How children are taking Singapore’s breaking scene up a notch
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By Chia Kun Liang / Lee Jia Ying
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​Eden Tan, 12, spends two hours after class each week perfecting his moves with his two instructors Ashraf Amir (back, squatting) and Zachary Ng (left) outside Recognize! Studios. (Photo: Lee Jia Ying)
He hits the dance floor but not with his feet.
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He drops suddenly and catches himself on his right palm. Kicking his feet upward and balancing his torso on alternating arms, he rotates his hips to spin in a circle — all these while keeping his feet afloat and apart in a ‘V’ shape.
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In a loose-fitting T-shirt and cargo pants, Eden Tan joins two older b-boys in a loose semi-circle at a corner of a shopping mall. Portable speakers pump out thudding beats that rattle the eardrums of passers-by. A few stop by the escalators to watch. It is a weekly affair for Eden and his instructors after their breaking crew training at Recognize! Studios on Saturdays.
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After completing one spin, Eden crashes on his right knee and gazes into space with his head down. He is out of breath. He picks himself up again for another try — the 20th one.
Eden is 12. He is trying to achieve two consecutive rounds of a difficult move known as a ‘flare’. He has tried and failed for several months. He is at war with gravity.
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For the past year, he has also been trying to achieve one of the hardest moves — the airflare. To succeed at it, he would have to pike his legs and swing them in continuous circles while balancing his torso on alternating arms. Many adults fail to master this move despite years of training.
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Even when his entire body was swung in mid-air, fear had no place at that moment for him, he said. “The moves are just moves, and it’s not like they’re a rollercoaster ride.”
Eden is among a small but growing number of children in Singapore picking up breaking. Despite their age, they show that they have what it takes to bust gravity-defying moves. Seasoned b-boys here are stepping up to help this new generation take their game up a notch.
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Eden trains weekly with other children in the Firefly breaking crew at Recognize! Studios. (Photo: Lee Jia Ying)
“In the last three to four years, we started seeing kids who are more adventurous,” said Nicholas Ong, the general manager of Recognize! Studios. “They’re just more fearless as kids. They are not scared to try things.”
In the last two years, at least two more dance studios in Singapore have opened breaking classes for children.
Over the years, children have proven that they are capable of executing high-difficulty moves and beating adults in breaking battles and competitions.
Two Guinness World Records for breaking were set by children last year. Qi Yufei, 7 then, from China broke the women’s record by performing 121 consecutive airflares, after learning hip-hop and breaking for just three years. Also from China, Wangguan Wutong, 11 then, broke the men’s record for doing 94 air flares in a row.
Halfway around the globe in the United Kingdom is Terra who won the 2019 UK B-Boy Championships World Finals (B-girl) at age 12, becoming Britain’s youngest champion then. Her competitor in the finals was 13 years older than her.
“People like to put kids in kids’ category and feel that kids have to dance like kids, which is wrong,” said Nicholas. “They forgot there are pioneers like b-boy Mr Wiggles, Crazy Legs and Frosty who created moves when they were 10, 11, 12. They were kids too.”
SEEING IS BELIEVING
It has been nearly 40 years since the film Breakin’ helped take breaking mainstream. Today, its visibility has increased on social media and television, such as the reality competition show Street Dance of China, which aired its fourth season last year.
That was how eight-year-old Rafael Tan got exposed to breaking. The dance bug in him itched to move. He got on all fours and even on his head as he tried to imitate the moves he saw on screen — breakers hovering inches above the floor, supported by their hands and feet in breakneck motion and at times legs flailing mid-air.
“It makes parents feel that their children also can do it,” said Xue Yong Zhi, founder of Distinct Creative Arts. The studio has seen four children join its children’s breaking course launched a year ago.
Rafael’s mother Irene Teo, 42, saw a new possibility for her son, who had already been learning hip-hop for two years. But it was too dangerous to learn breaking on his own, she said. So last year she enrolled him at Distinct Creative Arts. He was their youngest student.
Today, he can swing his body through a few freezes — halting body motion, balancing it in a twisted position to emphasise a beat in the music. Moves like these were not what Irene imagined a young child could do. “I didn’t expect that he could do a flip,” she said. “He was still so small.”
Rafael Tan, 8, showcasing his moves in a cypher with other teens and adults at Distinct Creative Arts. (Video: Lee Jia Ying)
Now, Rafael has his helmet ready to learn his next big move — the headspin. He is pumped up. “I really want to do that.”
For older breakers who were first exposed to breaking only in their late teens, seeing children pick it up excites them. “Let’s say they started at five, they can dance like an 18-year-old dancer when they’re nine,” said Yong Zhi. “Can you imagine the career path and the amount of potential they can have?”
CREATIVITY FROM YOUNG
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Sherman Lim (second row, centre) and his students at Artistate Dance Academy in their final pose for an upcoming dance showcase. The moves were choreographed by the students. (Photo: Lee Jia Ying)
Sherman Lim, too, sees potential in children but thinks that there are not enough opportunities for them to develop their skills and showcase their talent. So he opened Artistate Dance Academy with two other street dance instructors in January last year.
More than 20 children — some as young as nine — have joined his breaking classes. They also participate in regular breaking battle competitions and performances, said the 31-year-old who has been teaching breaking for nine years.
“The class is officially once a week on Sundays, but they’re here right now practising,” said Sherman, as he sat outside the studio’s classroom on a Wednesday afternoon. Many of the children would spend three days a week in the studio, training on their own and showing off their own impressive moves to one another.
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Kaylin Neo, 12, performing the windmill, which she took a year to master, as part of her set during a cypher in class. (Photo: Lee Jia Ying)
Kaylin Neo, 12, who clocks in extra hours after her Sunday class is determined to win her first battle at the academy. She has been breaking for three years and her mother, Cherlyn Lau, 41, is encouraged by her determination to push herself to master difficult moves.
“She was stuck with learning the baby freeze at the very beginning for three weeks. Last year, she was stuck with the windmill for a year… She finally achieved three successful windmills, and now she is aiming for five,” Cherlyn said.
In the studio’s jam sessions, age knows no boundaries — children are going up against adults in dance battles too. Sherman hopes this would help cultivate children’s creativity as they exchange their unique take on the moves.
Beaming with enthusiasm, he spoke about how the dance has given the children the freedom to express themselves, rather than being a formula of steps. “Dance is very free,” he said. “When you create, you have your own moves and flows which brings out the identity in you.” After all, “art is meant to be created, not just directed”.
BEYOND THE STUDIO
Five years ago, Recognize! Studios had just three children learning to break. Today, the number grew to 12 in an all-children crew, Firefly. All under 16, they go through rigorous training to hone their craft.
Building a strong foundation is essential, but Nicholas also believes that the children must gain exposure beyond the studio to improve, including learning from renowned breakers in the world.
That’s why he engages established breakers from overseas to hold in-person or online exchanges and workshops. They include b-boy Victor Montalvo and b-girl Logan Edra, who goes by the moniker Logistx — both from the United States and past winners of the Red Bull BC One World Finals.
Last September, Eden spent six weeks — four days a week — learning from South Korea’s award-winning breaking crew FlowXL as part of an exchange organised with Recognize! Studios. He was the only under-12 among the nine participants from Singapore selected. It opened his eyes to how the five established crew members build style, technical and conceptual flow in their moves.
While social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic has made Eden “lose steam”, his mother Jenny Yew also saw how this opportunity has helped him regain his drive to achieve more. “He practised non-stop every day for a month, and that’s where I started to see the passion and desire coming back.”
To do well in breaking, Nicholas said, it is also important for children to have knowledge and conversations about the 50-year-old hip-hop culture as an African American and Latino art form. He emphasised: “You cannot be racist and say that you like hip-hop.”
Hip-hop pioneers from the Bronx, including Steffan “Mr Wiggles” Clemente, were invited to share their experiences. Nicholas also introduces the children to films such as You Got Served and Breakin’.
“Education can change a lot of things. We don’t just teach the dance. We explain to them how the hip-hop culture influences the choreography moves that they are doing,” said Nicholas.
BATTLE FOR BETTER
Towards the end of the Firefly training, the studio transforms into a battle arena. Eden wipes the perspiration off his forehead with his sleeve and snugs his beanie on. The music fires up and his opponent takes centre stage first.
With his eyes fixated on his rival and his dance moves, Eden listens. A battle is a conversation between two breakers, he said. “I would work on their variation — do the same thing and then add something on my own. That’s how I reply.”
Next up, Eden. He drops to the floor as he twists and turns across it, before lying on his back with his legs suspended in the air. Eden locks eyes with his opponent and ‘shoots’ at him with his two-finger guns.
The battle goes on for several minutes. The two b-boys take turns to perform routines for about 30 seconds each, each one trying to outshine the other with innovative moves.
In the final round, Eden inches towards his opponent with a burst of elevated kicks. In an instant, he hops to his feet with a smirk, turns his back to his opponent and wiggles his bottoms — a playful finishing move he improvised. Both boys’ arms go slack with satisfaction and exchange a handshake.
Breaking is more than fancy footwork and tricks — it teaches children to learn from one another and to show respect to their opponents, said Jenny, who watches Eden practice at the studio every week. More importantly, they learn to “battle for peace”.
AIMING FOR THE BULLSEYE
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Eden hopes to represent Singapore at the Red Bull BC One World Finals and the Olympic Games. (Photo: Lee Jia Ying)
After about an hour and a half, Eden finishes his practice outside the studio. His oversized black cotton T-shirt, a hand-me-down from one of his dance instructors, is drenched in perspiration. Wearing the shirt, which prints ‘Start Today’ on the back, is his way of emulating his instructor, he says. He sees himself being as good as her one day.
That day, Eden finally achieved two consecutive flares in a single attempt. He flashes a confident grin and gives the other two b-boys a double thumbs-up. “Now two rounds of flare is your new standard,” says one of them to Eden.
This achievement is a step towards Eden’s bigger dreams. He has his sights set on the world’s largest breaking competition to date — the Red Bull BC One World Finals, and ultimately the Olympic Games. “I’m going there, I’m going to represent Singapore,” he said.
Jenny fully supports his aspiration. Others may see only the injuries or associate Eden’s interest in breaking with bad school grades, but Jenny believes that breaking has helped her son find his passion and become more disciplined.
To Eden, what is important is not giving up. He is just one child, but he represents the resilience of Singapore’s up-and-coming breaking generation. Among them might be another Joseph Schooling — but this time, they dive onto the dance floor in front of the millions watching.