Breakdancing — or as it’s formally called, breaking — is officially an Olympic sport for the first time in history. The street-dance style originated in the Bronx during the ’80s, born concurrently with hip-hop music and innovated by Black and brown youth. Today, it’s as much a sport as an art form, and the athletes, known as B-girls and B-boys, compete in round-robin-style cyphers. The wildest part is that breaking is, by nature, spontaneous. Breakers can’t plan their routines or decide their moves ahead of time; they don’t even know what song they’ll be dancing to.
Maybe that helps explain whatever was happening at today’s championships with Raygun? The Australian B-girl has taken the world by storm, inspiring a flurry of memes, complaints, and compliments across the internet. Many felt that her skill level wasn’t quite matched up to her opponents. But you know what? She looked like she was having a great time.
Raygun — also known as Dr. Rachael Gunn — is 36 years old and has been breaking since her mid-20s, according to Reuters. She’s also an academic who lectures at Australia’s Macquarie University and earned a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies with a thesis entitled “Deterritorializing gender in Sydney’s breakdancing scene: a B-girl’s experience of B-boying.” She’s not new to this, she’s true to this!
Sure, she didn’t stand a chance against her opponents, but I’m guessing she didn’t expect to. Speaking of her opponents, she wasn’t the only highlight of the day. Despite impressive performances, U.S. B-girl Logistx didn’t make it past the quarterfinals. She did, however, slay:
Sunny Choi, the other B-girl representing the U.S., also brought incredible energy to her battles (my personal highlight was in her battle with India, when she mimed shot-putting her opponent into the crowd). While it’s disappointing that neither of our U.S. B-girls advanced, they still inspired the viewers at home:
Also notable was the pre-qualifier battle between Manizha Talash, an Afghan B-girl competing for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, and India Sardjoe from the Netherlands. During her performance, Talash removed her top layer to reveal a cape that read “FREE AFGHAN WOMEN.”
Personally, I was especially impressed by India, who was a truly formidable opponent, and by France’s Syssy, who is 16 years old and was flipping and bouncing and spinning like she was weightless; at one point she managed to spin on her elbow. Here’s a clip of her battle with Nicka, who’s 17.
I also loved watching China’s Ying Zi, who brought unique musicality and insane strength.