Two Calgary breakers are getting ready to compete at the upcoming Canadian championships with a trip to the world championships on the line.
Known as the premiere one-on-one breaking competition in the world, the Red Bull BC One National Final will take place in Montreal on April 26.
Gomo Cabarroguis and Jesse Holdbrook will join four other b-boys and b-girls from the region at the national finals after they qualified in the regional cyphers in early April.
“It’s super cool,” said Cabarroguis, who has been breaking for 20 years. His background is theatre and music and he credits Calgary’s culture for inspiring him to keep pursuing his dream.
“Calgary has a very, very rich history going way back even into the ’90s that has influenced Canada in general,” he explained. “Since we’re a smaller city we have a lot of time to flourish our style ourselves, the way we express through dance.”
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Just like geography shapes the style of dance, every breaker brings their own unique spin to their movements — eventually developing a signature move that audiences come to expect from the competitors.
“You kind of find your place within it,” explained Jesse Holdbrook, who has been breaking for 13 years. “But I still call myself an artist. We all have our own unique style. I would say Gomo’s is more fluid. Mine is a little more explosive.”
The debut of breaking at the 2024 Paris Olympics undoubtedly changed the sport forever, and Cabarroguis and Holdbrook are incredibly talented athletes and artists who are enjoying the growing breaking scene in Calgary.
“We feel almost pressured to do some of our harder moves because that’s what people want to see but the true essence of the dance is in the style,” said Holdbrook.
“As long as we’re maintaining the essence of the culture and making sure the people who did it before us get the credit, I think we’ll be doing a good job.”
Winners from the Red Bull BC One National Final will go on to represent Canada at the World Championship in Tokyo in November.
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