France is the country where you get
the most competitions yearly.
You got more than 1,500 hip hop battles in France.
In some countries, they only got one battle per year.
Here, your biggest problem on weekends
is not to check if there is a battle,
it's to see which one I'm going to go to today.
It's unique.
"BREAKING LIFE" FRANCE
PERPIGNAN, FRANCE
B-BOY DANY DANY DANN VAGABOND CREW
BATTLE OF THE YEAR 1V1 CHAMPION 2018
*My name is Danis Civil, I'm 33 aka Dany Dann.
I come from (French) Guiana
I have been living in Perpignan
for four or five years now
with my wife and children.
6:30 AM
I work in healthcare.
The weather is not tip top.
After all, I am a Caribbean,
I am Guianese so the weather is cold
it's not my thing
it's not my thing, at all.
I still remember
it was late October 2008.
I went from 30°C
to 8°C
and my best friend Clayton still remembers.
He picked me up at the airport.
I just had a little sweater, like this one
and the change in temperature
will always be etched in my mind.
The door opens slowly can't be in a hurry.
I came to France to dance.
In my head, it was when I was young
with my cousin, we came together.
We said to ourselves we will try to find a job
that will give us time to train
and go into battle.
But the objective was always to dance.
Now my life is home, family,
father, husband
dancer, and professional.
What does this say?
I don't know.
You don't know? Okay.
We're going to take off our socks.
My first trophy.
Trophée Masters 2011
Battle International.
It's Marion, my wife
who won Battle of the Year France
so she danced too.
So, that's about...
That was 2010.
I didn't win that one.
You didn't win that one?
This is second place in the final.
Well, she lost in the final.
So she was the loser.
No, she was the loser, it wasn't me.
We are of the same generation.
We dance, but we don't have
the same background at all.
And even if today he's with Vagabond,
it's true that he's been through several crews.
Me, I was also part of Vagabonds.
And so, we had
I had my own sort of style
with movement, and dance.
He has his own too and I think they're quite complementary.
So it's interesting.
We pinch ourselves from time to time.
This one is my...
this is one of my best memories.
Battle of the Year International, One on One.
BATTLE OF THE YEAR 2018 1V1 FINALS
BEETLE VS DANY DANN
I had to represent
carry the flag for France.
It's one of the titles I dreamed of winning
ever since I started breakdancing.
It's cool.
In France, you have people coming from Africa,
from Maghreb,
from Vietnam.
So you have a lot of different culture,
and a lot of different religion,
and a lot of different people into France.
Vagabond!
So that's why you have names like Vagabonds,
people you can see everywhere
coming from different part of the cities.
You know, you have names like Melting Force.
You know, you have names like Immigrandz.
Dany is coming from French Guiana
but French Guiana is in South America,
in a totally different environment and condition.
And he was born there, grew there.
And a lot of people got this type of story.
Lagaet, Tonio.
Battle Bad 2013
*which I won with Tonio.
My favorite trophy.
This is Dany Dann
Tonio, and Lagaet.
We were called the Choco Trio.
It's one of the best
connections I've loved the most because
we had three different styles.
Lagaet, Tonio and me.
Tonio, all the time, when he won a battle
then I had to win a battle.
So each time
we motivated ourselves like that.
We danced together once and that's when we saw
that we were, mentally both of us
the same kind of person who wants to win.
In fact, we looked alike.
These friends, I consider them brothers
and I adore them.
Lagaet called me.
I was at work
and he told me.
Tonio had a heart attack.
His heart, his heart raced or stopped.
For me, it was not true.
There are no, no other words.
It's the best connection I've ever had.
And I could never forget.
Never.
BATTLE OF THE YEAR: FRANCE QUALIFIER 2018 1V1 FINALS
DANY DANN VS TONIO
He taught me to be someone who lives.
This experience showed me that
you have to live to the fullest.
Because when we leave, we will leave.
And since that day
I tell myself I want to live for him, in fact.
And so I tell myself
that he's in heaven
up above with Tupac, he's in the middle
of a concert with Tupac.
I tell myself, that's so cool.
I tell myself that to get motivated.
I keep only good memories.
And that's...
what I keep inside.
We're going to CREPS in Montpellier
to join the French team.
Marlone, Kimie
with the coach and technical staff
to train for December 4 for the World Championships.
It's the center where elite athletes prepare.
We'll prepare with the French Breaking team.
We're going to train to be in the best condition
for our D-Day.
MONTPELLIER, FRANCE
B-GIRL CARLOTA FRANCE NATIONAL TEAM
B-BOY MARLONE FRANCE NATIONAL TEAM IMMIGRANDZ CREW
B-GIRL KIMIE FRANCE NATIONAL TEAM IMMIGRANDZ CREW
Breaking is both art and sport.
You're an artist because of what you create.
You create moves, you create forms.
And you are an athlete
for what you do with those moves.
PARIS 2024 PRESS CONFERENCE 2019
Hi there. Thank you for being here.
The first press conference
announcing breaking at Paris 2024
as an additional sport
was a huge secret.
I had to think about,
is it what we need?
Is it what we want?
I knew that it might change everything forever.
Question that will make me look like a big dummy
but at what point does breakdance become a sport?
It's a discipline that is effectively artistic
but it also has this athletic dimension.
and that, no one can deny.
Not from within the community
or from outside the community.
So, it adheres to an athletic perspective
as a result of its existence.
We are live from Paris
and today, we find ourselves in the square
where the final rounds of the Olympic Games for breaking
will take place.
In 2024.
I'm pretty sure
that after Paris 2024
breaking will remain
part of the Olympic Games because
today, it's still an additional sport.
COMPETITION DAY
I am very happy about the Olympics.
It's having recognition a medal
something etched in history.
It means that I'd be the first b-boy
to have a medal at the Olympic Games.
That's it!
So I say, magnificent!
Let us start.
Tonight, the World Breaking Championship,
make some noise!
We can see the criteria for judging
toprock, footwork,
power move, freeze.
but also about the dance.
It's very meticulous.
So you have to be really very clean in your movements.
GROUP ROUNDS
DURING BREAKING BATTLES,
THE DJ SELECTS THE MUSIC AND DANCERS IMPROVISE TO IT.
THEY ALSO SHOULD NOT REPEAT ANY OF THEIR MOVES
DURING EACH ROUND.
So there was the top 32.
He was in the top 32.
He did three rounds.
In his matchup,
he did the first two rounds.
And he won his three battles.
Now, he's in the top 8.
So, only good stuff.
We have Carlota and Marlone.
So for us, it's an experience for
them to start dancing internationally.
And so Dany did it as usual.
The original Dany.
Charismatic.
So, we were able to have three different profiles
and that's what we call the French touch.
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the World Breaking Championship.
FINAL ROUNDS
Ayo!
With a fresh tracksuit!
Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Come on.
Okay!
And the winner is...
Amir!
If you liked Dany Dann, make some noise for him.
Make noise for Dany Dann.
Give some respect.
Tonio, Me, Lagaet,
Tonio and me,
I know he's with me every day.
And especially on this stage.
He always reminds me that I have to live.
YOU’RE WITH ME, I KNOW.
I will do my best to win the 2024 Olympics.
I don't want to go just to compete
or have the silver or bronze medal.
Like, I want to go to win.
That's it, a gold medal.