In the wake of breaking at the 2024 Olympics, dancers meet in Saskatoon for their own battles
Breakers say the sport should return to the Olympics for its athleticism and artistic expression
Dressed in a baggy, brown hoodie, 11-year-old Amayiah Melanson stares daggers at her opponent across the small stage in Saskatoon's Victoria Park. Dozens of onlookers sit on picnic benches, but Melanson or Amaze, as she's also known does not even notice them.
Instead, she's focused on the music, her moves, and knocking her brother out of the under-14 Breaking finals, a competition that wasa part of the weekend's YXE Urban Games.
The beat starts.Amaze approaches her brother 13-year-old Asher Melanson, better known as Ash1 to the sound of a rhythmic snare and thumping bass. She dances withpronounced jabs and water-like flow.
Asher paces back and forth, examining his sister's moves and waiting to showcase his own.
"It's more fun than regular battles, I feel like," Asher told CBCafter the competition Saturday.
"Usually we verse each other every time we do a youth battle, or at home sometimes we verse each other to see who's better," Amayiah says.
Amayiah likes battling her brother, who was also the one who inspired her to pick up the sport at first. In this battle, Asher earned the medal and the bragging rights.
When asked if they ever hold back when battling each other, he responded with an enthusiastic "nope."
Asher is fresh off of winning the title of U13 national breaking champion this year.
On Saturday, he narrowly missed sweeping the competition when his team X-Forceplaced second in the crew competition. About 30 breakers competed in the breaking battles, coming from cities like Calgary, Winnipeg and Prince Albert.
Asher and Amayiah's father, Aaron Melanson, said the two have been learning the craft since they were in diapers. He's their coach.
"I trained with my dad all the time, and my mom, and I was really happy to do it. I would wake up and practice a few things," Asher said.
This competition is different from others. It follows the outro of the 2024 Paris Olympics where breaking made its Olympic debut.
"It was really cool to watch all the different B-girls battle and see how good and how different styles they have," Amayiah said.
WATCH |Canadian B-boy Phil Wizard on winning breaking's 1st Olympic gold:
Canadian Philip Kim, also known as B-boy Phil Wizard, earned Olympic gold. Watching other breakersand a Canadian winis uplifting forthe young breakers and others at the competition.
"Seeing our country take gold for the first time for breaking and for breaking to be the first-ever in the Olympics is really inspiring for myself because it shows that we're able to push ourselves to the limits to get whatever we want," said 26-year-old Brandon Ganuelas, also known as Brand Zero.He's a team member on the second-place X-Force.
Breaking isn't scheduled to be a part of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California, but Ganuelas believes it should be.
"Some of the athletes you saw during the Olympics were physically trained; they're spinning on their head, they're going in the air," he said.
Corrections
- This story had previously stated that Floor Convicts won second place in the crew competition. In fact, only two members of the team were from Floor Convicts and the team on Saturday was called X-Force.Aug 20, 2024 9:26 AM CT
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