In a train station car-park in Sydney’s West, Paulo unfurls a black and white chequered mat. Between the calls of departing trains and footsteps of commuters returning to their cars after a long day of work, a red UE Boom soundtracks Paulo’s Olympic dream.
Breakdancing will be an Olympic sport at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, and Paulo Adorable AKA B-Boy Pau has his eyes set on gold.
Paulo first fell in love with breakdancing after being inspired by iconic 2000s dance films like Step Up and You Got Served, and when it was announced that breaking would be included as an Olympic sport, Paulo’s intensity and passion accelerated.
“I will usually wake up around four o’clock in the morning,” he said.
“I’ll get some training in for an hour and a half and then I’ll have a meal and stretch. Then I’ll get the kids ready for school, and then I’ll go to work. On days that I have time after I come back from work, I’ll go and train again and then get the kids to bed.
“I usually don’t even have time for myself, it’s more just making it happen. I’ve got so much to do.”
However for Aussie breakers there are far more barriers to secure a coveted spot to compete for gold. To be selected to represent your country at Paris you have to rank internationally and gain points from competitions normally held in Europe, America and Asia.
For breakers in these regions it’s much easier to enter into the competitions and far less expensive to scoot over to a European city for a weekend if you’re already based in that region.
But despite this, Paulo and other local breakers are seeking out sponsorships and are working hard to set up an Oceanic competition, to ensure dancers can rank and gain points without needing to leave Australian borders.
The Australian breaking scene draws on a mix of influences and styles, and dancers like Paulo are excited to share these on the world stage. From state to state there are certain characteristics that define a local scene.
Paulo says that Queensland has a more “power-based” style compared to Sydney which is more trick based and Melbourne which is known its classic footwork.
The different styles being championed by different crews across the country will battle it out at the upcoming Oceanic competition in Sydney in October and it’ll be a chance to see one of our potential Olympic representatives ahead of Paris.
It’s an exciting time for breakdancing, and the breaking community feels like its inclusion as an Olympic sport is shifting the perception around the work and dedication that goes into it.
“It legitimises us as artists and as athletes,” said Paulo.
“We don’t just dance, we’ve still got to make sure we get cardio in, and we’ve got to go lift, we’ve got to eat right. We’ve got to rest, we’ve got to stretch. We’ve got to do all of that, so we’re all athletes in that sense and I think [the Olympics] just legitimises it.”
Paulo felt that once breaking was announced as an Olympic sport his friends and family took his breaking as a legitimate sport and proved that breakers trying to get to Paris are living the lives of professional athletes.
As we edge closer to the 2024 Olympics and we see athletes like Paulo dance for gold, it’s a step further to recognising the immense work that goes into the sport of breakdancing.
