Speaker 1: Hey besties, Hello Sunshine. Today on the bright Side, Olympian
Speaker 1: Sunny Joy is hanging out with us. Meet the woman
Speaker 1: making history as the first American woman to qualify for
Speaker 1: the US Olympic Breaking Team. Go Team USA. It's Tuesday,
Speaker 1: July ninth.
Speaker 2: I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Siman Boyce, and this is the
Speaker 2: bright Side from Hello Sunshine, Danielle. We are officially counting
Speaker 2: down to the start of the Olympics later this MONTHO.
Speaker 2: I am starting to feel the excitement. The tears are
Speaker 2: already welling up in my eyes.
Speaker 1: No, it makes you emotional, it does.
Speaker 2: The Olympics makes me cry, thug tears. I just love
Speaker 2: it so much. We've been tracking so many inspiring athletes, though,
Speaker 2: and they're all going to be competing on the world's
Speaker 2: biggest stage this summer.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what they're feeling at this very moment.
Speaker 2: I can't.
Speaker 1: There is so much hype and so much pressure to
Speaker 1: shine in this global arena. But any athlete that I've
Speaker 1: spoken to lives for this exact moment. They like the
Speaker 1: pressure and it's why I'm really excited to talk to
Speaker 1: our guests today. Sonny Choi is the first American woman
Speaker 1: to qualify for the US Olympic breaking team. Now we
Speaker 1: sort of know this sport as break dancing, but the
Speaker 1: experts call it breaking, so that's what we're going to
Speaker 1: refer to it as for the rest of this chat.
Speaker 1: And her path to get to this moment has been
Speaker 1: nothing short of remarkable. Just last year she was working
Speaker 1: as a director of creative operations at Este Lauder and
Speaker 1: now she's an Olympian. This dream has been twenty years
Speaker 1: in the making for her.
Speaker 2: Not only a Sonny Choi making her debut at the
Speaker 2: Olympics this year, but breaking is also making its debut
Speaker 2: as an Olympic sport, so a lot of first all around.
Speaker 2: But this has been a long time coming for Sonny
Speaker 2: because she's always been an athlete, even from a young age.
Speaker 2: At three years old, she was already a gymnast. She
Speaker 2: told her mom that she wanted to win a gold
Speaker 2: medal even back then, and then she used to draw
Speaker 2: pictures of herself with Olympic rings, so she's always had
Speaker 2: Olympic gold in her sites. Sonny was a rising star
Speaker 2: in the gymnastics world for many years, but then she
Speaker 2: suffered a knee injury when she was a teenager that
Speaker 2: forced her to retire the sport, and it put her
Speaker 2: Olympic dreams on ice.
Speaker 1: It hurts me even thinking about this. For an athlete
Speaker 1: to get injured is just a horrible feeling. Now, it
Speaker 1: was that injury that changed the course of her life
Speaker 1: because she decided to follow a more traditional career path.
Speaker 1: She majored in marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, but
Speaker 1: it was at Penn that she discovered Breaking her freshman
Speaker 1: year in college. At first, it was just a creative
Speaker 1: outlet for her. Even while she was the director of
Speaker 1: Global creative Operations for Este Lauder, she was still breaking
Speaker 1: on the side.
Speaker 2: I love the imagery of that Soup by Day track,
Speaker 2: Soup by Night. It's so good.
Speaker 1: I wonder if you know, like those break suits that
Speaker 1: you rip off. Yes, I just imagine her like ripping
Speaker 1: it off and having like a suit or a skirt
Speaker 1: suit underneath.
Speaker 2: It would be the best ad for Breaking or some
Speaker 2: sort of brand. Ever, so dope, Okay. Cut to twenty twenty,
Speaker 2: when it was announced that Breaking would be added to
Speaker 2: the Summer Olympics. Sonny now has a very big decision
Speaker 2: to make because she has been climbing the corporate ladder.
Speaker 2: She's got this very stable career, but is she gonna
Speaker 2: abandon that, quit that and go after her true lifelong dream.
Speaker 2: Yes she is, folks. The rest is history. And now
Speaker 2: she's getting ready for the Paris Games.
Speaker 1: Yes she is. And Simone, I'm fixated on what she's
Speaker 1: going to be wearing.
Speaker 2: Same. I cannot wait to see those Nike breaking outfits.
Speaker 2: So for those not familiar with breaking, we totally get
Speaker 2: it because it has been an underground sport for a
Speaker 2: long time. This is the first time that it's going
Speaker 2: to be at the Olympics. But it's a style of
Speaker 2: dance and movement that is rooted in hip hop culture.
Speaker 2: So it originated at house and block parties in the
Speaker 2: Bronx in the seventies. And then the term breakdancing comes
Speaker 2: from the part of the record where only the percussion
Speaker 2: can be heard, so no vocals, guitars or keyboards, aka
Speaker 2: the break in the song. That's where breaking comes from.
Speaker 2: So during those breaks, people would show off their moves splits,
Speaker 2: handstand spins, jumping, skipping, stepping to the beat of the drums.
Speaker 1: Only break dancing was born and it's popularity soared and
Speaker 1: it was a movement that spread across the country and
Speaker 1: eventually the world. So joining us today the first American
Speaker 1: woman to compete in the first ever breaking competition at
Speaker 1: the Olympics, Sunny CHOI, welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 3: Hello, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: So we're just a few weeks away from the start
Speaker 1: of the Paris Olympics. Simone and I are both so excited.
Speaker 1: We love the Olympics, big fans, and we have the
Speaker 1: United States of America's number one be girl here with us.
Speaker 1: So before we jump in and ask you a million
Speaker 1: questions about the Olympics, how are you feeling?
Speaker 3: So I'm just now realizing I've been looking at my
Speaker 3: calendar and I've had to flip forward months to get
Speaker 3: to when the Olympics were and and now I'm finally
Speaker 3: looking at it on just one month, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I can't believe it's only a few
Speaker 3: weeks away. I feel like it still doesn't it hasn't
Speaker 3: hit me, like I don't think it will until I'm
Speaker 3: packing my bag and going to the airport.
Speaker 2: You are about to be battling on the biggest stage
Speaker 2: in the world. How are you mentally preparing yourself for
Speaker 2: the competition.
Speaker 3: When I'm battling, I actually kind of like zone in
Speaker 3: I'm super present. Everything goes quiet, So it's like, you
Speaker 3: know how every day you have all this chatter in
Speaker 3: your brain and you just have these to do lists
Speaker 3: and like, oh my god, did I forget to turn
Speaker 3: the oven off? And that kind of thing. None of
Speaker 3: that is present and it's just me and I'm there
Speaker 3: in the moment and I'm there to do whatever I'm
Speaker 3: there to do, Like I'm just ready. So that's kind
Speaker 3: of the headspace that I get into when I'm battling,
Speaker 3: And to be honest, it's hard to replicate that outside
Speaker 3: of the battle. But I'm just working on like me
Speaker 3: as a person and kind of my personal development so
Speaker 3: that I can show up like in the best way
Speaker 3: on the day the games, you know, because breaking is
Speaker 3: so much about like creative expression and self expression. It's
Speaker 3: really about figuring out who that person is so that
Speaker 3: I can be that person on that day. So I
Speaker 3: feel like the work never really stops in terms of
Speaker 3: kind of the mental in preparation for the games.
Speaker 2: It sounds like it's a meditative experience for you to
Speaker 2: use some therapy language. How does it feel in your
Speaker 2: body when you're breaking.
Speaker 3: Everything is just connected, like it all makes sense. It's
Speaker 3: like my mind, body, soul is all one and when
Speaker 3: it's all together, it all just flows. The DJ turns
Speaker 3: on the track, you walk out there, you have like
Speaker 3: a couple of seconds tost you know, depending on whether
Speaker 3: you go first or your oponent goes first, but you
Speaker 3: may have a couple of seconds maybe he like thirty
Speaker 3: to forty five seconds, and you just go out there
Speaker 3: and you do your thing. And so it's almost like
Speaker 3: my body doesn't exist on its own. It's like my
Speaker 3: mind and my body is one unit. It all just
Speaker 3: goes out there and does its thing. And sometimes I
Speaker 3: get so kind of in the zone that I completely
Speaker 3: forget what I did when I walk off, and then
Speaker 3: I have to ask someone to watch the footage because
Speaker 3: I'm like, I can't repeat for later rounds. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's an interesting experience and it's definitely like really unique
Speaker 3: for me because even as a gymnast, I would get
Speaker 3: into a similar space, but it was different because I
Speaker 3: was always doing the same movements over and over. And
Speaker 3: this is really about not trying to control the moment,
Speaker 3: but letting go of control, which is like a very
Speaker 3: different dynamic for me.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about the language that's being used
Speaker 2: to describe this sport, because you've said that if you
Speaker 2: call it break dancing, you're not a breaker. What is
Speaker 2: the significance of this language for you, Like, what's the difference?
Speaker 3: So breaking is the term that like we all referred
Speaker 3: to what we do as right, So back in the seventies,
Speaker 3: kind of in these house parties that are happening in
Speaker 3: the Bronx, DJ started playing the break of a track
Speaker 3: on two vinyls back to back, so they basic extended
Speaker 3: that break. So the people that danced for longer because
Speaker 3: they were dancing to the break. The people who were
Speaker 3: dancing to the break were called breakers or be girls
Speaker 3: and bee boys. When mainstream media picked it up, they
Speaker 3: started calling it break dancing. And so that's kind of
Speaker 3: the distinction is we've always called it breaking, and then
Speaker 3: outsiders came in profited off of it and called it breakdancing.
Speaker 3: So we're kind of taking that back and now that
Speaker 3: like we're kind of owning this narrative to the Olympics,
Speaker 3: we're calling it breaking.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people that know about breaking
Speaker 1: know about it from its origins in New York and
Speaker 1: sort of its underground nature. And you actually live in
Speaker 1: Queens right now, so I'm curious as to what it's
Speaker 1: like for you to see a sport that originated in
Speaker 1: your backyard recognized around the world like this.
Speaker 3: So the history is like really really rich kind of
Speaker 3: in the culture here in New York. So it makes
Speaker 3: it feel different. You know, when you go to other places,
Speaker 3: you still have this energy that you would feel in
Speaker 3: kind of like a breaking cipher like you went in
Speaker 3: New York, but something about it is just different. So
Speaker 3: it's really cool to be a part of it here
Speaker 3: and to be able to be alongside some of the
Speaker 3: people who originated the dance and like really made you know,
Speaker 3: big steps changes, some of the pioneers that kind of thing,
Speaker 3: So that's really special. And also to get the support
Speaker 3: of those people and I'm not going to say everyone
Speaker 3: is supportive, but many people are, and so to have
Speaker 3: kind of this important encouragement of that generation here in
Speaker 3: New York and repping this city on such a base stage,
Speaker 3: it's really an honor and it's something that's like super
Speaker 3: special to me.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a break but we'll be right
Speaker 2: back with Olympic breaker Sunny CHOI, and.
Speaker 1: We're back, Sunny. You all always wanted to compete in
Speaker 1: the Olympics, but breaking wasn't even on your radar. How
Speaker 1: did you first discover it as a sport?
Speaker 3: Well, I guess it started in Tennessee. When I was three.
Speaker 3: I studied gymnastics, and I watched the Olympics, and I
Speaker 3: told my mom I wanted to win gold. So gone
Speaker 3: to gymnastics, like you know, was at a pretty high level,
Speaker 3: pretty young.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: When I was seven, we moved to Kentucky, you know,
Speaker 3: continued dynastics there. Obviously, it wasn't until high school where
Speaker 3: I blew up my knee, had a couple complications and
Speaker 3: ended up quitting. You know. At that point, I transitioned
Speaker 3: it to college, and I was lost because I had
Speaker 3: spent my entire life either in school or at the gym.
Speaker 3: So I was out late one night, you know, doing
Speaker 3: a freshman duo, and I stumbled into some people who
Speaker 3: were breaking in the middle of campus and they were
Speaker 3: basically like advertising for the school club, the school Breaking Club,
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, well, that looks cool, and
Speaker 3: so I went and tried a class, and then I
Speaker 3: just got hooked because I missed being upside down. I meant,
Speaker 3: like the physicality of movement that like most of the
Speaker 3: sports don't require. But then there was also kind of
Speaker 3: that like creative piece. It was like taking gymnastics and
Speaker 3: turning it all on its head.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It wasn't about like flipping this way and flipping and
Speaker 3: testing this way. It was like turning on every which
Speaker 3: access that you possibly can and making your own and
Speaker 3: making and about being unique. So that kind of hooked
Speaker 3: me and kept me going.
Speaker 2: Did you feel like you were good at it from
Speaker 2: the start? Did it? Was it a natural fit or
Speaker 2: was there a pretty big learning curve? No?
Speaker 3: But I think I'm terrible in everything, so I wasn't
Speaker 3: terrible at it. There were some things I was good
Speaker 3: at and some things that were definitely challenging. One of
Speaker 3: which was I was really, really shy. So in the
Speaker 3: beginning I used to sit in the corner and watch
Speaker 3: everyone else dance and not participate like ever. And it
Speaker 3: would be people who like would drag me out and
Speaker 3: like try to show me something or ask me to
Speaker 3: do something, even like you know, we called it cipher
Speaker 3: when you have like a circle of people dancing, people
Speaker 3: would like physically kind of like push me, nudge me
Speaker 3: into the cipher because I just never wanted to join
Speaker 3: my first battle, like other people told me to sign up,
Speaker 3: and I actually took my name off the list and
Speaker 3: then got convinced to put it back on the list.
Speaker 3: So that was like I don't know how many years
Speaker 3: of me just like not being comfortable putting myself out there.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Innately, I had some talent because of the dynastics background,
Speaker 3: so I had good body awareness and like good work
Speaker 3: ethic and I knew how to kind of like work
Speaker 3: through problems like physically, but I definitely struggled in kind
Speaker 3: of this like self expression and like creative expression peace.
Speaker 2: So you just mentioned that you had had Olympic aspirations
Speaker 2: and gold medal goals since you were three, but there
Speaker 2: were a couple of detours along the way. What does
Speaker 2: it mean to have this second chance, this shot at gold.
Speaker 3: I honestly just feel so grateful for this chance. I
Speaker 3: never could have seen it coming. Not in my wildest
Speaker 3: dreams could I have imagined that I was going to
Speaker 3: get a chance at breaking. I mean Breaking wasn't even
Speaker 3: Olympic sport. Before this, you know, like this was never
Speaker 3: in my decision set. So for life to come back
Speaker 3: around and like hand this to me again, hand this opportunity,
Speaker 3: I'm just like, how could I not take it? I mean,
Speaker 3: to be honest, I actually almost did it. It took
Speaker 3: me a really long time to come to terms with
Speaker 3: the sacrifices that it would take for me to pursue
Speaker 3: this pathway. I was working corporate, and I was working
Speaker 3: really really long hours in that job, and not only that,
Speaker 3: but like I'm not particularly young, and I was like, well,
Speaker 3: I kind of wanted to buy a home and get
Speaker 3: settled and have a family that kind of thing in
Speaker 3: the near future. I would have to give all of
Speaker 3: that up to really focus and pursue the Olympics in
Speaker 3: the way that I wanted. So it actually took me
Speaker 3: quite a long time to wrap my head around that
Speaker 3: and then decide, you know what, like who gets a
Speaker 3: second chance like this, I mean, this is more than
Speaker 3: twenty years later at this point that I'm getting a
Speaker 3: second chance because I think, you know, we decided not
Speaker 3: to pursue the Olympics when I was like maybe eleven
Speaker 3: or twelve, pretty young, So to get that chance more
Speaker 3: than twenty years later in a completely different sport. How
Speaker 3: can I not do this? So yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2: Here like a movie. What an arc.
Speaker 1: The job that you mentioned is that you were the
Speaker 1: director of Global Creative Operations at Este Lauder. What a jump.
Speaker 1: Now you're competing in the Olympics. What was the exact
Speaker 1: moment that you decided to quit your job and dedicate
Speaker 1: yourself to breaking full time.
Speaker 3: It was literally months of just like mulling this over
Speaker 3: in my head. I don't remember the exact date, but
Speaker 3: I remember there was a day I was outside of practice.
Speaker 3: This is in Brooklyn, in my car, and I just
Speaker 3: like I couldn't stop crying because I realized, for some reason,
Speaker 3: that day dawned on me that the reason I had
Speaker 3: never allowed myself to pursue my passion, the reason I
Speaker 3: never allowed myself to follow my dreams to do what
Speaker 3: made me happy, was because I was scared to fail.
Speaker 3: And it was so much easier to take this kind
Speaker 3: of more traditional pathway. And it wasn't an easy route,
Speaker 3: but an easier route than risking it all on a
Speaker 3: chance at the Olympics. You know, when I'd realized that
Speaker 3: it was just me staying in my own way. And
Speaker 3: it was this fear of failure that had stopped me
Speaker 3: over and over and over again in my life. And
Speaker 3: I had reached many junctures I think in my life
Speaker 3: where I had wanted to pursue different pathways. You know,
Speaker 3: at one point I wanted to get an MFA. I
Speaker 3: wanted to be in education, maybe psychology. Even in high school,
Speaker 3: I actually took a fashion class and I was like,
Speaker 3: really good at sewing, So I was like, maybe this
Speaker 3: is what I want to do. So there's all these
Speaker 3: signs and all these moments where I had other chances
Speaker 3: to do something different and I never took them. Realizing
Speaker 3: that I had denied myself over and over again of
Speaker 3: like these opportunities. I was kind of heartbroken, actually, because
Speaker 3: not allowing yourself to dream is is sad. So I
Speaker 3: realized that I was gonna take a leap of faith
Speaker 3: allow myself to chase this childhood dream as silly as
Speaker 3: it is at the age of you know, thirty four,
Speaker 3: that time thirty five now, and just see what happens.
Speaker 1: If not chasing your dreams is sad, what is chasing
Speaker 1: your dreams feel like?
Speaker 3: Honestly, most days I'm just a nervous wreck, but.
Speaker 2: You know, relable, relatable.
Speaker 3: To be honest, I have so much more mental space,
Speaker 3: not just for myself but for the people around me.
Speaker 3: I mean, like I don't have a lot of time
Speaker 3: right now as I'm training, but mentally I'm able to, like,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm able to cook. I'm able to like
Speaker 3: go on walks and put my phone aside. Like I'm
Speaker 3: not a zombie every single day showing up for this
Speaker 3: corporate job that didn't make me happy and then going
Speaker 3: to dance afterward as some sort of like outlet. But
Speaker 3: even then I was just a robo. I was a
Speaker 3: zombie at that point after work that I just I
Speaker 3: couldn't even go and dance really, so I was just
Speaker 3: like going through the motions of life but not really
Speaker 3: living life. I feel like, for the first time, I'm
Speaker 3: actually really living and I'm like living for myself, which
Speaker 3: it just feels so.
Speaker 2: Good, you know. We talked to Michelle Kwan, who is
Speaker 2: one of our favorite Olympians, and she was just telling
Speaker 2: us about the sacrifices that it took for her parents
Speaker 2: to you know, put her into figure skating, and they
Speaker 2: were buying secondhand skates and doing whatever they could to
Speaker 2: make this dream possible for her. What does this dream
Speaker 2: mean to your parents? You are the daughter of immigrant parents.
Speaker 2: I mean to be representing the USA and the Olympics,
Speaker 2: they must be so proud. Yeah.
Speaker 3: First, I just want to say Michelle Kwan was definitely
Speaker 3: an idol. Growing up. There weren't a ton of Asian
Speaker 3: American faces in the Olympics, so Michelle Kwan was one
Speaker 3: of the big ones for me. And it's not just
Speaker 3: like the faces, but also the stories being told. You know,
Speaker 3: her story was kind of out there, so I connected
Speaker 3: with that and so that's really cool. But anyways, parents, boy.
Speaker 1: They.
Speaker 3: Initially when I told them I was doing this, they
Speaker 3: were like, oh, you know, the thought of like their
Speaker 3: daughter quitting this like really great corporate job and giving
Speaker 3: it all up for breaking of all things. I think
Speaker 3: it was hard for them to wrap their heads around,
Speaker 3: but you know, I qualified and now they're so supportive.
Speaker 3: I was actually on another podcast they did a zoom
Speaker 3: with my parents and my mom tells me she's proud
Speaker 3: of me, and that's actually that's actually pretty new. But
Speaker 3: my dad actually said he was proud of me. And
Speaker 3: I don't think he's ever said that to me to
Speaker 3: my face, but he said it on the zoom, so
Speaker 3: you know what it counts. And I was just like, wow,
Speaker 3: that feels really nice because you know, my whole life,
Speaker 3: I never felt like I was good enough, and I
Speaker 3: was always trying to do more, which is you know,
Speaker 3: kind of what put me on that pathway to like
Speaker 3: ivyally corporate, get into a big company, you know, climb
Speaker 3: the corporate ladder, that kind of thing. I never thought
Speaker 3: I was good enough, and so I was always trying
Speaker 3: to get the approval. And I think it wasn't just
Speaker 3: their approval, it was really my approval. It was my
Speaker 3: standard that I couldn't live up to. But regardless, like
Speaker 3: they didn't often say that they're a part of me,
Speaker 3: you know, cultural thing, and so it's really nice to
Speaker 3: finally hear that, not just for my parents, my brothers,
Speaker 3: everyone around me is just like so supportive of this.
Speaker 3: It just it feels amazing. What I'm realizing is that
Speaker 3: like this journey isn't a journey to be done alone.
Speaker 3: And I've always felt like I needed to do everything
Speaker 3: alone because I had to be able to do everything
Speaker 3: myself and allowing other people to support me and allowing
Speaker 3: other people in everything is just so much more fulfilling.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's really been amazing and having their support
Speaker 3: has meant the world to me.
Speaker 2: That's a really big deal hearing that from your dad.
Speaker 1: Isn't it funny though, how parents are so much more
Speaker 1: willing to say it to other people than they are
Speaker 1: to you. He never thinks anything I'm doing is cool,
Speaker 1: but then I hear him talk to his friends, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's proud of me.
Speaker 3: My dad guys bummy all the time to everyone else.
Speaker 3: You know, when I'm at home, Like if I miss
Speaker 3: one training day, he's like, why an't you going to
Speaker 3: the gym today? Huh? He needs train seven days a week.
Speaker 3: But then he goes and like brags to all his
Speaker 3: friends about whatever doing.
Speaker 2: That's cute. I love that. Okay, Sonny, we have to
Speaker 2: take a short break, but when we come back, we
Speaker 2: want to talk about what to expect at the big
Speaker 2: competition in Paris this summer. Stay with us.
Speaker 1: And we're back with breakers, Sunny Choy. We're so excited
Speaker 1: to watch you compete at the Paris Games, Sonny. But
Speaker 1: for somebody who is new to this sport, aka all
Speaker 1: of us, what should we be looking out for? Give
Speaker 1: us the lowdown, you know.
Speaker 3: I don't even want to like color few opinions about breaking.
Speaker 3: I want people to just like watch it and have fun,
Speaker 3: because there really is like a party and we're having fun.
Speaker 3: There's a DJ, they're picking the songs. We don't know
Speaker 3: what's happening, so it's like very impromptu and spontaneous. There's
Speaker 3: an EMPC there to like hype up the crowd.
Speaker 1: Wait, so you don't plan your routines?
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, it's still like quite a bit
Speaker 3: of what we do is freestyle. So I'll plan like
Speaker 3: a little bit like a combo here and there, but
Speaker 3: everything else is freestyle on between because you don't know
Speaker 3: what they're going to play. So yeah, it's really different
Speaker 3: from a lot of the other sports in that way.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: I mean all of the figure skaters, the gymnasts, they
Speaker 1: come in with routines and you're just winging it exactly.
Speaker 3: But I mean that's what adds to like the energy
Speaker 3: of breaking. We don't even know what we're gonna do,
Speaker 3: so how could you possibly know? And so what I
Speaker 3: am encouraging people to do is just like watch with
Speaker 3: an open mind, have fun, connect to the people that
Speaker 3: you connect with, cheer for your favorite person in and
Speaker 3: like just be present and be in the moment and
Speaker 3: enjoy it. Breaking is really about that like shared experience.
Speaker 3: It's about community, it's about having fun together. So even
Speaker 3: just like through your screen, you're still going to get
Speaker 3: some of that energy. So it's kind of just like
Speaker 3: just take it in and do with it what you will.
Speaker 3: But I just hope people have fun watching. So how
Speaker 3: is the sport evaluated, Sonny? How do you know if
Speaker 3: you're doing well? What are the judges looking for? So
Speaker 3: there's five criteria and there are like faders that they
Speaker 3: move the fader based off of you and your opponent.
Speaker 3: So there's no like standard for perfection like in gymnastics,
Speaker 3: you can do something perfect and then you get points deducted.
Speaker 3: It's more like you all start neutral and then depending
Speaker 3: on how you do on these criteria, they're going to
Speaker 3: move it, you know, incrementally different ways, depending on how
Speaker 3: much you kind of eke out your opponent. And so
Speaker 3: the faders are musicality, execution, vocabulary.
Speaker 2: Vocabulary, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 3: So it's like the breadth of movement that we do, so,
Speaker 3: like how many different types of movement? How much like
Speaker 3: texture you have in your rounds, like in terms of
Speaker 3: like pacing and like up and down and like you know,
Speaker 3: we have foundational movements, so it's like what do you
Speaker 3: do with those? And then how do you also like
Speaker 3: change those? And how much of those do you really
Speaker 3: make your own? How many signature moves you have? So
Speaker 3: that kind of thing the thing what breaking is because
Speaker 3: it's all about creativity. There is obviously some subjectivity, but
Speaker 3: I think having these different criteria so that you can
Speaker 3: excel in different ones and still win, gives us the
Speaker 3: freedom so that we can still do what we do
Speaker 3: the way we want to do it.
Speaker 1: How do you incorporate your own style? Like do you
Speaker 1: guys get to choose uniforms? Do you all, like do
Speaker 1: you shop Patzara for this? Like where do you go
Speaker 1: to buy a big girl fit?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I'm Nike sponsors, so you know, but
Speaker 3: all right, at the games, at least for us, Nike
Speaker 3: gives us a whole wardrobe of clothing that we get
Speaker 3: to pick from. And so every country has a different
Speaker 3: wardrobe or I don't know, some may have uniforms we
Speaker 3: have like a whole pack, so it's like a couple
Speaker 3: pairs of pants, a couple of different top options. We
Speaker 3: even have a bomber jacket, which is super super cool.
Speaker 3: Nobody's gonna be wearing that in the middle of summer,
Speaker 3: but I'm definitely gonna be wrecking u later this year.
Speaker 3: We have different like headgear options, and then like the
Speaker 3: shoes we pick, so at the games, we're all going
Speaker 3: to have like a little bit more of like kind
Speaker 3: of a honed in wardrobe, but it's still it's kind
Speaker 3: of cool streetwear. Like there's some like kind of blue
Speaker 3: Chino pants in there. I usually wear like an oversized
Speaker 3: shirt and a bandana, so you know, that's what I'll
Speaker 3: usually wear. But to be honest, like breaking fashions all
Speaker 3: over the place, it's actually really fun. There's there's so
Speaker 3: many elements of breaking that I feel like people can
Speaker 3: kind of latch onto. It's you know, the fashion, the sneakers,
Speaker 3: the music, the sweat, because it's not just about like
Speaker 3: what you're wearing, but it's about like how you do
Speaker 3: the movements that you do. That's like actually one of
Speaker 3: the big things that we talk about in breaking. It's
Speaker 3: not what you do it's how you do it. And
Speaker 3: so you can have two different people do the same
Speaker 3: move and one of them is going to be like
Speaker 3: super dope and the other.
Speaker 1: Ones just like the flair and the vibe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, it's what breaking is all about. And so
Speaker 3: you know, the clothes is just one piece, but it's
Speaker 3: really about making sure like your style is out there
Speaker 3: when you're dancing. We also talk about like if someone
Speaker 3: was to put just show a silhouette of you, like
Speaker 3: they should be able to tell who you are without
Speaker 3: seeing your face or your body. So that's kind of
Speaker 3: like that style piece for us.
Speaker 2: You're speaking my language, oversized clothing, streetwear' you're gonna be
Speaker 2: the best dressed at the Olympics. I mean we already know.
Speaker 3: I mean I do think the breaking Ward Drobes are
Speaker 3: probably some of the coolest. Yeah by far, I say
Speaker 3: Skate I think is like kind of similar in but yeah,
Speaker 3: the breaking Ward Jones are nice.
Speaker 1: So I grew up watching Breakers like on TV on YouTube,
Speaker 1: and I saw a lot of bee boys. I did
Speaker 1: not see a lot of bee girls. And you're making
Speaker 1: history at the Olympics this year. What is mean to
Speaker 1: be a big girl? Is there a difference.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously I'm a woman, so there's a lot
Speaker 3: that comes with that, I think, especially when it comes
Speaker 3: to this space as a breaker. My experience has been
Speaker 3: very different from many of the men in this space.
Speaker 3: You know, when I started dancing, I would walk into
Speaker 3: rooms and be like one hundred guys and me that
Speaker 3: would enter a battle, you know, maybe two or three
Speaker 3: other girls. I mean, there really weren't that many big
Speaker 3: girls when I was starting to kind of break up here.
Speaker 3: There's more now, but even so there's still not that many.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's definitely more women in other scenes. So
Speaker 3: I remember I went to an event in Europe back
Speaker 3: in I think like twenty fifteen, and over one hundred
Speaker 3: big girls entered a competition, and I'd never seen more
Speaker 3: than like eight to ten people in the States enter
Speaker 3: a woman only kind of division. So that was like
Speaker 3: really cool to see. But you know, numbers aside, it's
Speaker 3: also like physically very different for a woman to be dancing,
Speaker 3: especially because a lot of the movements were made by men,
Speaker 3: and so it's about like adapting and making everything your own.
Speaker 3: And I feel like women because of these obstacles, like
Speaker 3: we just we look different, We dance different. I mean,
Speaker 3: we're pretty tough, so it's totally different. But we're still
Speaker 3: all doing the same thing at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: and we're still sharing the same space and it's the
Speaker 3: same energy and the same music. That's actually a good
Speaker 3: question because I've never really even asked that question quite
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 1: So we heard that after the Olympics you're hoping to
Speaker 1: open a break center in New York. What do you
Speaker 1: hope this center will provide for other breakers or new
Speaker 1: breakers in the community.
Speaker 3: I've really wanted to feel a little bit more like
Speaker 3: a community center. The thing about breaking is like, even
Speaker 3: I still practice the community centers, and so there's this
Speaker 3: community aspect and you have people of all different levels
Speaker 3: all participating together, and that's kind of what makes breaking
Speaker 3: so beautiful for me. So I want a space that's
Speaker 3: very community oriented. I want to have new breakers in
Speaker 3: there with elite breakers that have like a fitness center,
Speaker 3: a kind of built into one space. I want to
Speaker 3: have community programming. I would like to have like other
Speaker 3: services like mental health, massage, like things.
Speaker 2: That I love.
Speaker 3: Love to have some like recovery space in there. So,
Speaker 3: like you know, obviously I wouldn't be starting at that scale,
Speaker 3: or maybe I will be, But I just want to
Speaker 3: have a place where people can go and find what
Speaker 3: they need for what they want to get done in breaking.
Speaker 3: We just don't have a space like that, and we
Speaker 3: don't have any spaces actually, like dedicated to hip hop
Speaker 3: like that here in New York, which is kind of
Speaker 3: wild because this is where it all started, right.
Speaker 2: It is wild. Yeah. Yeah, So you know, there are.
Speaker 3: Like breaking schools and kind of hip hop centers, and
Speaker 3: I've seen them around the world, but we just don't
Speaker 3: really have any big ones here. So I kind of
Speaker 3: want to have something like that. But I think the
Speaker 3: biggest focus really is around the community and about getting
Speaker 3: people together to share.
Speaker 2: Well, Nike, this is your moment. Step up, Yes, come
Speaker 2: through Nike. Sonny, thank you so much for sharing your
Speaker 2: lights and your sunshine on the bright side today. We
Speaker 2: cannot wait to watch you compete this summer.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: We are going to be cheering you out so loudly
Speaker 1: from our TV.
Speaker 3: I hope I can hear it from Paris.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Sonny.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Sunny Choi is a professional American breaker who will be
Speaker 2: competing in the first ever Olympic breaking competition at the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four Paris Olympics.
Speaker 1: That's it for today's show. Tomorrow it is Wellness Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Board certified dermatologist doctor Sharen Idris is here to talk
Speaker 1: about the best products to use this summer and skincare trends,
Speaker 1: what's worth the splurge, and what can we x out
Speaker 1: from our routines. Listen and follow the bright Side on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: I'm Simone Voice. You can find me at simone Voice
Speaker 2: on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1: I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r O
Speaker 1: b A.
Speaker 2: Y See you tomorrow. Keep looking on the bright side, y'all.