Judging the WDSF Olympic Qualifier in Sydney 2023

 

My journey as a judge for the WDSF Breaking for Gold Events brought me to Australia! 

At the last weekend of October 2023, bgirls and bboys from Australia, New Zealand and islands belonging to the definition of "Oceania" could participate in the Oceania Championships with a direct qualification to the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

The very well organised event was a pleasure to judge, it was great to see so many bgirls and bboys from the region and to meet my fellow judges and the WDSF team again :)

After the event i stayed a few days longer to see the city, meet with local dancers, practice, exchange and discover what's Sydney like! 

 

New book "Global Hiphopography" is now published!

Global Hiphopography is published! This book brings together a range of hip hop scholars and activists, contributing to hiphop and its research. It opens up critical discussions, diverse perspectives and research approaches on the elements of Hip Hop. It is edited by Quentin Williams and Jaspal Naveel Singh.

I am happy that I could contribute to this book with my chapter "Flipping the Academic Discourse: Reflections on Corporeal Knowledge and Gender Negotiations in Breaking"

Learn more about the book and it's content here!

Jury for the WDSF Breaking for Gold European Chamionships at European Games 2023

Last weekend I had the honor to judge the WDSF Breaking for Gold competition at the European Games 2023 in Nowy Sacz, Poland. 

The winning breakers - one bgirl and one bboy - qualified for the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris. Bgirl India from the Netherlands and Bboy Dany from France took the win. They secured their spot, next to Bgirl El Mamouny and BBoy Billy from Morocco who won the African Championships in May 2023, for the Olypmic Games 2024.

My work as a judge started off in early 2022, when I did the certification for the Threefold and Trivum Judging System created by Storm and Renegade. Here, I learned not only about the idea and process behind the two judging systems, but got a closer and detailed education about evaluating breaking as an artform and athletic discipline. 

Soon, I was invited to judge the Belgium Championships Vlaanderen, various ranking battles in the Netherlands, the Undisputed Qualifier 1on1 and Crewbattles at the IBE 2022, the WDSF Breaking for Gold (BfG) European Championship in Manchester, the BfG World Series in Rio de Janeiro Brazil 2023, the Moroccan National Breaking Championships 2023, and finally the BfG European Games in Poland. 

To be judging these competitions is an important job, as it can influence a dancer's career. Together with the whole judge panel and organizing team, we do have numerous discussions about judging, but we never talk about the battles or dancers we are judging in the event we are currently judging - to not influence any opinios.