Friday afternoon in the Rugged Studio at Strijp-S. On the first floor, overlooking the BMX training hall, we meet with breakdancer Vicky Bergmans. She is only 16 years old, and she just qualified for the Olympic Youth Games that will held in Buenos Aires later this year.
At EMOVES Urban Culture Festival, that will take place a few weeks before in Eindhoven, she will participate in several battles. We talk about what breaking means to her. And how come she will be (the only breakdancer!) representing the Netherlands at the youth games in Argentina.
This is a series of portraits of the people behind EMOVES, Eindhoven’s annual urban culture festival.
Breakdancing, or breaking, originated in the 1970’s in the United States. This form of dance, together with rap, skating and graffiti, is an important part of hip hop culture. Nowadays, you can find b-boys and b-girls all over the world competing against each other in battles on the dance floor. And now, it will even become part of the Youth Olympic Games.
Back to Vicky, who only started breaking a few years ago, after seeing a demo of breakdancers at the local dance school in Budel. She turned out to be a natural talent. Extremely flexible in both back and legs. The power of breakdance is that everyone is equal, she says. It doesn’t matter what you look like or where you come from. It’s about what you show on the dance floor. …Continue reading
Photos: Bram Berkien
