RYUGI INTERVIEWS EPISODE 11
BBOY KID TEK
Q. Could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Gerard Cabellon, otherwise known as Bboy Kid Tek. I was born in Westmead on 27.07.1997 and have since resided in West Sydney, around Blacktown.
I’ve been Breaking for 13 years and I proudly represent my crews Flowtality, Zealous and Knuckleheads.
Beyond dance, I work as a filmmaker and I am also the co-founder of Common House, which is a multifaceted studio in Western Sydney dedicated to fostering the local youth and creative community.
Before continuing this chat, I’d just like to express my gratitude to everyone reading this and to the legends that have shared their thoughts on this platform before me. I have a lot to learn on my journey, so please take what I say as only my experience up until this point.
Q. What inspired you to start dancing?
I started ‘dancing’, specifically crip walking or c-walking, in 2009 when I entered high school. On my first day of year 7 there was a cypher taking place in the middle of our lunch area and watching that was the first time I felt the energy of dance reverberate in my body. We were far from LA gangsters, but that scene got me hooked on movement, music and mastery.
Despite the teenybopper allure of c-walking, some people in those circles started to get involved in some real shit. Things started to escalate so I quit c-walking in 2011. There was an emptiness that came when I stepped away from dance, but in that space I recalled seeing ‘breakdance’ on So You Think You Can Dance. I remember being at school when that epiphany hit me. I rushed home, hopped on YouTube, and typed in “how to do a 6 step”, as it was the only move I knew about. Seeing all these tutorials pop up hit my adolescent eyes with a pornographic appeal and I became strung on learning steps, both in toprock and footwork. I lived out this ExpertVillage and Quest Crew era until I was schooled by a video titled “TO BE A BBOY” uploaded by Bboy Casper. It was that video that started to shift things from Breakdancing to Breaking/Bboying and I began to pursue a deeper connection to the artform.
Around this time I met Geraldina, a future crew-mate, and she introduced me to sessions at Parramatta PCYC. It was here that I met crews like SKB, Zealous and Trickatrons. My local hero was B-boy Don and I would try to study him at practice, but from my memory he would spend more time thinking than moving haha. The one I was most inspired by at training was definitely Jojo from Zealous because of his creative transitions and smoothness. It was also here that I met the founding members of Flowtality, but let's save that story for later.
Q. How did you develop your current dance style?
An early factor that influenced my style is that I never had a ‘teacher’ for the foundation of Breaking, nor did most of my crew. During training sessions, my crewmates and I would exchange moves that we’d learn online and master them based on intuition and each other's hype. We learned a lot of moves from bboy.org forums, which were written tutorials that had no visual accompaniment. You could say that my early style development was a patchwork of concepts from all over the world and the only rule we followed was ‘did it feel good?’.
Over time, my dance style has evolved (and continues to evolve) in parallel with my life. If I had to categorise the main stages of my development in Breaking I could loosely base them off of these chapters:
C-walk Influence (2011): As this was the springboard for my dance journey, I would naturally try combining footwork and toprock moves to mimic the feeling of c-walk. I didn’t necessarily have a ‘style’ at this point but the groundwork for rhythm, speed and variation was set. Interestingly, at this time I was super inspired by Hong10 and Baek. I really wanted to use freezes and power, but wasn’t skilled enough yet to execute the moves I saw them do.
USA Heroes (2012): Discovering the North American scene of the early-2000s was life changing. Crews like Boogie Brats, Renegades, Skill Methods and Mind 180 completely flipped my perception of breaking. I went from wanting to do blow-ups and power to falling in love with footwork, musicality and transitions. I took a deep interest in people like Casper, Kid David, Keebz and Luigi.
Tokyo Underground (2018): From 2012-2018 my passion started to dip and I stepped back from dance. This was until I went to Japan and felt the underground scene of Tokyo. It was nothing like anything I’d ever seen in Australia. The air was thick with raw energy and cigarette smoke. Battle results were secondary to energy and representing your approach to the fullest. My fire was reignited and my style reflected this experience - I started focusing on creating unique angles, showcasing more character and looking towards dance styles other than Breaking, such as Popping and House.
Jazz Experiences (2023): In 2023, I got to work with the jazz ensemble Delay 45. The project merged Breaking and contemporary dance to tell the story of their new album. I did another work later that involved saxophonist, Hinano Fujisaki. These experiences allowed me to internalise a goal of mine, which was to shape my Breaking to the feeling of jazz. My dance collaborators for these projects, Reina Takeuchi and Vivian Tran also showed me new potentials in movement and deeply affected my approach to Breaking. I began to focus on maximising movement, story-telling and patience.
In the grand scheme of my style, these changes may have been minute or maybe only exist in my brain. I also think that my style has many mini-evolutions within these larger chapters - especially after battles. Ultimately, I’m just trying to face my past failures or insecurities, with Breaking as my mirror.
Despite my phases, the unchanging thread that ties all of this together is Flowality. For me, my crew is the embodiment of freedom, child-like curiosity and unwavering determination. We are proudly all so different from each, but our core values will always be the cornerstone of our styles.
Q. What do you prioritize when practicing?
My mantra during training is- I’m just going fishing!
During recent years, due to various sources of expectations, I found myself training to reach standards that were set by my disposition in Breaking. Even when I would reach these expectations, I was met by a dissatisfaction with my dance to the point where I became unable to watch myself. No matter how hard I trained or how much I ‘improved’, I felt friction between my mind, body and soul.
I began to loathe what I loved most- which is the simple process of creation. Not creation for the purpose of winning, or for the purpose of impressing, or even for the purpose of improvement. Purely creation as an act in itself, with no objective other than to be the natural product of listening to my intuition.
After a lot of searching, I realised I wanted to treat practice like fishing. Side note, I’ve never actually been fishing before haha… My understanding of fishing is that the point of it is to catch fish (genius!). However, I see my friends fishing week after week with sometimes nothing to show for it. When pondering this I was reminded of what I loved about practice and the creative process at large.
I think the reason people fish has little to do with the final catch. Maybe it’s the pure bliss of being connected to your environment, feeling the wind, laughing with friends or enjoying solitary peace of mind that keeps them coming back. In that, there is the bonus potential of something being caught. So when I practice, I cast my line and just immerse myself in the energy of music and friends, with the possibility that something good may arise. Whether it does or it doesn’t, I’ve already won just by being present at a session.
Interestingly enough, my training is the best it’s ever been and I’m hungrier than ever. I feel this mindset increased my capacity for goals that truly align with where and who I want to be.
Sorry if I offended any fishermen out there.
Q. What do you focus on when participating in battles?
I follow a battle mindset that was inherited by Zealous Crew, specifically Bboy Baba, which is to ‘win hearts’. I learned early on that the mark you leave behind is ultimately more important than a trophy. Winning hearts means being the one that's remembered at the end of a jam, being the people’s champion and giving yourself over to the moment, so much so that it has the potential to inspire those that see you dance. In many of the battles I’ve entered I’m often not the strongest, fastest or most skilled dancer, but the Zealous mentality allows me to overcome my weaknesses with the inherent qualities of my character.
I also think it’s important to take responsibility during and after battles. Although it can sometimes be warranted, I’m not a fan of dancers that blame their losses on everything other than not being good enough on the day. In most cases, you can reflect on your performance and single out at least one reason as to why the loss is your fault. Additionally, you should strive to smoke your opponent so bad that it’s indisputable.
After each battle I write down my learnings from the jam, whether I met my personal expectations, what I didn’t do well and where I can improve for the next one. This turns every battle into a contest between my current self and who I was at the last jam. One of the worst feelings for me is winning a battle but feeling like I didn’t grow from my past mistakes, so being able to conquer myself is the ultimate objective.
Lastly, I think it’s important to trust your training so much that you’re able to let go of it. Practice is just one ingredient- the real magic happens when it mixes with the energy of a battle. This chemistry has the potential to exceed your limits and create something new. It becomes memorable for everyone in the room and most importantly, yourself. I think it’s important to nurture this reaction and be open to surprises and adapting to the moment, rather than just simulating your moves.
Q. What are your thoughts on the Australian breaking scene?
I think that Australians have some of the highest unrecognised potential in Breaking, but lack the cultural experience, tutelage and generational growth required to make it flourish.
Naturally, Australians have the wildest personalities that I’ve seen worldwide. If we were consistently able to mix this with a deep-rooted work ethic for dance, we’d be the most memorable Breakers.
Through my experience as a creative facilitator in Western Sydney, I’ve noticed that many of Australia’s best artists are situated as ‘up and coming’ or unrecognised talent. Barring a few outliers- there aren’t many Australians that would be household names in creative arts. However, the opposite exists in the sporting world as our country holds numerous world-recognised athletes. Australians especially excel at extreme sports such as Skateboarding and BMX, high-risk activities that reward the Australian trait of ‘fearlessness’. I understand that cultural backgrounds play a big factor in why this isn’t always the case, however I feel that our cosmopolitan society feeds this outgoing nature- especially in youth.
In Australia, Breaking exists more in the arts and therefore caps our potential in an underground space. I truly believe that if Breaking was established as a common youth activity, just as other sports, we would see a future where Australians excel in Breaking. How this pans out for the cultural expression of Breaking depends on mentors to guide individuals through the scene and not only emphasise movement. My prediction would be that future Australians would have a fierce battle mindset and high-difficulty moves. Team Cream and Breakjuku are pretty good examples of this philosophy in its early stages.
Q. What do you think is needed for the Australian dance scene to grow further?
I think we shouldn’t shy away from struggle and sacrifice. The double-edged sword of the Australian lifestyle is that we are privileged to have so many options on how to find happiness. At any given moment, we are able to change careers, explore new hobbies or ‘detach’ from society altogether. To me, it’s an existential version of doomscrolling- where we’re endlessly looking for ways to ease our suffering, chasing peak-experiences and pushing away anything that makes us uncomfortable.
The contradiction here is that Breaking is painful. Beyond the difficulty of learning moves it forces you to face your fears, push your physical limits and even your financial ones. I have seen a lot of peers, at different levels of Breaking, give up too soon. Everyone is on their own path and I don’t think everyone needs to dedicate their life to Breaking, but I think that mindfully pushing through during hard times will only bring forward greater joy and learning. I’d love to see a little bit more of that in Australia.
I also want to quickly say- there's a little bit too much talk and not enough action. It’s cowardly to have 100 things to say about someone’s attempt to create a better scene and have 0 contributions of your own. If there’s something you don’t like about the scene, you have the power to change it. I don’t think we have to support everything and everyone, but we should walk-the-walk or get out of the way of growth. The order should be to listen, think, act and then speak.
Q. Can you tell us about your crew?
The crew that I’ll refer to in this part is Flowtality- the crew I have the most history with and consider my legacy crew. With that said, I proudly represent Zealous and Knuckleheads also!
In 2011, my friend Angelo (Bboy Zees) and I wanted to form a crew. We were only in our first year of Breaking, but we were so inspired by the crew focused era that existed at the time and we wanted to be part of it. We were particularly drawn to the local crews, SKB and Juse. We would brainstorm crew names over Facebook messenger- thank God we didn’t go with my initial idea of “Fresh off the Beat”.
One night after school, Zees randomly dropped the name “Flowtality Krew” in our chat. We didn’t really know what it meant but it was alluring. We made it official and recruited our first member, Dina, on May 7, 2011.
An important day in our history was when Zees called out a Bboy from an opposing school on Facebook. I found out later that he called him out to Blacktown Civic Centre and the battle was going to be that kid versus me… Zees always had a weird way of doing things and setting me up in his callout battle was one of many examples.
He made an event out of it and invited every Breaker that he could think of from the surrounding schools and on a weekend afternoon we all rocked up to Civic. I was so surprised at the turnout as there were many Breakers my age I didn’t know, some local legends and random stragglers. They were all here to watch me battle this kid… who didn’t show up! The afternoon ended up in a jam session and many of the people present on that day became members of Flowtality. Since then, Blacktown Civic became one of our main training spots alongside Parramatta PCYC.
My goal for Flowtality is to carry the torch for Western Sydney Breaking. There’s so much history in where we came from, and we want to build on what our OGs left behind. We’ve always looked up to SKB, Zealous, and Juse, and we want to cement our place alongside them—not just through competitive success, but by staying true to our approach to Breaking and leaving behind something that’s uniquely us.
I also want Flowtality to be the foundation for individual success and collective celebration. Many of our members had tough upbringings and limited opportunities, so I want us to grow without limits. For me, the mark of a good crew is to excel in dance and life. Some of us are starting businesses, having kids, or moving across the world and I believe Flowtality plays a major role.
Q. What does your crew mean to you?
When we started Flowtality, the name was simply a play on the ‘fatality’ from Mortal Kombat. Our identity was based on being wild and hungry to battle anyone- we wanted to smoke opponents and each other. The name resembled an outward expression of youthful energy and the ego that arose from Breaking. We found a secret power and wanted to show it off on full display, just like a video game.
As we developed as dancers and as people, the intention behind the name shifted to an internal perspective. The flow began to mean trusting your intuition and living life freely. The fatality was no longer only aimed towards others but self-directed. If flow is freedom and tality is death, then flowtality means to surrender to the moment- to kill your ego and become a student of life.
That’s the lesson I learned from Flowtality and I’ve witnessed all of our members embody this philosophy in different ways. Although we are a young crew, we’ve been through a lot together and carry 13 years of evolution. I think our experiences all exist simultaneously and we can tap into who we were at any given moment. This is the joy of Flowtality!
Q. Which battles have left the strongest impression on you so far, and why?
Rap Dance Vol. 1 (2011): This was my first event win and one of the best days of my life. I made it to the finals for both 1v1 and 2v2, battling Juse Crew both times. They took the 2v2, but I managed to win the 1v1 against the young legend, Joey Juse. It was the first time I felt a flow state during a battle, and I’ll never forget the moment my friends lifted me into the air.
Rap Dance was the first time I felt my hard work and passion were truly rewarded. That battle inspired me for years, so much so that I was compelled to bring it back for this era. In 2023 and 2024, I was lucky enough to host two Rap Dance revivals.
VANS In the Circle (2022): I was playing Catan with Toshi and Harry when I received a call from Willastr8. He suggested that I battle with him and Knuckleheads in California for a big 5v5 competition. I was flipping out because I had never done an international battle before and my first time was going to be with some of my childhood heroes. I wasn’t in a financial situation to go to the USA but I cashed out and made it happen.
The team was Flexum, MN Joe, Thesis, Will and myself. We were in top 8 against MZK, when Thesis said, ‘take the next round’. It took a while to process but then I realised- I was about to battle Bboy Born. Born is one of my biggest influences in Breaking, a mount rushmore figure for me, and I faced him at my first international competition. We narrowly lost that battle but the whole trip was a win for me, as it opened my world and I was eventually recruited into Knuckleheads.
Q. What are your personal goals as a B-boy?
My personal goal is to be the hero of my teenage self and become the B-boy that I’ve always envisioned in my mind.
Beyond myself, I want to create opportunities for people to follow their dreams and assure them that dance, or any creative form, can be an honorable and fruitful pursuit in life.
Q. Could you share a message for young B-boys and B-girls in Australia?
Connect!
Breaking is longer than 30 seconds. There’s nothing wrong with watching short reels or highlights, but understand that when you expand your capacity for attention you allow meaning to grow and connect to a deeper level of this culture.
Watch that 5-10 minute battle and see how an opposing crew strategies who to send out next. Watch some interviews or a documentary and be inspired by the journey of your OGs. Go to a jam and speak to the people you’ve only watched from afar. Realise that they’re humans just like you. Travel the world and find out that Breaking is a universal language that we’re so privileged to speak. If you treat it with respect, Breaking will unfold for you and your life will be rewarded beyond belief. The deeper you go, the less you know- but the more fun and rewarding it becomes!
