18 Jun 2019 14:10
Venezuela’s Lil G is one of roughly 100 b-boys set to compete at the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship on 23 June in Nanjing, China.
A versatile and highly experienced Breaker, Lil G has been doing his thing since the age of 11 and has garnered a strong following worldwide for never resting on his laurels.
Lil G has competed in numerous Red Bull BC One World Finals, the Silverback Open, and Outbreak Europe, among many others. While he has visited China a number of times, his appearance at the World Championship will be his first time in Nanjing.
We look forward to seeing Lil G bring his unique style and originality to the floor!
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the World Championship?
A: I’m looking to do my best in this battle but the most important thing for me is to enjoy the moment.
Q: Do you have any new techniques ready for Nanjing?
A: I have some new moves but I’m still not 100% sure I will try them at the World Championship.
Q: Is there anybody competing in Nanjing that you would really like to battle and, if so, why?
A: I really want to battle the people who are on fire, because then I can push myself more.
Q: What is your greatest strength/best move as a b-boy?
A: I don’t have any exact move, I have strong musicality on my power moves.
Q: What advice do you have for young breakers just starting out?
A: My advice for the new generation – or for everyone – is to do everything from the heart. If you want to be in the game of big battles, prepare your heart for when the losses come and take it as a gain, because it will be a growing experience and not a defeat.
Q: Who inspired you as a young b-boy?
A: The people who inspired me when I was young were my crew members Shadow and Knnon from Venezuela. Then it was Storm from Germany, Salah from France, The End from Korea, Boy from USA and now I am inspired by all the new generation coming up.
Q: What one word best describes your style?
A: Risk, of course.
Q: What is your favourite place to compete?
A: Asia.
Q: Who’s been your toughest competitor and why?
A: The toughest competitor has been myself, because every loss is difficult and to continue to keep it up until now has been hard. But I learn [something in every situation which is a victory in itself] and I always feel good no matter the result.
13 Jun 2019 06:12
Want to watch the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship but are unable to make it to Nanjing, China? Then tune into The Olympic Channel on 23 June, where you can watch the battles live from wherever you are around the world!
The Olympic Channel will stream the action starting from the Round Robin stage from 14:30 local time (08:30 CEST, 02:30 EDT). The semifinals are scheduled to begin at 19:45 local time (13:45 CEST, 07:45 EDT), with the finals set to begin one hour later.
In addition, all the battles from the Round Robin stage onward will be saved on the WDSF DanceSport YouTube Channel so make sure to subscribe so you will not miss a beat.
Over 150 b-boys and b-girls from 66 countries are set to compete at the World Championship, including some of the biggest names in Breaking. A list of all competitors can be found here.*
*Chinese entrants will be decided during national qualifiers on 22 June.
23 May 2019 06:02
The first edition of the World Urban Games (WUG) is scheduled for 13-15 September in Budapest, Hungary and the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) is proud to be a part of the programme through Breaking.
The qualification system for Breaking at the WUG was recently approved, with a quota capping the number of participants at 32 – 16 b-girls and 16 b-boys.
There will be two qualifying events for Breaking at the WUG:
For more information on the qualification system click here.
The World Urban Games 2019 will feature six competition sports and two showcase sports. The six competition sports are Breaking, 3x3 basketball, BMX freestyle park, freestyle flying disc, parkour and freestyle roller skate. The showcase sports are indoor rowing and laser run.
The World Urban Games, a property of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), aim to be the “the ultimate global showcase for a new generation of urban sport.” The WUG will be held every two years and will feature an exciting mix of sports that blend music, dance and other aspects of urban culture.
23 Apr 2019 06:54
World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) President Shawn Tay met with Ser Miang Ng, Executive Board Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), on 18 April in Singapore to discuss a range of topics related to WDSF’s role as a valued member of the Olympic Movement.
President Tay said he was delighted to meet with Mr. Ng, and the two had very positive and productive discussions.
During the meeting, the pair discussed a number of wide-ranging issues, including: the governance, roles and responsibilities of the WDSF as an IOC Internationally Recognised Sports Federation; the possible inclusion of the dance sport discipline Breaking in the Summer Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the development of the WDSF’s other disciplines.
President Tay said he valued the input from the long-time Olympic and sports administrator and added that he looked forward to continued dialogue with Mr. Ng in the months ahead.
The IOC Executive Board on 27 March approved a proposal by the organisers of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to include Breaking (in addition to Skateboarding, Sport Climbing and Surfing) on the sports programme for their edition of the Games. The full IOC Session will vote on the proposal at its next meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland from 24-26 June, with a final decision set for December 2020 following the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
06 Apr 2019 09:51
Today is the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP), an annual celebration of the power of sport to drive social change, improve community development and promote peace and understanding.
As a member of the Olympic Movement, the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) is celebrating IDSDP by recognizing all the dancers, coaches and mentors who through DanceSport are building bridges between peoples, empowering communities, and fostering societal and individual change.
One person who epitomizes all this and more is Navid Rezvani, also known as B-boy Spaghetti, who has spent most of his life learning from and giving back to Breaking and the Hip Hop community around the world.
An Iranian-born Norwegian citizen, Rezvani wears many hats. Depending on the day, he can be described as a dancer, an artist, a motivational speaker, a teacher, a documentary maker, a Hip Hop MC, an ambassador, or all of the above. But one thing is certain: sport has always played a central role in his life.
“In Iran, sport is well-integrated in our culture, especially football and wrestling, and it definitely had an influence on me,” Rezvani says. “I was inspired to not only master something, but master something that had a bigger meaning that could resonate with others – with your family and the community. When these guys won, everyone would cheer and it was a great celebration that brought people together inside homes and out on the streets. So we were always looking forward to the next championship and were hoping for a win so we could all celebrate.”
Rezvani first took to the martial art of Taekwondo, inspired as he was by Bruce Lee and Spiderman. But after moving to Oslo and getting his first taste of Breaking at a youth centre called Xray, he immediately knew he had found his calling.
“Sport teaches values and confidence,” he says. “I am smaller than average and when I was young sport taught me that confidence was inside me. I realized that once you master a sport, you don’t need to put on a mask when you leave the house, you can just be yourself. You learn self-respect and that teaches you to have respect for other people as well. All you need is already inside you.”
He soon started making a name for himself, going on to win the official 1VS1 Norwegian championships and various international competitions, reaching the finals of the Norwegian version of the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance,” and finishing second in “Norway’s Got Talent.”
Now 36 years old, B-boy Spaghetti has pretty much done it all, including becoming the first B-boy to receive a three-year scholarship from the Norwegian Art Council, an achievement he is understandably proud of, as it gives him yet another platform on which to promote the artistic, cultural and athletic elements of Hip Hop and Breaking.
Knowing how fortunate he has been to find strength through sport and the arts, he now spends a great deal of his time giving back to others, be they elite-level athletes in Norway or disadvantaged youth in India, Palestine and Bangladesh. Rezvani’s teachings are universal and find receptive audiences around the globe.
Rezvani cites boxer Muhammad Ali, “the greatest of all time,” as a major influence behind his passion for sharing his gifts, in particular the quote: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your time on earth.”
He says he was first inspired to pass on what he has been given through art and sport during the International Baccalaureate program in high school when he discovered the American slave-era adage of “Each One, Teach One,” a philosophy also used by Nelson Mandela and fused into Hip Hop culture from the very beginning.
“'Each One, Teach One’ was a philosophy among slaves where if you knew how to read and write, you therefore had a responsibility to share your knowledge with somebody else,” he says. “And this philosophy is still very active in the Breaking community today, where we inspire and educate each other as dancers, always giving back.”
This was evident at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires last October, where, despite being extremely busy as judges, Athlete Role Models and spokespeople, B-girl AT and B-boys Moy and Mounir took the time to hold a free, five-hour Breaking workshop in a community centre in the Argentinian capital. It was one of the highlights of Breaking’s extremely successful Olympic debut, and something the 240 local young people who attended will not soon forget.
One of the most powerful messages B-boy Spaghetti has for young people is that to become the best version of yourself, you must be true to who you really are.
“In our world today, there is such a strong influence from social media and it is easy for young people to steal the identities of others. But if you do that, you fade away as your true self,” he says. “Hip Hop and Breaking allow us to express ourselves and that becomes an integral part of the dance. It is something that even [International Olympic Committee President] Thomas Bach picked up on, when he talked about Breaking not just being a sport but an expression of the individual. I tell young people to dare to be themselves as it is the only way to become a role model in their own right.”
IOC President Bach was complementary of Breaking both at last year’s Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires and again following a recent IOC Executive Board decision to approve Breaking, along with with skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing, for possible inclusion on the sport programme for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
“[Breaking] is a very authentic expression,” Bach said. “You feel with every performance the personality of the athletes. It is not just delivering an exercise, it is expressing yourself.”
The next Olympic test for Breaking will be a vote by the full IOC Session during its next meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland from 24-26 June. Should Breaking receive provisional approval by the Session, a final vote on its inclusion at Paris 2024 will come in December 2020 following the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Rezvani says he would welcome the opportunity for Breaking to be given the green light for Paris 2024, as it would give B-boys and B-girls a chance to learn from athletes of other sports and vice versa, which is one of the most important lessons he himself has taken away from his time as ambassador for the Performance Culture Program at Olympiatoppen, Norway’s top Olympic centre.
“I have seen how important diversity and inclusion are for culture and sports,” he says. “I am often reminded of how much we as B-boys and B-girls have to learn from the sports world, including all the detailed technical training Olympic athletes do to get the best results, their focus on healthy diets, injury-prevention knowledge, post-injury and rehab exercises, and their discipline in prioritizing.
“And on the flip side, we have so much to inspire the sports world with, including our self-thought, creativity and passion as self-expressive artists. Only by working together can we enrich our worlds and pave the way for more interest in physical activity among young and old people globally.”
To find out more about B-boy Spaghetti, check out his profiles on Facebook and Instagram, or click here to go to his website.
Learn more about the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace here.