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Breakin' for Gold
32 Plays3 years ago
Breaking, or Break Dancing, exploded in popularity in the 80s but thanks to TV and social media, it's more popular than ever, so much that it will become an Olympic sport at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Yasi and Steven talk to one of the U.S. Olympic hopefuls, Bboy Morris, and the medical team that helps him get there, Aaron Ngor and TeeJay Lee, founders of Offset Med. We get in deep about the Breaking community, its growth from the 80s to today, and how much physical stamina and training it takes to be one of the best in the world.
For Athletes and the Arts, go to https://www.athletesandthearts.com
For Offset Med, go to https://www.offsetmed.com
For video of Bboy Morris on World of Dance on NBC, https://youtu.be/RIARfQuc2HY
To see Bboy Morris win the 2021 Red Bull BC One Cypher championship, https://youtu.be/ULKfAk9BqzA
Follow Bboy Morris on Instagram at @bboymorris_
Follow Aaron Ngor on Instagram at @aaronngor or his Doctors for Dancers page at https://doctorsfordancers.com/546/doctorsfordancers-aaron-ngor/
Follow Teejay Lee on Instagram at @teejaylee or his Doctors for Dancers page at https://doctorsfordancers.com/directory/tj-lee-atacp-cota-l-fmt/
Morris “Bboy Morris” Isby, III began breaking as a high school student in Sacramento, CA., after watching Battle of the Year: 1998 on VHS. The artistry and athleticism he saw in the battles inspired him to begin practicing daily in his parent’s garage. Whether competing solo or alongside crew members, b-boy Morris has maintained his status as a champion competitor, boasting over 120 competitive wins under his belt to date. When he’s not competing or performing, Morris is dedicated to ushering in the next generation of breakers through volunteering and mentorship. He is currently training to compete in the 2024 Paris summer games.
Aaron Ngor, ATC is the co-founder and CEO of Offset Med, a company that aims to co-create the future of health and performance for artist-athletes worldwide. His early experiences as a dancer highlighted the inequities and lack of qualified healthcare professionals that are commonly seen serving traditional sports. Aaron is a sherpa for the overlooked athlete, an investor for the undervalued artist, and a diplomat for the movement arts. His previous work experience includes the Clinic for Science and Health in Artistic Performance (SHAPe Clinic) at Ohio University, Disneyland Resort (Anaheim, CA), AMDA College of the Performing Arts (Los Angeles, CA), and University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA). Aaron’s personal guiding mission is to create opportunities that facilitate the intersection of art, movement, and community development.
Taejun “TeeJay” Lee has a background in Occupational Therapy and strives to help people be the best they can be in their daily lives. Teejay has his Bachelor of Science in health education and earned his Occupational Therapy Assistant License in 2015. His personal experience with a disability and knowledge of pain through certifications in different techniques and modalities has led him to work on clients of all backgrounds. Notable clients include Emmy Awarded Dance Crew Quest Crew and World of Dance Season 2 Winners: The Lab.
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Transcript
Introduction to Athletes in the Arts
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast hosted by Stephen Karaginas and Yasi Ansari.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello again, everyone. Welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast. Along with Yasi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas. We're back from a brief holiday hiatus to talk about performing arts medicine. So if you like what you hear, please feel free to subscribe to our podcast and you'll get new episodes automatically delivered to you.
The Evolution of Breaking and its Olympic Journey
00:00:37
Speaker
We represent the Athletes in the Arts Coalition, so please go to www.athletesinthearts.com if you want more information on keeping performing artists healthy.
00:00:47
Speaker
Alright, so today's show is really exciting because we get to talk about the dance form of breaking, or breakdancing if you're from the 80s like I am. Now, when I was in high school, breakdancing was the most exciting thing around. We saw videos of it, we see movies with Breaking and Breaking 2, Electric Boogaloo, and Beat Street. Breakdancing was everywhere.
00:01:08
Speaker
Then over the following years, the art form continued to evolve and grow as seen in movies like the Step Up series and shows like Soyuz Taking a Dance, taking its popularity to another level. Now, in the most literal example of athletes in the arts that I can think of, breaking has become an Olympic sport at the Paris 2024 Games. Yes, there will be a gold medalist in breaking at the 2024 Olympics, a truly amazing accomplishment.
00:01:34
Speaker
Now, if you ever watch breaking, you will quickly realize that breakers are athletes in the purest sense. With speed and strength, flexibility, stamina, the most competitive breakers are up there with the top athletes in any sport.
00:01:47
Speaker
and then factor in that they are also entertainers and performers who need creativity and stage presence and acting skills just to be successful. But the physicality of the dance form can take a toll. I mean, after all, the form started in the 70s in the streets with dancers performing on cardboard boxes on concrete.
00:02:05
Speaker
And if you check out the video links attached to this podcast, you'll see that breaking puts significant stress on the body and that's putting it lightly. So we wanted to learn more about breaking about the community and its journey from the streets to the Olympic podium.
Key Figures in Breaking: Aaron, TJ, and Morris
00:02:19
Speaker
So on our show today, we have three guests heavily involved in the breaking community.
00:02:24
Speaker
First, we have Aaron Engor, athletic trainer, strength and conditioning specialist, and CEO of Offset Med, who provides care and education for artists, athletes everywhere. We also have TJ Lee, occupational therapist, and co-founder of Offset Med. Together, they have helped care for breakers all across the country.
00:02:42
Speaker
And our third guest is a giant himself in the breaking community, Morris Isby, better known as B-Boy Morris. He started dancing in 1999 and has been in movies like Step Up 3D, TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance and America's Got Talent, and has won over 120 competitions to date, including the 2021 Red Bull BC1 National Championship in Florida. He is now training to be that first Olympian breaker in 2024.
Offset Med: Supporting Breakers' Health
00:03:08
Speaker
Morris, Aaron, TJ, thank you so much for being on our podcast today. First off, let's just find out a little bit more about what we've been doing with Offset Med, Aaron, and how you guys got started in the business. Yeah, thanks for having us on the show. We're all super excited to be here.
00:03:23
Speaker
Offset Med, honestly, it's been quite a journey over the past couple of years because we got started like in 2019. It was a conversation between TJ and I. I was finishing up my master's program in Ohio at the time. TJ was already out in California, kind of doing his stuff with Quest Crew and his homies back at home.
00:03:49
Speaker
You know, we were like, hey, we are trying to serve the same population of artists, athletes. You want to come back and just try and do something because if we don't, who will, right? So we started showing up at, you know, competitions, jams, local ciphers, and that kind of bled into our work in 2020 where I felt like
00:04:17
Speaker
specifically in breaking the community saw that there was a need. We were able to fill that need.
00:04:27
Speaker
And the more we talked about getting health care providers and more education about how to do self-care and maintain your health in this sport, it caught the interest of a lot of breakers. So we just kept showing up. And over time,
00:04:50
Speaker
we were able to develop a network of not just like breakers that you know we're friends with and get to know through through showing up at these jams and ciphers but also a network of other healthcare professionals and fitness professionals that have a really true love and want to like give back to this this culture as well so you know on
00:05:14
Speaker
On top of that, I kind of felt like that happened organically over time, just based on TJ's and I's background, because I'm past, or still dancer, don't dance as much. I'll try to take classes once in a while. TJ's been doing this much longer than I have. And so it's been a fun ride so far.
00:05:39
Speaker
So you're based in Sacramento? Morrises, yeah. Oh, Morrises, where? Yes, I am. Okay. So then where are you and TJ at, Aaron? Predominantly, Los Angeles and Orange County. So we kind of made the commute back and forth.
00:05:54
Speaker
So a lot of the competitions you work for work with are like in California or are you do you find yourself traveling all over the country or? Yeah, it's I mean, it started mostly in Southern California. And as we've kind of gone along, we've gotten requests to, you know, show up at different jams and comps like around the country. So
00:06:16
Speaker
We're a small team. I don't think people realize that. So we rely a lot on volunteers and networks to help us out, especially when we can't travel or things are out of state and get people connected. So yeah. So are you guys seeing people in person right now? Are you guys seeing people virtually?
00:06:40
Speaker
It was a little bit of both at one point. So now we're starting to see people in person again. But Morris is all the way in Sacramento. We have a couple other athletes across the country that we do virtual consulting and coaching for. And then we have our own client base in person. That's awesome. So TJ, you also have a background in breaking?
00:07:04
Speaker
I grew up dancing hip-hop and breaking. Back in 2003, I went to a really bad car accident where I was paralyzed from neck down. They told me I wasn't getting anything back, but I slowly started to just luck and support and just a lot of different things that just plugged in together and I was able to get back on my feet. I don't dance now, but my love for dancing, that's my culture of things where I grew up in. I'm still around it.
00:07:33
Speaker
uh while i was growing up i was just around the era of when youtube started to blow up bigger and dancing like a re-emergence of it so my connection to it was
00:07:47
Speaker
was still there because those were my friends and my family. And it's just like right time, right timing because of a lot of friends, they've gotten the commercial success, internet success, kind of viral in terms of hip-hop dancing, breaking, and just across the creative platforms. And I just kept just being there myself and just like finding
00:08:13
Speaker
just finding that they needed support. And before I even jumped into my health care background, it's just like things that I was always dealing with with pain and just myself. And I was like, hey, I've been learning about my body and it's still a journey. So it's like, hey, you should try this. I've been doing this because
00:08:32
Speaker
they see the way I take care of myself or try to take care of myself and it works. It grew organically of my care. Always from the beginning, I was just taking care of my friends. As they went from hobby, sport, to professional, I was just supporting them and just there for them.
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah, TJ's backstory is really unique and he left out a lot of good nuggets of information in there. So Aaron, how did you and TJ connect and get started? What was the stepping stone of that? What ignited that? It's a really funny story, actually.
00:09:22
Speaker
That's always the question. Were you guys dancing to each other? No, no, it was worse. It was social media drama. So at the time, so California is one of the few states left that does not have license licensure for athletic traders.
00:09:42
Speaker
And at the time, our professional organization was trying to advocate for a new bill proposal to be added on to the occupational therapy board.
00:09:54
Speaker
And, you know, in both professional organizations, they're trying to promote their own agenda. And there was a social media post that was saying, that was from like an OT org, that was saying like, you know, ATs don't know what they're doing, and they shouldn't be on our board.
00:10:13
Speaker
And I had a friend of mine at the time when I was in grad school post on this. And everyone's all riled up trying to advocate for themselves. Like, no, we have all this degrees and we have all this experience.
00:10:28
Speaker
And then TJ, you know, got caught up into it. And he was like, you know, who the heck are you, man? Like, like, get off my post. It's a pre-wokeness, pre-wokeness of like, oh, we're all on the same team, actually. But I kind of went on and the internet drama and here comes Aaron saying,
00:10:50
Speaker
my bad like I'm sorry I was like well first of all I don't know who you are but both now I got two guys after me not even in California and I was like what's going on and then as I was like just going through Aaron both their profiles to sell that Aaron was a local
00:11:07
Speaker
He knew a lot of my local friends and he was local in the dance community. Now it's like, hey, when you come back, let's have a one-on-one talk. We shouldn't do this online. Let's talk in person. Then we met over lunch and we're like, hey, we're trying to do the same thing. It doesn't make sense. Then things got deeper and then
00:11:35
Speaker
It was like, oh, we know the same people. Oh, we're from this different generation of the same community. And we're like, oh, I'm a bad guy. Talking face to face is a pretty novel concept these days. Yeah, especially on heated debates like that. Yeah, I mean, that kind of shows you what kind of character TJ was too, because he could have been like, you know,
00:12:02
Speaker
completely uh non-accepting and it was just one of those things where I'm like our dance community is so small and like tight-knit too like um it's really hard not to not to know people and not know what's going on um in other circles and so you know we both had a love for for for it and we're just trying to do our own part
00:12:31
Speaker
Um, and it's kind of, it's just kind of crazy like now that I think back and it's like, yeah, like, you know, we, we've been on other podcasts and other shows and one of the questions we get asked are like, so what's it like working in a interdisciplinary team? And I'm like, it's just like working with another person, you know, they just happen to have a different, um, specialty or background, but you know, we, we all share this like common, um, understanding and like goal to,
00:13:01
Speaker
to help our friends and the breaking scene out.
Morris on Breaking's Growth and Olympic Transition
00:13:06
Speaker
Well, we won't ask that question then. What I do want to share though, I did do some research on Offset Med before this podcast. What I did notice was I love how diverse your community is in the group of practitioners working at Offset Med. I think that's a key aspect of any organization.
00:13:28
Speaker
with the experiences that you both have had, both personally and professionally, I think it creates an awesome program for people who are coming in and TJ with your experience too, with how you overcame your own challenge. I feel like that is something when someone may be injured and they're coming to you and they're connecting with you, that gives them hope that they're able to recover too, right? And they're able to
00:13:56
Speaker
overcome that challenge and get back into dancing in whatever capacity that might be. Yeah, I know through my own experience going through all the health care.
00:14:07
Speaker
Just everything within healthcare, it was different to kind of meet other, meet practitioners and they haven't really gone through it. It didn't have like the same effect. That's like, Oh, I know what you're going to. Like, I really know what you're going to do rather than like that. You should talk like, Oh, this is, you know, I know what's going on again. I feel like it's like, um, thanks, but not really. Like, so when I do meet athletes or just like people going through it, right? Oh, okay. Like.
00:14:34
Speaker
Just being there gives them a sense of like, oh, it's going to get better. And that's the biggest thing that even when we're present at an event, just any type of outing and like, okay, cool. Like there's someone there for us, like truly there for us. And that's like the biggest thing we try to portray.
00:14:51
Speaker
100%. And I'm a fellow dancer too, and I don't do breaking. But what I do do is I do ballet, and I do jazz, and I do Persian dancing, and ballet dancing. And something that I always notice is, if God forbid, if something was injured, dances in our bloodstream at this point, especially those who have done it for their whole lives, it's part of our genetic code now. And I can't imagine what that might
00:15:21
Speaker
what that experience looked like if you weren't able, or if you even had that thought that, can I get back to dance? What is that going to look like? And what is that challenge going to look like moving forward? Yeah, I feel like, especially with the breakers too, they will find a way. Even if they feel like no one's on their side, they'll figure it out. And I feel like Morris can attest to that too. I mean, even to this day,
00:15:50
Speaker
Even though we exist, we still encounter breakers that we can offer help and service to. And they're like, I'm good with what I got. I'm just going to work with what I got. So thanks. I think everyone's touch points with health care.
00:16:10
Speaker
health in general is very different and I think Morris is the exception to be honest because he's like he's really taking it to like another level in terms of you know what he focuses on and how he trains. So that's a good question Morris. So you know we mentioned in the beginning of the podcast all your accomplishments and your career a little bit but do us a favor at least take us a little bit through your career and like how breaking has evolved along with what you've done.
00:16:37
Speaker
So I started in 1999. I started in high school like most b-boys that I knew, you know, they had it at rallies and it was on TV and things like that. I think one of the first times I've seen it was like a music video with like the Beastie Boys and what was it? It was an MTV music video and I just remember Kujo being on there.
00:16:59
Speaker
I mean, long story short, it was just something that helped me focus, something that gave me kind of a purpose. And it was a way that I honestly saw myself being able to grow and have a career and wanted to take it to a new level.
00:17:17
Speaker
Now pertaining to Offset Mid, with everything, it's like this is super new territory for all of us. Like most B-Boys, there are some, but most of us, we work around our injuries. We don't talk about it. There's really no off-season. It's just how many events there is going across the years, and we just plow through it. And we kind of set our own timelines of how long we dance. So it's kind of all over the place. But, yeah.
00:17:47
Speaker
So how much has a community grown from like when you started to like now? Because I mean, you can type your name into YouTube and see dozens and dozens of videos. And I watched with my kids shake it up on Disney and you're on there two years ago and all over the place. But it seems now that with the momentum behind this community that there's way more involvement in the breaking world than ever before. So like how much, like give us an idea about how big the community is now.
00:18:16
Speaker
Okay, so like I would probably say there's at least a million b-boys b-girls combined all over the world So like uh timeline wise like in the 80s, you know, it kind of hit it like a super high point Um in the world where was you know, very mainstream and then it kind of slowly started dying out once it started getting into like the late 80s in the 90s and that's when like more of the european b-boys
00:18:40
Speaker
you know kind of kept it going and the more the Asian people was at that point like skyrocketed it but it became like a worldwide commodity and kind of made its own like a sub genre of its own in hip-hop you know because it was one of the four elements and now it's kind of ingrained in like every to be real it's transitioning into kind of a college thing
00:19:01
Speaker
to where like most college students they you know you go to dance you pick hip hop or you go to ballet or things like that most college students get into breaking and for us like me now it's like reach the point to where it's like you know on such a high
00:19:17
Speaker
level and becoming, you know, an Olympic sport. We're all like, you know, trading new land and, you know, making history right now. So it's
Elements of Hip-Hop Culture and Breaking Styles
00:19:25
Speaker
huge. We're trying to get it back to the point where it's like just, uh, common knowledge like it was back in the eighties. And we feel like this is that circle that's coming around like life. Right.
00:19:34
Speaker
And so even in certain colleges now have curriculum for dance majors in breaking hip hop. OK. You mentioned the four parts of hip hop, the four divisions. How does it all break down? The four elements would be like so we're going to say it's breaking. It will be MCing, graffiti.
00:19:50
Speaker
and DJing. So those are the four elements of hip-hop. But breaking would be the official dance of hip-hop. So everything coming after what you would say now would be just trendy dances to hip-hop music, breaking would be the very first hip-hop dance. And then our origins would be funk and soul before that, because that predates hip-hop. Gotcha. And then within breaking itself, are there multiple divisions?
00:20:18
Speaker
Um, I mean, like, yeah, I mean, to get like into the thick of it, like we have our own little subdivisions of like, uh, different styles within a dance. Right. Um, but it's not too, too many. Like the biggest thing in getting into breaking is learning the vocabulary, uh, knowing the music, like a TJ and Aaron said, it's just like the community, once you really get involved with it, it's actually pretty small.
00:20:39
Speaker
We have our stars, we have our terminologies, but it's tons of people. You'd be surprised how many people break or have broken back in the day. So it's actually a huge community, but in the know, it's small. Everybody knows each other. We all communicate. How did you get into breaking, Morris?
00:21:03
Speaker
Um, so there was a guy in my city named Gerald and rest his soul. Um, he was in a, uh, a VHS at the time called value your 98. Um, I was able to, you know, see this video. I got inspired. My sister used to hang out with the guy. I didn't even really know it was him. It was just like, Oh, that's one of my older sister's friends. And, uh, kind of gave me the, the inspiration that I needed to know that somebody from my city doing something he loved.
00:21:31
Speaker
was able to take it to that level to go to Germany and battle and represent the United States. Since then, I was like, yo, I can do this. I was cocky. There was somebody on the video who was like, not that good. I was like, if this person made it to Germany, I can make it to Germany. Literally, I was like, all right, I just need to practice. Since then, it was just like, it kept me focused. It kept me out of
00:21:55
Speaker
Like, you know, I live in Sacramento, California, live in the urban area, live in the south. So just like when everybody else was like either, you know, going out and partying and doing everything, I was in the hallways breaking, just dancing.
00:22:09
Speaker
And yeah, and just every opportunity I got, I just used it to dance, to go to different schools. I went and battled the other kids there. When I started winning local competitions, I would use that money then to fly to different cities. And then they happened to have a qualifier in 2005 called Evolution. We won that, and we flew to, what was it, Charles to go, which is Paris, and battled in something called Shell's Battle Pro, and been traveling international ever since.
00:22:37
Speaker
Wow. And how do you feel like you've kept your body so strong after all this time of dancing? Ooh, I'm the worst. Honestly. You're doing something, right? Because you're still going. Well, I feel like with every dance or sport, it's not so much as anything that you're going to do specific. To keep your body going, it's just keep following the same regimen as you would if you were younger.
00:23:05
Speaker
The older we get, we get more responsibilities, but as long as I try to keep my responsibility level low so I can still practice three or four times a week, I can work out the other two, and then getting with Offset Mid and another coach of mine, recovery has to be big because I'm 37 years old. So I'm 19 and 20-year-olds, they can bounce back.
00:23:28
Speaker
Not for me. So like trying to keep that in a balance, but also like the mental health aspect of it, trying to also have things that will help me detach from
Health and Nutrition in Breaking
00:23:39
Speaker
it. So I'll love it every time I come in. It's a big help and TJ and Aaron have helped me with that so much, especially even at being at the event of centering, making sure, you know, I'm focused.
00:23:49
Speaker
It takes a lot of discipline to keep doing what you're doing and to stay on track. When it comes to recovery, can you share what you do for recovery? One of the biggest things that I've also been told is just sleep is huge. At these dance events, they can sometimes last from maybe 10, 11 AM, getting anywhere like midnight, one o'clock. Sleep is number one.
00:24:17
Speaker
Recovery-wise, I know what TJ has been specifically with me is just making sure I'm taking vitamins. Aaron got me on, I believe it was the born vitamins right now. Yes. Making sure I have a schedule that's not just so, let's say, weight-based where I'm just lifting extreme amount of weights, making sure I'm stretching, making sure just my mobility is a huge thing, making sure I'm not just going out there stiff because sometimes that happens.
00:24:45
Speaker
I mean, in my youth, I would just jump up, no stretching and I'm going to an event and I would be okay. But now they're making sure I'm taking the proper steps so I can last longer and I'm not stressing. Great. And are you fueling too? In terms of nutrition? I have to throw in the sports nutrition questions. So how are you fueling? How am I feeling about the nutrition side? Fueling, fueling. Oh, fueling. Yes. Oh, okay. So that's like the next phase.
00:25:16
Speaker
You just hit his Achilles heel right there. I'm the worst one you want to talk to about that. But yeah, they've talked to me about it. I've been seeing good results from it. I'm very in tune to how my body feels, but also I'm stubborn because most of my career, I was off doing this on my own. Most breakers don't have trainers. We have mentors.
00:25:43
Speaker
other people who you know dance before us like most dance you know has somebody who's been in the game for a long time right but this is why i'm saying we're kind of like making history here
00:25:54
Speaker
It's like, we're just getting rule books for the USA Olympic team. We're getting coaches. We're getting trainers. This is all new territory. So even I know I've run into a couple of hurdles where Aaron and them are like, where are you? Are you not getting in contact with us at times? Because I'm so used to heading in myself. And then I have to realize they're giving me the tools I need to be successful.
00:26:21
Speaker
You know, and I try to advise other dancers of that too. Like we have to make sure, but we're also, even though we're sports athletes, we're also artists and artists have a hard time communicating most of the time. We communicate mostly with our dance. You're a dancer
Breaking as an Olympic Sport: Challenges and Preparations
00:26:36
Speaker
nine times out of 10. And you teach too, right? You teach.
00:26:42
Speaker
I do private, so like I do every now and then like workshops, but mostly now I try to do private because I tend to want people to get a little bit more out of what I'm trying to teach. Like I hate like kind of the general. And I think it's great for your students to be able to look up to you too. You have so much like even I think
00:27:03
Speaker
being 37 and you're still dancing and you're doing it well and you're headed to the Olympics, I think it's so great for the people that you are training to be able to see that and look up to that and to know that it is possible for them too.
00:27:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I mean, I just want my story is really just to show people you can dance pretty much as long as you want to. It just you're going to have to sacrifice something one way or another in life, whether it's time or something you just enjoy. You just got to make sure it's worth it. And I figure, like, this is the Olympics. Why would I not try? You know, like, yeah, I'm older. Yeah, it takes a little bit more toll on my body, but
00:27:41
Speaker
I love what I do, and I'm willing to make that sacrifice of, you know, rest, you know, walking straight, things like that. Now, not a lot of folks are really aware that breaking is going to be an Olympic sport in a few years here. So can you talk a little bit about the journey that it took to get to this point now as like, how does the process work to make this an Olympic sport?
00:28:07
Speaker
So there was an organization called Silverback Events that were really working with the IOC and trying to get them to really take notice. Because we wanted the breaking to be in the Olympics because how tolling it is on the body and how much dedication it takes to be actually one of the good athletes. So they actually had the Youth Olympics, I believe, what was that in 2018?
00:28:32
Speaker
And it actually got really good numbers. Everybody enjoyed the event. It actually got the most exposure and I believe it was Buenos Aires. So that kind of kicked it off to where the IOC was like, okay, we want to see what the adults can do. So now the process is we're getting our first trial run in 2024.
00:28:53
Speaker
So all the countries are now building federations and building, like I said, rule books, regulations. And we, like I said, we've had competitions probably for well over, I don't know, since the
00:29:07
Speaker
early 80s, but every so often the competitions reach a higher level, a higher stage, more professionalism. So right now we're, like I said, making history by taking it to the highest form, which is the Olympics. And it's still a process. Right now we're making sure we have regionals and there's an organization called WDSF that's also assisting in this, making sure we're following the guidelines as every other dance sport that's out there.
00:29:37
Speaker
and there'll be like Olympic trials held beforehand or is it more give me a cumulative of points accumulation of points or how are they gonna decide the team?
00:29:47
Speaker
So right now, honestly, it's it's still up in the air, but like it's not we haven't had we don't have a team USA, the official one until 2023. So they're going to have trials. I believe we're going to have seven trials this year before nationals and the nationals will, you know, break it off into a top 16 and then whoever wins will be the one person that gets to go male and female on both sides. One each.
00:30:11
Speaker
one each, that's it. Wow. So then it'll be the two that go, the male and female, and then the backups in case something happens, you know, if they're there. And so it's like really, it's going to be a tight fit this year.
00:30:25
Speaker
and next year for all the qualifiers. And I think they're having another WDSF event that's happening in Birmingham in July. I think it's July 10th. I should be there. Everybody should go because we're trying to make sure everybody gets involved and is a part of this. And that's one way people can help out is showing up to the event if it's open, considering the pandemic. But yeah, everything's taken off and the ball is already rolling. Aaron, TJ, do you guys have any involvement in this?
00:30:55
Speaker
We have been supporting the WDSF and our local region, and we make sure we are safe, sport certified, and we are not part of them officially, but we're like, what's at the edge? Judicator. Judicator. Judicator, yes. We're basically an affiliate for them. So we're their full support because I know there's a lot of things officially that needed to go on, and at least on our end with the health, we could get plugged in very easily.
00:31:25
Speaker
that we figured out that we don't want to mess up what they're going through as we're going on this path because on the health stuff, we're there to support the athletes. That's easier said than done, but we're there if they need us because we do have Aaron with the knowledge of what goes on NCAA, Division I Olympics, but it's all on the supporting side.
00:31:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the the biggest thing is that especially when you're preparing for the Olympics the IOC does not
00:32:05
Speaker
allocate budgeting equally so you know breaking will always be like this kind of grassroots let's summon our community and get everyone on the same page so you know the best way that we can support this I guess new sport in their eyes is to get funding sponsorship attention and exposure and show that there's like a real
00:32:34
Speaker
Um, real appetite for people that want to see this and want to continue to see this. Um, and that means like getting more members, uh, to sign up for like, you know, dance USA breaking for gold, um, memberships. That means getting.
00:32:51
Speaker
people to attend and talk and share about what's going to happen at the World Urban Games this year in Alabama and Birmingham and supporting those breakers that are going to be duking it out for that one spot.
00:33:05
Speaker
And really just creating this, I mean, it's funny because Morris mentioned it before too. This is not new for them. They're used to competing and just developing their own ranking and names for themselves in this breaking art form. But when it has now making this transition,
00:33:31
Speaker
I think it puts a lot of unique stress on breakers that are not used to making this next professional jump, whether it is with Wada and sport testing, whether it is understanding yourself as a brand, as an individual artist and how you create attention about yourself.
00:33:57
Speaker
and sponsorships as well, like how you're going to fund yourself to go to all these competitions and also your team to support you because they don't get stipends all the time. They don't get like a massive budget to do all these things. So it's still coming off on their own time and their own dime.
00:34:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's one of the most under overlooked aspects of Olympic competition is just getting to the Olympics financially. There isn't money that our government a lots for people like that. So, so Morris, how do you take this kind of like, how do you break this art form down when you're training for it? Because we see, you know, you see this like minute and a half, two minutes competition and, you know, dozens and dozens of moves, you know, linked together. But like when you're trying to say when you're trying to train someone to
00:34:46
Speaker
uh do a certain new move like are you breaking it down like like piece by piece like beat by beat or are you breaking it down from like movements or like are you trying to build up certain functional movements to help create the actual uh overall dance movement how does it all break down for you
00:35:04
Speaker
So how do I break down movements if I'm trying to teach somebody? The first thing I would always say is like, it's break dancing. So dancing is the first aspect. So like always, I guess you would go with the why. And so like, if I were to teach you, I would be like, okay,
00:35:20
Speaker
So what are you trying to express when you're trying to do a round? And for me, you have to be able to translate the sound that's coming out, you know, like whatever the DJ is playing. And then next to that, then if you're not trying to translate the sound of the music, the difficulty, but what are you trying to express? That's normally number one. But this first thing I would teach people is just how to be on beat.
00:35:43
Speaker
Next thing would be fitness. You have, there is a level of athleticism that comes with this and learn our foundation and movements. So then we have to go over that type of vocabulary, you know, learning these things, knowing what it's called, why we do it.
00:36:00
Speaker
what helps you, it'll help you catch certain snares and sounds of the music and then afterwards like adding in your own personality because depending on you know the artist is going to be, there are guys who are just like you know more machine like and they just learn every move and they just go step by step by step and then there are guys like me with that I'm trying to make a moment when I'm out there and sometimes I don't care how it looks I just want to make somebody feel something.
Technological Influence on Breaking
00:36:27
Speaker
And yeah, it just depends on the person too. I would train definitely Aaron differently than I would train TJ because their personalities are going to reflect. But I'd give them the same vocabulary, but I would definitely have them translate differently than each other because their characters are different. If that makes sense.
00:36:48
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. How do you take it higher then? Because one of the biggest problems we see in dance, for instance, when it comes to choreographers and performers and trying to prevent injuries is learning how far you can push people, push the human body to do certain things. Some of the things that I watch you guys do are just gravity defying beyond most laws of physics. But how do you push that boundary without hurting yourself?
00:37:15
Speaker
Um, oh, we hurt ourselves quite often. So like, um, for us, it's just, and that was one of the things like, um, you got to keep that creativity that, uh, when you're especially in breaking.
00:37:31
Speaker
Because like you said, you were with Run DMC at the concert back in the day. They had B-Boys and stuff doing things back then. So when I started breaking, I was seeing guys doing spins like four to five times and like, yo, this is amazing. I'll never be able to do it until I actually tried and was like, well, let's see if I could take it a step further. But you have to have that belief that you can. And that also comes into your personal style. Like, what can I add to the art form?
00:37:59
Speaker
And that will help you take it further. One of the biggest things I think with any type of artistry or even dance is you want to be able to leave your mark. And for us, for my generation, because I started in the 90s, it was kind of coming up with your own movement.
00:38:17
Speaker
to add to everything. So when you would like, you know, be done with dance there, you wouldn't normally name the move after yourself or name it something and it would go on, you know, from years and years and years. And then the kids just keep building on it.
00:38:30
Speaker
And that's how it keeps leveling up. So there's a guy named Pocket, he's a friend of mine. The guy's arms is massive. He's huge. So he can fly and throw himself. But 15 years ago, they were doing it maybe three times, four times, five times, and the crowd would go nuts. This dude was doing it 20, 30 times, nothing.
00:38:50
Speaker
So, and literally what I mean, like he's throwing his body like this over and over and over on his hands and it's nothing to him. His arms are like his legs. So like every generation is gonna see what we've done and then build from there. But also Marcia, cause I grew up in the 90s breaking too. Learning from then to now has also been different cause
00:39:17
Speaker
you know, the internet. Oh, yeah. Back then, it was like, oh, it's like kind of you just hear stories, you get that VHS tape, you got to be at the event or it's like your mentor. But once, you know, YouTube, social media came on like, oh, you could do it like that. Oh, let me try like this, too. Like, you know, pushing yourself, like what Moore says, like, oh, I know it could be done. Let me do it now. It's just an idea. But that kind of helped push the limits of what the breakers can do. Oh, yeah.
00:39:45
Speaker
So Morris, were you observing movements when you were growing up and you were first getting into breaking or did you have someone that taught you how did it all get started?
Learning and Evolving Breaking Styles
00:39:58
Speaker
Like I know that you were inspired to start it, but were you observing what was going on and trying things on your own?
00:40:06
Speaker
I was like TJ, like TJ said, I had got a VHS and then I went to my parents' living room and just started tearing stuff up. I remember at an editor, I did a spin and a flip, broke all the glass. They were like, you practice it in the garage from now on, my man. I was like, all right.
00:40:23
Speaker
Like my generation, we will watch videos kind of to get us the standard of movement. And then what it would be like would be how can I do that type of movement, but in my own way. So we wouldn't take that artist's like movement style, if you will. And this generation now is like what TJ said. Like when YouTube came in, everybody's like, oh, I just want to see if I can do that.
00:40:46
Speaker
And then they just do it on a more massive level. They find all the best guys and they try to ball them into one person mentally or ball her into one person. And they just do all their moves and that's where they start. And then once they start finding themselves, they grow from that point. And that's how every generation has been getting better. Like it just changes. Go ahead, TJ. A good thing, a thing that breaking heads, which is really like
00:41:14
Speaker
really useful and really like not not a lot of different sports has is that we still have access to our founders that created breaking and that's just being able to reach out to them that's been really beneficial and like the growth especially with with the new generation coming out that I don't think of any other sports or anything like that where we could reach out to the people that created it that were there
00:41:39
Speaker
that makes it push the culture so much more forward than other things. So that's like a blessing, a blessing in disguise in the community when I see it, that even at the events, like we could be standing next to a person that created a certain move.
00:41:56
Speaker
But it's up to us to be like, oh, do we know our history? Do we just know just the mood itself? Yeah, so that's been a big thing. Because even I fanboy all the time when it's like, oh, he's right there. That's such a cool thing. I was just going to add that I feel like the conversations that TJ, myself, Morris have, they're definitely like,
00:42:22
Speaker
higher level. And we still work with breakers that are, are not as and maybe trying to, to get to that next level. And so the common things that
00:42:36
Speaker
you know, or questions that we hear from them is like, you know, how do I get X, Y stronger so I can do X move? And they're not really concerned yet about putting their own, like, artistry or spin on it yet. And the hardest thing about those types of questions is that, you know, like Morris pointed out, it's like,
00:42:57
Speaker
There are different ways to go about doing braking and you can either like push through an obstacle and like, okay, well, if I wanna do this and I'm gonna do what I can to get that. And then there's others that will be like, well, I can't seem to get to this point, but let me find like another way around it or let me go through a different direction and it pulls them forward. So I really do think,
00:43:24
Speaker
like the blend between a person's personality, their mentality, and also their understanding of what their belief of their physical capabilities are in combination will kind of dictate where they end up going and how their performance will end up looking like, if that makes sense.
00:43:46
Speaker
Yeah, and I feel like you really can't get too into your head when you're breaking either, right? Just go with it. I feel like I took one class a long time ago. This is probably
00:43:58
Speaker
in the late 90s actually. And I remember the upper body strength that you needed was so important because you have to like, you know, I remember one move where I had to like put my elbows underneath like right by my abdomen and I had to like, you know, balance my body up and I was like, I can't do this. I have lower body strength and a lot of it but upper body strength, no.
00:44:24
Speaker
So, you know, I'd also love, I'd be curious to know how many, you guys said we have a lot of B girls out there too, right? How, if girls do want to get involved, are there people that they can look up to in this realm?
00:44:41
Speaker
I'm sponsored by a brand called Red Bull, or I'm an ambassador of Red Bull because there are different tiers to it. But there's a girl named Logistics, and she's from San Diego currently living in Florida. She just won the Red Bull BC1. She's a USA champion, and she's, I think, 18.
00:44:59
Speaker
She's won pretty much everything, anything in dance. She's covered, and there's tons of women. One of the women that I look up to is a girl named Nairumi from Japan. She's, I believe, probably 40 this year, but she came to Sacramento, I think, back in 2004, and she just put a curtain on all of us down here.
00:45:20
Speaker
And we learned, you know, different types of movements because Nairobi barely could speak English and she just wanted, you know, to come through and kind of learn our interpretation of dance. And we wanted to, you know, work with Ireland, her, you know, interpretation of dance as well. And it helped us. And we saw that there were different levels.
00:45:37
Speaker
And some of the Japanese B-girls are some of the best B-girls in the world. The USA has an ensemble of good B-girls as well. One of my favorites is a girl named Sunny Choi. She's from New York. She also is going to be one of the B-girl athletes trying to be one of the picks.
Public Support and Recognition of Breaking
00:45:55
Speaker
for the Olympics to represent the United States, but there are tons of e-girls and they're really, really good. And their approach to dance is way different than us guys. But it definitely is very interesting, if not better, because they, you know, they put their moves and flow together better than most of us guys. Most of us are not that thoughtful or mindful.
00:46:17
Speaker
So forecasting the gold medal competition in 2024, sounds like the US, Japan, will other countries have a really strong breaking presence? So we just got back from Paris in December. December 4th, I believe, was the event. The USA came in number one, my friend Victor. He placed number one. I think second place was a guy named Phil Wizard from Canada. And then third place was Russia.
00:46:44
Speaker
Um, so but it varies like right now. I believe the best two countries is the usa and japan Those are always the hardest ones of the russia is all it's all russia's always looming around there But it's normally those top three that you have to really really be aware of korea was on top for a long time But I think korea dominates more of the uh, the crew battles more of the team battles, right? Okay
00:47:07
Speaker
So what would you say as far as the effects of the TV shows, the TV competitions, World of Dance, which I think you've been on, Soviet Thinking Dance also has represented the breaking community as well. There's been a lot of debate about how beneficial the shows have been. Obviously, it's been fueling a lot of popularity, but it's also led to some negative trends in the dance world. So in breaking, how do you see the effects of those shows on breaking itself?
00:47:34
Speaker
So World of Dance and I guess you would say So You Think You Can Dance and then America's Best Dance Crew because those are like the biggest shows. I think they did a good job of kind of just getting you know the exposure of that this dance is still going in the United States because in the United States we don't get represented
00:47:54
Speaker
almost at all in other countries. In other countries, we're known as like, dance is more like a sport over there. It's always has been. The United States is like, if it's not on TV, they don't really mess with it, really and truly. So I would say it was more of an asset for us to have these shows to give us a platform and other dance celebrities to open more doors. I mean, could they have done a better job of explaining what breaking is?
00:48:23
Speaker
giving it a little bit more respect you know because of how demanding it is on the body yes of course but um ultimately i feel like any type of
00:48:34
Speaker
Platform that will rise dancers up to a higher level because they need any dancer will tell you it's this is very taxing on the body especially like let's just say like ballerinas their feet go through tremendous trauma and stress to do the movements that they do and not every ballerina is going to get hired or booked for show or have a career in teaching and not say not all of them want to but
00:49:00
Speaker
The amount of hours that we put in just to get the basics should hopefully have a platform to where we can rise to these levels. When other aspects like if I was a movie critic, I could put in the amount of hours and probably get a higher notoriety. So that's why I'm saying I respect the shows because they gave people more opportunity to push dancers to a higher level. Just bring more awareness to the dance as well.
00:49:30
Speaker
I feel like we need way more of that. And how does the average person support breaking? I know we talked a lot about ways to support breaking financially, I think earlier on in the podcast, but what else can we do? What can we share on our social media channels? How do we increase awareness and just increase the noise around breaking?
00:49:58
Speaker
OK, so the first thing like right now, the biggest thing in breaking is making sure, you know, this stays in Olympic sport. So the first trial run for the adults will be in 2024, which is Paris. Then the next one will be in 2028, which is in L.A. So of course we wanted to go now to L.A. So I think step number one is everybody to support. Watch if you want to be involved, go to USA Dance, you know, become a member.
00:50:23
Speaker
You could be just a supporter, you can join that way. And just understand that I think the perception of it back in the 80s was that these are just kids dancing on cardboard, and that kind of translate to people without goals, dreams, or anything, just nothing of that manner. So now, I would believe the best way to support is actually get into it.
00:50:50
Speaker
you know, like find out what it's really about. Find out, you know, like the discipline it takes, the sacrifices, certain, you know, things that we make, you know, for, you know, the sport and to look at it as being more professional. I think that would be the best way. And financially, right now companies are already jumping in, you know, like Red Bull has been a big, like a major sponsor for the last 10 years going on, probably more like 12 years, but
00:51:19
Speaker
predominantly 10 years, they've been pushing the dance further and further. Monster just jumped into the game. Nike just sponsored, I believe they have two now breaking athletes, a guy in the UK and a girl in Germany. So the companies are coming in.
00:51:35
Speaker
But the more attention to the professionalism and the discipline it takes to do this, the better it will be for all dancers because we're kind of leading the way of like, okay, this is the next step.
Offset Med's Role in Breakers' Health and Community
00:51:52
Speaker
And I believe that's the best way to support, you know, like, because I know one of the things I ran into as a youth was when everybody was asking me, what do I do for a living? I tell them I'm, you know, a breakdancer, you get the chuckle.
00:52:06
Speaker
And then you let them know, okay, well, that means I compete in elite level competitions. I'm also a performing artist. I do theater shows. I performed in movies. Then they're like, oh, you're an entertainer.
00:52:24
Speaker
So, I mean, but it's cool. I mean, it's definitely a, you know, a colorful story to have, but just making sure that, you know, people know that there's a future. And I think when I teach, this is why I try to tell everybody the professionalism means something to me because you don't want to teach somebody something and just, you know, it's not going to go anywhere. This is just a passion project because
00:52:49
Speaker
put 10 years into anything, you want to hopefully see the fruits of that investment. And hopefully it should lead to a bigger step and a way to help people and be fulfilling and also be able to have a career within that. So Aaron, TJ, talking about supporting the dancers. So what kind of injuries are you seeing that are the most challenging for you to take care of? What's the challenge for you as far as caring for dancers, getting them back on the floor?
00:53:20
Speaker
That's a great question. You know, I think the most difficult injuries per se are probably the ones that the breakers don't tell us about. No shots fired. No shots fired. Honestly, it's
00:53:47
Speaker
And we kind of alluded to this earlier in the podcast too. It's just our presence and working with them. It's almost akin to like, we have professional athletes in this sport.
00:54:04
Speaker
But they went through a different system than these traditional athletes have gone through. Traditional athletes will maybe have an athletic trainer in high school, maybe go see the primary care doctor at some point in their life or their physicals. And then college, you have access to sports medicine suites and other services. And then you have a pro to semi-pro infrastructure developed.
00:54:30
Speaker
And when we got into this, we're like, we're like, shoot, we have to somehow build this infrastructure and understand that what level of understanding and what level of need these breakers will need. And some of them, you know,
00:54:50
Speaker
With the types of injuries we're seeing, we're seeing all types of injuries. It's not just isolated to the upper extremity. Lower extremity is still very common injuries, ankle sprains, bumps, bruises, a lot of back pain, I would say, just because of the rotation required and the mobility and flexibility required for the sport.
00:55:13
Speaker
Um, and you know, I mean, we've had, we've seen breakers with like fractures as well. And they still show up to jams and cruise and find a way to work around it or, um, and then also the mental health piece as well, especially as you get higher and higher up in the level. Um, you know, there's a lot of like.
00:55:37
Speaker
complex dynamics that have when you may or may not even have an injury. I'm talking in terms of like Morris mentioned crews earlier and TJ knows this as well. The type of crew members that you have on your team can either push you one way or push you another way.
00:56:02
Speaker
some of them are, you know, the breakers, the guy, the b-boy mentality of like, I'm going to be tough. You know, if I'm hurt, I'm not going to show it. And if I am, like, I'll just deal with it later, you know, what's matter right now, it's like the reputation on the line or, you know, how I'm going to show out and establish my name. We're seeing less and less of that now, I think,
00:56:26
Speaker
You know, when TJ and I got started, we did start off on the collegiate breaking side of things. So, you know, those types of things.
00:56:36
Speaker
We're just introducing people to foam rollers and soft tissue. It's very basic and that's why we tell a lot of our volunteers that you don't have to be a dancer, you don't have to be a breaker to make an impact in this sport. If you have knowledge and you have the time just to be personable and get to know people, you can make an impact wherever you want.
00:57:03
Speaker
We just happen to be coordinating all this. And as we've gotten to work with higher and higher level B-Boys, we change those needs to meet their demands. A lot of them come with chronic injuries.
00:57:18
Speaker
as well as things that never got rehab properly from knees to hyperextended elbows to rotator cuff tears. And we hear stories of like, you know, I went to PT, I went to my doc.
00:57:34
Speaker
And they said, you probably won't be able to do this again. And you tell that to a b-boy, they're like, no, you're wack. I'm going to go find somebody else. But some of them actually do find good people to work with and to get them started. But it's always like, what's that next step? And we see this in traditional athletics and sports medicine too, athletes looking to just tighten up that return to sport training and actual training.
00:58:04
Speaker
And between TJ and I, we do our best to help accommodate that and really tackle a full spectrum. But at the end of the day, it's always limited to people's time and expertise.
00:58:25
Speaker
That's why we are always big on trying to build a community and network of support so that wherever these artist athletes go, there's somebody in our network that understands them, can support them.
Breaking's History and Future Infrastructure
00:58:40
Speaker
And ultimately, really not take advantage of them. We're in this special spot where there is that big media turnaround. There is going to be a lot of money put into the sport.
00:58:54
Speaker
And then the day it should be about them, it should be about more, it should be about their journey. And we're just trying to build what already exists for other teams in sports.
00:59:08
Speaker
I should be about all of us because I'll jump in as an athlete. You guys are important because you're keeping us in the game and any athletes going to tell you like they, we need to stay in the game, you know, and TJ, you were a huge help with the Orlando, you know, so like I was getting into my head and you got me focused. So like, I think
00:59:32
Speaker
It's us communicating properly. And as Aaron said, they're creating this. There is no structure. They're building the structure. But let's just say three years ago, there was no structure. The most you were getting out of advance was maybe a masseuse.
00:59:48
Speaker
and the whole of it is lining up for the masseuse at the event and this is rare you know like because it's like oh we got a masseuse here and this happens like once in USA every two years overseas it'll be at like every event because they know they have internationals and there's certain guidelines they have to follow and um
01:00:08
Speaker
And just to touch base on what Aaron said about injuries, most of the dynamic moves, they do require that bit of sacrifice to your body, but it's also artistry. Once you go and accomplish that movement, it's a euphoria you feel.
01:00:27
Speaker
But you also learn how to, your body kind of adapts to it. And what they're doing is helping us recover so that this movement won't take us out of the game for the guys who are pushing that limit. But there are also, I don't want to also scare people away. There are dancers who don't push those type of limits and who are very successful. We're just very rhythmically above average. And that's huge in all forms of dance and flavorful.
01:00:56
Speaker
According to like, you know, offset men, what they've done, they've worked on the best of the best dancers and some of the worst, the worst dancers and the injuries.
01:01:04
Speaker
They vary because some of the worst dancers, they just kill themselves. And I've seen them work on events. Some of the best dancers, we kill ourselves because we're trying to push to the next level. So they're needed. And most events, I would say, even at Freestyle Sessions, which was the last event, they don't even get to enjoy the event because it's so many people going to see them.
01:01:27
Speaker
You know, like, oh, well, I just did a round. I don't feel right. I don't know what's wrong. Well, you know, but it's like they have to go through a whole process. And that's why I'm saying dancers are.
01:01:40
Speaker
sometimes not the best communicators. And that's what they were saying about us not telling them about the injuries and things like that. And this is me speaking in a general, but it is getting better because everybody's learning that this is a professional sport now, take it. We're all trying to make sure we're making the right steps to keep this going. Before it was like, okay, there's events, we are getting sponsors, but now it's open to everybody.
01:02:07
Speaker
and we're getting the second time of the media splash. So everybody's trying to take the proper steps to make sure everybody's getting respected. I believe in the 80s, and this is contrary to what people say, in the 80s, a lot of those dancers made a lot of money, but they didn't build an infrastructure to keep this going and went right back to the grassroots side where, okay,
01:02:33
Speaker
I got to fund my whole event. I got to fund my own insurance, and most events don't have insurance. And then when the 90s and 2000s came in, then a whole generation of good promoters start coming in and taking care of us that way. Because I believe you guys worked with Cross One, right, with Freestyle Session. And I know Cross One, and Freestyle Session is one of the biggest events in the world.
01:02:59
Speaker
the Los Angeles area, it happens every year. So if you guys ever go to, I believe it's at a place called the Boom. And yeah, if you guys have a chance, if you guys are in Soulphile, you guys should check it out. But that is one of the events that we're looking to start taking care of the dancers and make sure they're taking the proper steps and getting more aware of like what we're demanding to as a community. And offset meds a part of that by saying, hey, the dancers need this. And if you want a great product,
01:03:29
Speaker
Because even though it's the brand community, that person is still offering a product. Which is the show, if you want a good show, your dancers are going to need to be in shape and healthy. That's what Offset Med did. They gave dancers the attention they needed, and some of them need more attention because they've never received it at all. They don't even know that they need the attention. They're just used to living with
01:03:55
Speaker
The injury, personal friend of mine, he can't look over his left shoulder. And I'm like, why do you not go to the chiropractor? Why do you not stretch before you dance? I'm okay. I'm like, uh, no, you're not. You should be able to do this, you know, without pain or having to turn. So, and I know his injury came from football when he was younger. He just didn't want to go get it fixed.
01:04:22
Speaker
and I'm just like, okay, and you're breaking, you still can't do this, but, you know, and I remember when I first met TJ, just to kind of bring it a loop, I was always trying to get TJ to meet with these people so I could talk to him, because once you meet TJ, that's the first step of learning, like, hey, it's not gonna be a crazy ordeal, just you have to be open and willing. And these guys are like amazing, because they make you feel comfortable. But yes, I'll leave it at that.
01:04:51
Speaker
So TJ and Erin, when it comes to Offset Med, how can people find your group and how can they get involved with your group and what resources do you guys offer to the community right now?
01:05:13
Speaker
Yeah, the best way to kind of see what we're up to probably our website www.offsetmed.com. We actually just revamped it for this new year. You'll find that we have a separate page for for coaches and therapists and health practitioners.
01:05:34
Speaker
And we have another separate page for if you're an artist or an athlete or a dancer. During pandemic year, we ran a whole virtual series of
01:05:48
Speaker
breaking down Offset Med and what we do, the people in our communities and our circles and did like a whole like speaker series. And we had spent last year revamping that and we turned it to a new online course. So I have not done any marketing for this. This will be kind of I guess the first.
01:06:11
Speaker
the first announcement on your guys's podcast so it is up and available for those who are interested in learning more about you know what we do with hip-hop dancers with street dancers and the infrastructure model we're trying to build out for them so that'll be available as well in terms of just kind of like you know maybe you're not quite there yet and then you just want to
01:06:37
Speaker
know what we're doing. We're predominantly on Instagram, offset.med on Instagram. And we do our best to post. I'm not particularly great at it, as we've gotten busier. But a lot of updates, announcements, and stories of the breakers we're working with, the comps we'll be at, is going to be highlighted on that social media page. Am I missing anything else, TJ?
01:07:08
Speaker
No, I think if you guys wanted to ever volunteer, just reach out to us if you see the events on our page. Because we're always looking for people to grow up within our network. It's just open to all, from healthcare people to just people interested in it. So, yeah, just reach out to us. I think it's the easiest way through our website or Instagram.
01:07:32
Speaker
Awesome.
Rivalries in Breaking Battles and Conclusion
01:07:33
Speaker
So one more question I have for you, Morris, because I wanted to always find out about the, you know, like what the true, uh, you know, this myth or reality, but whenever you see battles and you see like people in each other's faces and the aggression and like the one-on-one Amano Amano stuff. So how much of that is theatrical for the crowd? How much is that really animus amongst the community or different competitors? Is it like all good afterwards or like, how does that all go down?
01:08:00
Speaker
Oh, you talked to the right guy on this one. All right. So most of the time, like, if you're a professional, you know, it's a part of like the sport, you know, but sometimes it leaks over. I would say in the 90s would probably would have been like the roughest times because people there wasn't so much money involved. So it was more about pride. And you know how young male testosterone
01:08:23
Speaker
The people while out a little bit more but uh, and then in the 2000s I had a rival like me and him were going at it I mean he threw a shoe at me, you know, flipping over him all kinds of stuff, you know, we were just you know, really putting our emotions on the dance floor, but uh
01:08:38
Speaker
As of recent, it's mostly we leave it all on the dance floor, but there are rivalries. Right now, it's a huge brand rivalry where it's like Red Bull versus Monster. My actual team, which is crazy, we're changing that because some of our dancers are Red Bull, some of our dancers are Monster.
01:08:58
Speaker
So like we're the one of the only teams with, you know, multiple sponsored guys, but, uh, yeah, they can get heated in the battles. I think the one we had in November got a little hectic, you know, and that was because of me, but, um, but it's all good. I love the, I love the guys over there, but, uh, yeah, there is like real rivalries and, um,
01:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, you know, like when you put so much time and into anything, and you know, you have somebody trying to, the way I look at it, somebody trying to stand in front of your dream or your goal, you're going to give it 110. But afterwards, when everything's all said and done, you want to make we all know we're after the same thing. So essentially, we're the same team. Awesome. Yeah, because I love to be here with the other countries.
01:09:43
Speaker
I love it. So I'm just going to reference it for your listeners. Freestyle session 2021 rock force crew versus breaking MIA. Oh yeah. Well, I mean, they can pull up any battle of mine. You know, I try to mix it up a little bit. Just don't read the comments. But yeah. Anything else to add for anybody? Anything else you want to talk about briefly before we go?
01:10:14
Speaker
I think Yasi is Yasi's next step here. She's already covering everything else. I need to go to Offset Med and get my arm straight. I tried doing kips in the 80s and I concussed myself and my mom said, don't you ever do that again. Watching ever since. Oh, wow. I feel better then. All right.
01:10:40
Speaker
Oh my God. So, well, hey, Morris, TJ, Erin, thank you so much for being on our podcast today. This was extremely exciting and informative, and we can't wait to cheer for you in the Olympics and in the future competitions. You guys are really inspirational in being with you as you are building this community from the ground up. It's really a trend to see. So thank you for sharing your time with us. Thank you guys so much.
01:11:05
Speaker
Yes, thank you. It's been fun, guys. Thank you. And thank you again, Yasi, another great show. Of course, thank you. Remember, if you like what you hear on the show, please click subscribe and you'll get this podcast delivered to you every time we have a new episode. For Yasi Ansari, this is Stephen Karaginas, and this has been the Athletes in the Arts podcast.