I said this once already, but anyway: from my perspective as both a current professional dancer and someone with a degree and thesis focused on ethnography and the cultural development of historic dance performance, the way Raygun treats dance and breaking reflects institutional arrogance, a reliance on academic credentials and poor academic practice.

Although there are very real discussions to be had of the institutionalisation of competitive street social dance styles, Raygun uses these debates to sidestep the very real concerns of dancers who are major pillars in the breaking community and neglects codified technique. In my opinion, she speaks from the perspective of someone who has, to date, relied on outdated cultural research practices, which are unfortunately very common in dance research. These research practices tend to view urban dance styles as less codified or technically complex compared to theatrical dance styles because they developed outside of traditional Western academic dance environments; her statements that she is interested in "authenticity" and originality in breaking reek of this because of her ignorance of codified breaking techniques.

We had this same conversation in a dance history class when Raygun first competed at the Olympics. She uses her academic credentials to create a platform for herself and justify her actions while actively pulling attention away from the dancers who are active in the global breaking scene and continue to push the technique through their skill and originality. You can lack skill; you can improve; you are also allowed to not be great at something and still compete; the problem becomes when you use your lack of skill and supposed expertise to "um actually" your way to a platform while actively pulling money and resources and putting negative attention on a community of skilled dancers.

Dance is for everybody, the Olympics is not.

Raygun, her team, and her supporters can cope in whichever manner they choose but at the end of the day, the world came together and said "Oh hell no".

So true, the defense of "yeah but she is technically breaking in a unique way" but like yeah so were her opponents while also being insanely good at it

"breaking shouldn't just be about the big power moves, it should also be about artistry" ok, she didn't have any of that either though.

Raygun is a modern retelling of the Emperor's new Clothes

I'm gonna compete at a figure skating event. I can't skate but I'm very original in my lack of skill.

I love how you are taking the time to intelligently explain why Raygun is wack.

If there is ANYTHING in the world that DOES deserve trolling, it IS Rayguns performance.

She couldn’t keep herself even close to on beat. wtf are people thinking with this defense.

If she'd had any skill at all her kangaroo moves wouldn't have stood out as bad. She didn't even last the full 2 minutes during her 2nd performance. Ran out of moves she knew.

Yes, breaking is more than just power moves, and yes, bgirls do often excel more at footwork and musicality over power, but Gunn had zero skill, rhythm, or technique, so the defense has no argument.

Even her 'kangaroo hop' was not on beat with the music.

Raygun has fans? Are we sure about that?
I've never met one.

Reminds me of when people defend certain pop stars by saying they have "unique" voices. When in reality they can barely sing in tune.

Was the musicality in the room with us

2:17 To be fair, I'm absolutely saying Raygun did many things wrong. And all of them are rooted in her arrogance, entitlement, and apparent allergy to self awareness.

Raygun had an opportunity to show her stuff on a global stage, and IMO she took it for granted. She demonstrably prioritized media interviews over training. The hours spent doing media tours should've been spent improving her strength, flexibility, and techniques as much as humanly possible.

She had an EXTREMELY entitled attitude not just to the art of breakdancing, but the Olympic competition itself.

If you know that you cannot compete with Olympic level performances, IMO there are two responsible options:
1. You train your butt off day in and day out to get your skills up to snuff.
2. You graciously bow out and give that opportunity to a more worthy competitor.

Also, I disagree with you that she seems like a nice person. To me, she seems like a grifter.

I really feel like 99.9999% of these so called defenders are acting in bad faith. I don’t even know that this warranted any response, your original thesis was clear and sound

Y’know, I just realized, it's been TWO YEARS since the Olympics. Throughout all this "woe is me, feel bad for me" promo, has Ray Gun even TRIED to actually IMPROVE, or is she still just flaunting that kangaroo mess?

She didnt even do a good sprinkler😂 tbh

They should require breakers to demonstrate certain types of moves per competition. Just like figure skaters do.