Rachael Raygun Gunn Australias Breakdancing Olympian

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Transcript

00:00I'm doing things that I never thought I'd be able to do, like I never thought I'd be

00:06able to spin on my head and now I can spin on my head and that's just wild to me.

00:11By day, Dr Rachel Gunn is a lecturer at Sydney's Macquarie Uni.

00:16Everyone we're in week 7 now, portfolio 1 due at the end of this week, somehow they'll

00:21see me, something on TV or something on Instagram and they'll go, wait is this you?

00:27And that definitely distracts the class.

00:29Let's go, Ray Gunn!

00:31Class over, Rachel becomes Ray Gunn.

00:35Dancing is also part of her academic journey, her PhD focused on breaking.

00:40I was looking at what research there was in the field, there was a lot on rap, but there

00:47was very little on breaking.

00:50Breaking had its origins among African American and Latino teens in New York City in the 1970s.

00:55Rock Steady Crew, New York City Breakers, they're the ones that really were featured

01:03in all these big films and video clips and world tours and what inspired countless people

01:09from around the world to start breaking.

01:12Louis Napolan works for a stockbroker in Sydney's CBD.

01:15There's a lot going on, transfers are coming in and out, so we're quite busy at the moment.

01:19Yeah, fantastic.

01:20While most of us dread the start of the week, Louis looks forward to it.

01:24So on Mondays I end up going to Downing Centre, different people turn up, but it's always

01:29a vibe when we practice there.

01:31For hours on end, they practice for two big events on the weekend.

01:38First up, Destructive Steps Street Dance Festival.

01:42One is our biggest street dance festival in Australia, so it has a bunch of genres, hip

01:47hop, of course breaking.

01:49I entered the 101B girl and we had an international battle guest from Japan and I won.

01:58While Raegun didn't start breaking until her mid-twenties, moves like this might pave her

02:02way to the 2024 Paris Olympics, the first time a dance sport is featured at the Games.

02:09She's still on top and I definitely think she's probably going to win.

02:13Yeah, there is a chance that, yeah, I could be representing Australia.

02:17It would be an amazing opportunity and just something I never thought would happen.

02:21But Rachel is even more excited for the next generation of B-Boys and B-Girls.

02:26Already there's a lot more family support for people to get in breaking, because I know

02:30people of my generation and earlier, you know, their families were generally like, what are

02:36you doing?

02:37Why are you wasting your time with this?

02:38And as soon as it's been announced in the Olympics, suddenly people are asking questions

02:42about it, they're interested in how the training's going.

02:45Can I get you to make some noise for B-Boy Louie!

02:49Tonight, Louie and Rachel are judges at the Red Bull BC One event in Sydney.

02:55The best B-Boy and B-Girl win a trip to Paris to represent Australia at the finals.

03:00Judges, three, two, one, oh!

03:05There's a lot of stuff that you need to master in breaking.

03:09That's why the top level breakers are just so strong and so hard to beat.

03:15Last year's winners, Kid Tech and Holy Molly, are contenders again tonight.

03:19B-Girl Holy Molly!

03:24When it comes to the Oceania Olympic qualifiers later in the year, the Wollongong teenager

03:28will be Rachel's most formidable competition.

03:31Definitely Raygun's probably number one, followed by Molly.

03:36Both the defending champions were out of luck tonight.

03:39B-Girl Holy Molly!

03:41But both Louie and Rachel see a bright future for breaking in Australia.

03:46I get really excited when I see more women get into breaking and feel like they can enter

03:52that space.

03:53It's a culture, it's a community, it's a sport, it's an art form, it's so many different things.

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