Philip Kim is about to make history as the first Canadian breaker to make it to the Olympics.
The Vancouver native, known as Phil Wizard, will be competing in the new category of men’s breaking, also popularly known as breakdancing, at the Summer Games in Paris next year.
“To be an Olympic athlete in itself is an incredible honour,” he said.
The 26-year-old b-boy wants to use this Olympic opportunity to get more people involved and inspire the next generation of breakers.
“I think it’s beautiful to just see how far [breaking] has come.”
Breaking has a history dating back more than 50 years, from its beginnings as a dance in the most underprivileged communities of New York City. Kim is hoping his Olympic experience will continue to move the artform forward.
Kim said he hopes kids who see breaking at such a prestigious event will be inspired to pursue the new sport and take breaking more seriously.
“I think the narrative then changes from ‘Really, breaking?’ to ‘Yes, go for it,’ because it’s an Olympic sport, because they see this clear pathway.”
Kim officially qualified to compete after winning gold at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, in November. It was also the first time the category was featured in those games.
WATCH | Phil Kim won gold after defeating Jeff Louis of the U.S. in the men’s b-boy final at the Pan Am Games:
Where did breaking come from?
As one of Canada’s original b-boys, Steven Leafloor said he’s excited about a possible Olympic medal in breaking for Canada.
“[Philip] is standing on the shoulders of, even if you look in Canada, 40 years of street dancing history,” he said.
The dance, which originated in the Bronx in New York City in the 1970s with Black and Latino youth, involved dancers jumping in during breaks between songs with a combination of footwork, musicality and acrobatics.
Breaking became a pillar of hip-hop culture and eventually took off into the mainstream.
“It was a way of self-expression,” said Leafloor.
While the dance came from low-income communities, Leafloor said its creators found a way to make it accessible.
“We have a saying in hip-hop: ‘Something out of nothing,'” said Leafloor.
“You could create a dance floor by getting the old refrigerator boxes from furniture stores on garbage day.”
Leafloor also goes by his stage name Buddha. His dance crew, the Canadian Floor Masters, was one of the first of its kind in Canada.
He was first introduced to the dance after watching movies like Beat Street and Flashdance, which showcased New York’s budding hip-hop culture.
“You hear a lot of people … say hip-hop had to be born in New York City because of the way that it is made up ethnically,” said pioneering b-girl Ana (Rokafella) Garcia, who lives there.
Breaking was influenced by many styles of dance and music, like salsa and punk rock, even Bruce Lee movies. But Garcia says people need to understand that breaking is a “Black dance.”
“I don’t just mean dark-skinned or just African American. It’s a Black dance. It’s like an Afro-Caribbean, Afro-diasporic expression that is sampling from everything that came before. But also new things like gymnastics or Russian dancing or Bruce Lee and Kung Fu,” said Garcia
“All these things point to a community that is influencing and inspiring each other and contributing together to live, to survive and to change their circumstances.”
Breakers within the breaking community spoke to CBC Sports on what makes breaking a sport and an art and how breaking ties into hip-hop culture.
From the Bronx to all over the world
That inspiration soon crossed borders and became popularized internationally. Now the dance is even more prevalent within Asian and European countries.
Garcia, who has been dancing since the 1990s, said she has struggled to understand why so many different cultures wanted to emulate hers. Eventually, Garcia realized people connected to the resilience and strength that breaking and hip-hop provided them.
“It became my experience that I was exposed to these communities that are poor or feeling powerless, who will completely change their lives because of hip-hop.”
That culture even reached Kim. He grew up learning from Vancouver dancers and mentors, including Jheric Hizon.
They met when Kim was about 10 years old. Hizon was the first b-boy to introduce him to the craft.
“[Philip] was one of the first kids in and he was the last kid out of the studio,” said Hizon.
Similar to Leafloor, Hizon pursued the dance after watching a few movies while growing up in Manila, Philippines. He immigrated to Canada in the late 1980s, when he was in Grade 8, and hasn’t stopped dancing since.
“Even though sometimes we don’t share the same language … we speak the same language when we dance,” he said.
Just like how he mentored Kim, Hizon continues his passion for dance and teaching.
“It was something about the music and something about the culture that really inspired me and made me want to do that,” said Hizon.
No breaking at 2028 Olympics
While breaking will be included at the Olympics in Paris, it won’t be part of the next Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
But the door is still open, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It will consider bringing the sport back in the future because it “fits the organizing committee vision of youth-focused, urban sports for these Games,” the IOC said in a statement.
Garcia is concerned about whether the Games will uphold the rich history behind breaking.
“There’s not that much wiggle room when it comes to the Olympics.”
She expects scoring and competition will be the focus at the Olympics and worries that the spontaneity and innovation of the dance form will not be showcased.
“We’ll see how hip-hop shows up at this Olympics.”
WATCH | Leap of faith lands Canadian breaker Phil Kim a spot at the Olympics:
She also said there aren’t many people from the communities who started the dance currently pursuing breaking. For Garcia, it is important that breaking continues to give those underprivileged groups an outlet to express themselves and connect to one another.
“It concerns us that the people who will be at the Olympics [can] afford to go to all the national qualifying events…. Black kids and Puerto Rican kids or Mexican kids will not have that money to do that.”
Leafloor is also heading to Paris to watch the dance he loves make its Olympic debut.
“I’m really proud and excited for the young people…. You know, sometimes you don’t know what things will become like. We didn’t know what hip-hop would become.”
Kim is training hard to get a chance to stand on the podium in Paris. Although he is sad to see the dance removed for 2028, he thinks it could be made a permanent Olympic sport.
“I think when people see [breaking] in Paris, they’ll be blown away. I think people will fall in love with it and I think it’ll bring an energy that has not been at the Olympics previously.”
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