What’s next for ‘Raygun’: extended interview with Australia’s viral Olympic breakdancer

Australian Community Media

Australian breaking Olympian Dr Rachael Gunn spoke with ACM before her Olympic debut about the NSW ban on breaking in public schools.

Transcript

00:00My name is Dr. Rachel Gunn. I'm a lecturer at Macquarie University, but I also go by

00:11the name Ray Gunn, and I'm a breaker that has qualified for the Paris Olympics and will

00:18be representing Australia.

00:22It's pretty unreal. I'm really excited and honoured to be the first b-girl representing

00:31Australia in the Olympics. I just want to go out there and do my best and really showcase

00:37what Australia has on the world stage and also do Australians proud. But, you know,

00:43I can't help but use this platform that I've been given to try and advocate for this culture

00:48and this scene and dance that has given me so much. It's really, really important to

00:54me that I try and get more support to try and, you know, share the history a bit more

01:00and to try and get people to understand the richness of this culture, of this dance.

01:11I started breaking in my early twenties, so I was much later than most of my peers

01:18who had started, you know, maybe around 16 or 18 even, although a lot of people start

01:25a lot younger these days. So, I mean, it's worth saying, even though it's not in schools,

01:30there are a lot of fantastic studios dedicated to kids learning breaking, learning hip hop,

01:37learning other street dance styles. So, you know, and these are just such fantastic spaces

01:43for kids to develop their skills. And, you know, of course, shout out to Ryugi, who organise

01:51a big kids battle every year and you see all the kids from different studios around, not

01:56only around Sydney, but around the country, come down and compete against each other.

02:00And it's a really, always a fantastic event. So, I came to breaking much later in life,

02:05but I'd always done dance, different styles of dance growing up. So, I kind of wish that

02:12I'd done it younger, you know, done it earlier in life, because I think some things would

02:17have been a bit easier to learn, might be a bit easier to learn some moves when you're

02:22small compared to when you're in your thirties. So, it's, but, you know, it's just such a

02:29fantastic dance form and culture that I just love it.

02:35There's a lot of great dancers around that can help you and support you. Ausbreaking

02:47is a great place to start for finding out about what studios are in your area that you

02:53can start learning some breaking. I actually found that breaking was banned in schools

03:08when I was doing my PhD research. I was looking at the history of breaking in Sydney and New

03:14South Wales and looking at the different ways that it is interacted with, you know, broader

03:23society, be that through competitions, be that through news coverage. And yeah, I found

03:30out that in the late nineties, I believe, breaking was banned in New South Wales schools

03:36because it was deemed too dangerous. And, you know, I was pretty surprised when I found

03:42out because I, because I've never hurt myself seriously. You know, I've been breaking now

03:50for almost 13 years. Everyone that I train with hasn't hurt themselves seriously. It's

03:56just kind of overuse injuries like it is in any other sport. You know, you've got your

04:01ACL injuries, but what sport doesn't? So, I was pretty surprised that it was, you know,

04:07it had this ban in place and I kind of felt like it was more of, more tied up in the kind

04:14of attitudes towards hip hop culture in New South Wales. There is a lot of resistance and

04:23a lot of negativity around hip hop culture in New South Wales. I mean, we can see those

04:27sorts of reactions in, you know, the responses to One Four out of Mount Druitt. And, you know,

04:36last year they tried to ban rap music at the Sydney Royal Easter show. I mean, they lifted

04:43that ban. So, there is a little bit of this kind of reaction against hip hop practices and cultures

04:51in New South Wales. If you look at other countries around the world, particularly Japan,

05:00you know, they've had breaking in school for years. They've got, you know, these school

05:04programs, these camp programs, and you can see that in the level of their breakers, the skills

05:10that they have, the foundation that they have, the knowledge that they have. So, we're really

05:14doing ourselves a disservice by banning it in one whole space.

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