Beyond the Dance Floor

Today we talk with Emstro, real name Rei Misiri, a dancer with Maximum Efficiency Crew based out of Toronto.  In recent years Emstro has been making some noise in the art work and has transitioned into a full on art career under the name Medeio.  We talk about his early days as a dancer in the Toronto scene, how his particular art style developed, the connection between his dancing and his art, hi...

Today we talk with Thaiyo representing Last 4 One and Now or Never and OURO Collective.  Thaiyo is a Battle of the Year champion as well as a multi time champion in Korea and Canada,  a former body builder, recently started dabbling in the contemporary side of dance, and is a multi time Brazillian Jiu Jitsu champion.  We talk about the early days of the Korean breaking scene and how he got started...

Today we have Zeshen from Havikoro on the podcast. World renown bboy, former Massive Monkee Day footwork champ, and medical doctor, Zeshen shares his history, some history on the Texas scene and regional styles, creativity and originality, the Bleeding the Block series and how it came about, his personal style and how it's evolved, mental health and dance, and more. Zeshen is a really interesting...

Today we talk with the Nostalgia King aka DJ Skeme Richards out of Philidelphia, USA.  A world renown DJ, music lover, vintage toys collector, burgers and beer connoisseur, Skeme's has his hands into a lot of different areas and that's one of the things that makes him so interesting.  A purveyor of music, art and culture, Skeme was one of the people that really helped promote understanding history...

Today we talk with Kreate repping Lab Ratz, 7 Dollars and Fresh Sox.  Kreate now resides in Indonesia but he made his name in the Tri-State area in Virginia.  We got into a lot about Virginia’s breaking history, bboys that had a major impact on him like Xeno and Megas, the South East Asia scene, being a family man, running his own business and his competitive spirit, physical fitness and more.  Mu...

Today we talk with former Massive Monkee Day Footwork Champion, Bboy Complex from Dance Broomz and The Hoodz.  It was really great to catch up with Ash and chat for two hours about a variety of things from his time with OURO Collective and how it's changed the way he approaches dance now, finding freedom from being boxed into a specific way of moving, laziness in the breaking community, pushing pe...

Today we talk with JoRawk of Massive Monkees.  Joe has been one of the people I've always respected within the community for his dedication to quality and community oriented events.  He is one of the people responsible for one of my favourite jams I've ever been to Massive Monkee day, as well as Silverback Open and Pro Breaking Tour and has always been about pushing breaking forward.  We talk abou...

Today we talk with the other half of the original Tentacle Tribe, Elon the Wandering Spirit.  Elon also repping Fresh Format and Concrete Kings is someone who has had a huge impact on how I personally approach the dance these days.  He shares his experiences on a number of topics including his early days breaking in Sweden, moving to Canada for Cirque du Soleil, contemporary influences, efficient...

Today we talk with Cleopatra aka Emmanuelle Le Phan from Tentacle Tribe and Legendary Crew out of Montreal, Canada.  The first time I saw the Tentacle Tribe duo of Emmanuelle and Elon, I was blown away and the way I thought about breaking and dance in general was changed forever. Emmanuelle has been a huge influence on my dancing personally and I wanted to share her thoughts and perspectives with...

Today we’ve got another person who I’ve really wanted to have on the podcast for a long time.  Crazy Smooth of Bboyizm Dance Company, Breaks Kru, Flowrock, and Kossassins out of Ottawa, Canada.  Smooth is one of the people that has been a huge inspiration to me personally and I’m happy to be able to share some of his thoughts with you all.  In the talk we get into a bit of his history, getting $14...

Today we talk with Profo Won of Floorgangz Worldwide, Shadowr0ck and the Knuckleneck Tribe out of the Bay Area.  He's been one of the people I've wanted to talk to for a while not only because of his knowledge, but also his desire to push the community forward into new territory with content such as The Trades and his commentary at events such as Massive Monkees Day and Silverback Open.  We get in...

Today we talk with one of my favourites during his active days, Reflex repping O’mighty, Soul Felons, and the Hoods.  Coming out of Calgary Alberta, Reflex had a real great blend of set movements and complete in the moment movement.  We get pretty into talks about the mental side of breaking so if you’re into that kind of thing I think you’ll enjoy it.  Things like being in the moment, the idea of...

Today we talk with one of the important figures in Canadian breaking history, Boobjester (Dangerous Goods/Maximum Efficiency/Wintor Massiv/Unity Charity) shares information on some of the earlier days of Winnipeg breaking, coming from central Canada and being able to experience the East and Westcoast styles of Canadian breaking, building community, and more. Boobjester is a proud proponent of Cana...

Today we talk with Creeasian of the Original Rudes, Ready to Rock and DJ duo Twoguys, and what a talk.  It was a real honour to have Creeasian share his thoughts and knowledge on culture and hip hop as a Vietnamese/Cree First Nations.  He talks about his history, the Edmonton scene and connecting with other native dancers there, his experiences in hip hop as a Cree First Nations youth and reconnec...

Today we talk with one of the more outspoken and in my opinion one of the more interesting people in the breaking scene, DJ Renegade. People might have read some of his now infamous social media posts where he shares his thoughts on what's happening in the breaking community and beyond that.  He's at times a "controversial" guy but I respect that he pushes people to think deeper and more intellect...

Today we talk with one of the original members of Now or Never crew, G!  Originally from Taiwan but grew up in Vancouver, G shares a lot about his personal history, his crew’s history and more. Really interesting guy that I didn’t get to know until much later on, he gets into how NON started, how it was literally his only family in Vancouver, moving to Japan and starting a business, getting into f...

Today we talk with my old friend Ayumi from the Kyoto crew Body Carnival, who also happens to be one of the best bgirls in the world.  It was a real honour to be able to talk with her about some of her history and share her thoughts.  Even though Ayumi’s English is pretty good she wanted to do the interview in Japanese to be able to express herself as naturally as possible so I once again brought...

Today we talk with a huge inspiration of mine and many other’s when it comes to creativity and creating on the spot: Leftelep from Albino Zebras and Conscious Soles out of Toronto, Canada.  Real pleasure to have him share his thoughts with everyone and to be able to exchange with him on a variety of topics.  We get into Albino Zebras history, coming from a small town and how that influenced his st...

Today we talk with head of The Flava Factory in Ottawa and event director of House of Paint, Sami Slynks.  Sami and I connected several years ago in Whitehorse, Yukon of all places and since then I’ve seen him take incredible steps to building up the community in Ottawa.  He’s a quick talker and in an hour we covered and dove deep into a number of topics.  We talk about starting up a studio, blend...

Today we talk with the first bboy I ever saw in person, Yutaka from the crews Ground 2 Air and The Ruckus.  Yutaka comes from the Vancouver breaking generation just after crews like Contents Under Pressure and Straight No Chaser, and before my generation, which is crews like Filthee Feet and Now or Never and is still quite active to this day.  We get into a bit about the Vancouver history of that...

Today we talk with one of the few active dancers from the 90’s Vancouver dance scene, Jheric Hizon aka Twist.  I was really lucky to have him on and share some of the history from Vancouver’s young scene.  There were people before him but it’s a start to tracking down and documenting some of the people and the stories that existed.  We got into some really interesting stuff like the main crews tha...

Today we talk with the one and only Piecez of Maximum Efficiency Crew out of Toronto, Canada. Whether it’s on the dance floor with his crew, or in meetings with funders, Piecez is one of the most inspirational people I’ve met through this breaking journey.  He’s become a world class dancer, started his own charity called Unity and helped make it a million dollar one at that, passed it on to good p...

Today we talk with one of the freest dancers I’ve met with a super original style, Jazzy Jester from Toronto, Canada.  Member of Albino Zebras, Conscious Soles, and Supernaturalz, he’s been a big influence with his emphasis on in the moment creation and expression.  He had a lot of great things to share like how his style developed, the influence of 70’s fashion, connection and “feeling” the music...

Today we talk with one of my favourite bboys from Japan, Ryo-Z repping Lucha Libre and Turks from Okazaki City, Japan.  I met Ryo-Z several year’s back but we actually first connected through Youtube after hearing about him from one of his students, Ery, who I’ve actually interviewed before so check that out.  We were lucky to have my friend Makoon translate so Ryo-Z was able to communicate as fre...

Today we talk with my old Vancouver friend Jkay aka Jkay 47 originally from Surrey (SURREY WHAT!) now residing in Los Angeles.  Jkay is one of the most genuine, positive people I know and is someone who’s drive and work ethic I’ve always respected.  She’s represented all over the world and continues to push her craft and I’m happy to share her experiences with you all.  We talk about the Surrey da...