Beyond the Dance Floor

Switch B (MEC/FAM)

Today we have the return of MC, beat producer, former Skillz-O-Meter champion, and one of the best bboys in Canada Switch B.  This time we have a much more casual chat about breaking, flip flops, pro-wrestling, stories and emotional connection, concept jams, sacrificing now for a better future, judges staying relevant and more.  Switch is one of my favourite people to catch up with and it was really nice to just have a more laid back and free flowing chat with him.  Hopefully as time goes on these kinds of episodes can become more and more common.  Shout out to Switch for coming on and shout out to shout outs.  Always great talking with him.

 

Hope you all enjoy the talk.  Peace.

Amjad (7$ CREW)

Today on the podcast we talk with the mind behind Circle Kingz, The Concrete Jam, one of the best hosts in the world and a true man of the culture, Amjad from 7 Dollars Crew.  We get into his and 7$'s origins, Switzerland hip hop and being a hub for European hip hop, how Circle Kingz started, why it ended, and why the Concrete Jam was the future for him, and so much more.  It was a true honour to have him share his knowledge and experience on the podcast.  Amjad is in my opinion one of the important voices in our community to have as he speaks for the culture, the underground, and the rebellious spirit of breaking and hip hop.  From true hip hop jams with no competitions to the biggest competitions in the world, if Amjad is there, you know it's legit.

 

Hope you enjoy the talk.  Peace!

Nick Robinson (GWS)

Today we have the Lead of Strength and Conditioning for Breaking Canada, Nick Robinson who will be helping Canada's bboys and bgirls get ready for the battles at the up coming 2024 Olympics in Paris.  Nick Robinson, member of Groundwork Sessions is a bboy originally from Whitehorse, Yukon but now resides in Toronto, Ontario as a personal trainer.  Nick gives his insights into what it takes to be an Olympic athlete from his direct work training them, his role in working with the future Canadian breaking olympians, training for breaking specifically and what that entails, and just general fitness and dance talk.  Really great to have Nick share his knowledge on training and conditioning.  It's not every day that you get to talk with a high level trainer who also knows the ins and outs of dancing specifically.

 

Hope you all enjoy the talk.  Peace.

Vicious (SWEET TECHNIQUE)

Today we talk with co-founder of Sweet Technique and member of the breaking Olympic committee, Victor Sono aka Vicious out of Montreal, Canada now residing in Finland.  We got to get into some Montreal/Sweet Technique history, the importance of travelling to build their name, building with the East coast of the US, getting brought on to Breaking Canada the Olympics and more.  It was really great to hear about the early days of Sweet Technique and how it grew as well as shed some light on some of the lesser known members who had an impact on Vicious specifically.  In particular it was great getting to talk with him about breaking in Canada and where it’s headed with the Olympics and everything.  Very glad we were able to shed a bit more light on what the future of breaking can look like.

 

Hope you enjoy the talk.  Peace.

Twelve (GROUND ILLUSIONZ)

Today we talk with Matt Kang also known as Twelve, a dancer from Ground Illusionz out of Toronto who now works as a videographer/interviewer for Forbes.  We talk about his breaking origins in London, Ontario, how he connected with Toronto and Ground Illusionz, carrying on tradition with the crew, his journey into journalism and working with Forbes and a whole bunch of other stuff.  Matt definitely had some great insight on a lot of things and is another perfect example of what this podcast is all about: taking that drive and lessons learned through breaking and applying them to the other aspects of your life.  He’s one of the people that has a deeper mentality toward the dance and his career and has the ability to articulate it well and I’m so thankful to have him on the podcast.

 

Hope you enjoy the talk.  Peace!

Emstro/Medeio (MEC)

Today we talk with Emstro, real name Rei Misiri, a dancer with Maximum Efficiency Crew based out of Toronto.  In recent years Emstro has been making some noise in the art work and has transitioned into a full on art career under the name Medeio.  We talk about his early days as a dancer in the Toronto scene, how his particular art style developed, the connection between his dancing and his art, his art career and making that work, not being afraid to fail and using it as a tool to help guide your future and more.  Really great to connect with Emstro again and I loved the stuff that we got into.  People like him are one of the reasons why I wanted to even start this podcast in the first place.  To show people that there’s more to breaking and dance than just the dance.  For a lot of us it permeates much of our lives and it’s great to see someone succeeding using their blueprint of breaking to help achieve it.

 

Hope you all enjoy the talk.  Peace.

Thaiyo (LAST 4 ONE/NOW OR NEVER/OURO COLLECTIVE)

Today we talk with Thaiyo representing Last 4 One and Now or Never and OURO Collective.  Thaiyo is a Battle of the Year champion as well as a multi time champion in Korea and Canada,  a former body builder, recently started dabbling in the contemporary side of dance, and is a multi time Brazillian Jiu Jitsu champion.  We talk about the early days of the Korean breaking scene and how he got started, being a full-time bboy, his work ethic and dedication to breaking, his journey in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and it's relation to breaking and more.  Thaiyo is one of the hardest working people I know.  It seems like whatever he sets his mind to he excels in and his work ethic and dedication to his craft is very contagious. I’m really happy to be able to share his experiences and perspectives with you all.

Hope you all enjoy the talk.

Peace.

Zeshen (HAVIKORO)

Today we have Zeshen from Havikoro on the podcast. World renown bboy, former Massive Monkee Day footwork champ, and medical doctor, Zeshen shares his history, some history on the Texas scene and regional styles, creativity and originality, the Bleeding the Block series and how it came about, his personal style and how it's evolved, mental health and dance, and more. Zeshen is a really interesting guy with a lot of great perspectives on things. It's so rare that we get to listen to someone who has such knowledge on not only the dance but also a deep understanding of how the mind works and how that can relate to dance. Really great to be able to talk with Zeshen about a lot of these deeper things and I really hope people can get something from this.

Hope you enjoy the talk everyone.

Peace!

Skeme Richards (NOSTALGIA KING/BUTTA 45s)

Today we talk with the Nostalgia King aka DJ Skeme Richards out of Philidelphia, USA.  A world renown DJ, music lover, vintage toys collector, burgers and beer connoisseur, Skeme's has his hands into a lot of different areas and that's one of the things that makes him so interesting.  A purveyor of music, art and culture, Skeme was one of the people that really helped promote understanding history and where things come from.  With breaking and hip hop, that meant parties and we get into all of that and more.  We talk about Philly history and its deep roots in hip hop and in particular its roots in graffiti, how he got into collecting, diverse interests and how it can help you creatively, his love of Japan and dedicating yourself completely to something,  understanding and respecting history and where things come from and more.  One of the more interesting people in the hip hop community and someone who I always learn from every time he speaks.  Thanks to Skeme Richards for sharing his knowledge and experience and I hope you all enjoy the talk.

 

Peace.

Kreate (LAB RATZ/7$/FRESH SOX)

Today we talk with Kreate repping Lab Ratz, 7 Dollars and Fresh Sox.  Kreate now resides in Indonesia but he made his name in the Tri-State area in Virginia.  We got into a lot about Virginia’s breaking history, bboys that had a major impact on him like Xeno and Megas, the South East Asia scene, being a family man, running his own business and his competitive spirit, physical fitness and more.  Much love to Kreate for sharing his history and his history and knowledge with everyone.  He might not be as known as some of the All Star dancers out there, but he’s definitely someone whose story deserves to be heard and is a part of the larger history of breaking.  Hope you enjoy the talk.

 

Peace.