Breaking barriers with all the right moves

For Australians like The Burne's One-Bear Madrid, the emergence of breaking as an Olympic phenomenon was very personal.

Rewards come to those who strive for ultimate personal goals, and there is none higher than Olympic selection.

Growing up in an indigenous native and Latin American culture, dancing was always an integral part of my upbringing.

I recall, at age 11, when my cousins and I formed a rap/breakdancing crew. We were novices, and my aunt bought some silk material and sewed us our very own red pants so we could dance and slide everywhere with ease.

The Aussie Disposals store used to sell blue rain jackets, so we all bought one to match. Our backspins could be fast and long-lasting.

We’d practice on the polished tiles in the auditorium that the school provided to meet the demand of many children breaking at the time. At home, we’d practice on large pieces of cardboard we took from the local supermarket’s discarded boxes.

Such nostalgia always hits me, like the waft of fresh bread from a bakery, when I enter a little parish hall at 4 Warruga Avenue, Bayswater, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne on Thursday nights for my teenage son Lautaro (Lauty) Madrid's breakdancing class.

All the right moves: from left, Jack Pezzimenti, Danny May, Lautaro (Lauty) Madrid, Simon Bridger, Micheal (Flyin' Foxy) Fox, Harsh Agarwal.

These classes are run by B-Boy (breakdancer) Michael Fox, age 34, also known as Flyin’ Foxy, a two-time Australian National Champion in 2011 and 2018.

Foxy also made the Australian All-Star team, R16, which went to the world championships held in South Korea in 2015.

Foxy started breaking at age nine and first competed at 15. From that exposure, he decided he was good enough to teach and slowly commenced his journey into teaching.

He now has four different locations across Victoria: Bayswater, McKinnon, North Melbourne, and recently opened Box Hill, teaching one night per week at each academy.

Foxy was born with ADHD and always bounced off the walls, so it was fitting that dance would suit this young boy at the time. Both his parents were teachers, so teaching came quite naturally to him, and he found his passion.

Breaking rules: Lautaro (Lauty) Madrid with Foxy. (Photo: One-Bear Madrid)

Foxy has one of his original students still attending classes.

Harsh Agarwal started with Foxy when he was six and is now completing his university degree as a physiotherapist.

Foxy has since retired from competing. 

But when the Olympics introduced breakdancing, Foxy was asked to come out of retirement and try out for the position as the male representative for Australia in last year’s trials.

Along with two other dancers, one of whom was J Attack (who subsequently had the honour of representing his country), Foxy auditioned for the position but had a slip at the beginning of his trial.

Had he not slipped in his trial, could Australia have had a chance to take home a medal in breakdancing at the Olympics? Who’s to know? There are also many asking how breakdancing ever made it into the Olympics, and whether that was a good thing?

There are definitely mixed feelings. 

“The fact that breaking is now in the limelight, and it’s been given a chance to really showcase what it has become, is amazing,” Foxy says.

“Hip hop, the art form that has been the backing track of rap and breakdancing, has always had a negative stigma. But now, it is so much more inclusive and friendly. Everyone does it—not just adults and children on the streets, but people from all races, creeds, colours, and occupations.”

Breaking will not feature at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, but Brisbane is looking to include it at the 2032 Olympics.

And what of Rachael ‘RayGun’ Gunn, whose Olympic performance turned into a controversial global phenomenon? 

The nation is split on her unique dance style, which some say is akin to a combination of the Chris Lilley characters.

But to be fair, she put in the hard yards, braved the world’s eyes on her, and gave it a crack.