn’t even get to battle,” said Kawika Carranza, a high school senior from New Vision High School in Stockton. “You just can’t have fun without people acting immature.”

Manning says she knows who the individual was who started the fight and she has banned him from future events. She also said she will increase security.

“If I can do this to prevent some lives from being taken away, that’s why I do it,” Manning said. “There’s zero tolerance.”

There are two more dance-offs scheduled to take place in Barrows Hall on Feb. 16 and Feb. 23, but Manning said she will have a meeting with the school before it is decided if the dance will be relocated.

More information on the Face Off Battle Series can be found on Bones Entertainment’s MySpace page.