CNN
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To the sound of Miles Davis' trumpet solo, Menno van Gorp is intensifying his training for this year's Paris Olympics.
The jazz musician has been an influential figure in Van Gorp's breakdancing career, and his smooth sound and free-spirited rhythms are a constant source of inspiration for each new routine.
“I love practicing with the Jazz,” Van Gorp told CNN Sport. “Moving to jazz gives you more freedom and inspires more creativity. Also, the improvisational part in jazz is huge. I think that's reflected well in the breaks.”
Van Gorp, 35, known simply as Menno, is a competitive B-boy from the Netherlands who is expected to medal at the next Olympics, where breakdancing, or breaking, is set to debut as the newest Olympic sport.
It's not always comfortable for B-boys and B-girls (the names given to the men and women who compete in breaking) to suddenly see their competition categorized as a sport.
While there are similarities to existing Olympic sports such as martial arts, gymnastics and skateboarding, this year's Olympics will also bring its own subversive identity.
“We are now under the banner of sport, but for me it is still art as well,” says Van Gorp, who calls himself an “artist” on social media. “I think breaking is so unique that it’s impossible to put it in one box… It’s a lot of things coming together and it’s also an expression.”
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Van Gorp of the Hustle Kidz crew competed in last year's Amsterdam Breaking Championships.
A high-scoring breakdance routine requires a unique blend of strength, stamina, agility, and flexibility, as well as the mental fortitude to flow smoothly into each other without repeating movements.
“You literally use every part of your body,” Van Gorp says. Use the tips of your elbows – Every part of the body that can be used.
“I think it takes a lot of physical ability to be a good breaker.”
Van Gorp practiced judo before he started breaking, which helped him gain a foothold in his hometown of Tilburg in the 1990s.
“At first everyone was collecting Pokemon cards, and then everyone was playing yo-yo,” he says. “All of a sudden, everyone started breaking down.”
After eight years of judo, he began to feel that the sport was too limiting and left too little room for creativity.
“Compared to judo, breaking gave me a lot of freedom,” van Gorp added. “Breaking is completely free for me, so I really liked it. In other sports, you're always limited by a lot of rules.”
Born in New York in the late 1960s, breaking has since gained worldwide popularity and is now synonymous with a specific subgenre of street style: sneakers, sweatpants, and the baseball cap worn askew. .
Van Gorp, like many kids who were first introduced to breakdancing in the early 2000s, learned by watching grainy videos and discussing routines with friends before attending practice in the Netherlands and abroad. I got an insight.
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Van Gorp celebrates his victory at the Red Bull BC One World Finals in Mumbai, India.
It was with his win at the British Championships in 2007 that Van Gorp “exploded onto the scene” and began competing more regularly.
He continues to win titles around the world, including three wins at the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship and the Red Bull BC One World Finals. This feat is matched only by his Korean B-boy, Hong10.
Breaking is the first World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) event to be added to the Olympic program, with 16 B-boys and 16 B-girls competing in one-on-one battles in Paris to a hip-hop soundtrack from a DJ. Confront. .
They take turns performing routines and are scored by a panel of judges based on six criteria: creativity, individuality, technique, performability, variety, and musicality.
With the Olympics in mind, Van Gorp is taking up to two-and-a-half hours of rest each day, as well as gym sessions and gymnastics (bodyweight strength training such as push-ups and sit-ups) in hopes of winning gold.
He says such praise will greatly increase his profile.
“I am building a dance studio in Rotterdam where I am also training a new generation,'' Van Gorp explains. “I think winning a medal will be very helpful for my career after I break out to make something happen for the next generation. It's great to have that kind of stamp on your name. is.”
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In addition to founding a dance school, Van Gorp also works as an amateur photographer. He usually paints on large canvases striped with brightly colored lines, but he also has his own clothing brand and is the father of two children.
So his life is a juggling act while training for the Olympics, which is all-consuming at the moment. Van Gorp hopes to earn a spot in the Olympic qualifying series in May and June in order to qualify for the Olympics.
Like all breaking competitions, it tests not only his movement and creativity in the heat of battle, but also his memory. Originality is evaluated, and contestants lose points if they repeat the same move between rounds.
“It's all about preparation,” Van Gorp said. “I study my material a lot. I've found memory hacks to remember myself, so I name my movements. I rhyme and connect them with moments in my life. Connect them with your favorite music.
“Then I write something down, try it out, reread it, visualize it, and select the remaining material between contests. And in battle, everything should fall into place.”
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Mr. Van Gorp holds a workshop in Lyon, France on May 22, 2022.
Van Gorp likens himself to a “cage warrior” in the middle of a battle – “I really need that fire… being a good person isn't important anymore,” he says – and , believes that being spontaneous and unpredictable during a fight is a growth in oneself.
“There are a lot of unexpected movements and a lot of creativity,” he says of his routine. “My style is definitely based on flow and transitions, and I think you have to have a well-trained eye to understand what I'm really doing.
“If you blink once or look away, you can miss important details.”
As with any form of art or music, having a unique style is the key to breaking out. That's what particularly drew Van Gorp to Miles Davis.
“Seeing how many times he reinvented himself and still stuck to himself is a huge inspiration to me,” he says.
Few, if any, athletes will be honing their skills to the emotional sounds of jazz music in the lead-up to this year's Olympics, but that's part of what makes Blake such an interesting addition.
“If you want to make art, you really want to make it your own, not someone else's,” Van Gorp says.
