Breaking
This is how B-Boy Zoopreme unlocked his unique musical style
During his journey as a dancer, Zoopreme had a number of revelations that have helped him to fully unlock a musical style and stand out from the crowd.
The calibre of Zoopreme’s rhythmic skills has helped him to secure solo championship titles, such as the 2019 Unbreakable solo championship and the 2019 Undisputed World B-Boy series. In 2021, he also earned an invite to compete at the Red Bull BC One World Final as one of the top 16 B-Boys. But the journey to becoming the breaker he is today didn’t happen overnight, it took more than a decade of deliberate practice and self-reflection.
Zoopreme takes to the air in the Austrian mountains
© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool
01
The start of Zoopreme’s breaking journey
A member of The Ruggeds, Lack of Crowns and Capsule Corp crew, Zoopreme's parents are from The Gambia but he was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark. He started breaking in 2003, at the age of 11 after seeing it on TV. Having initially learned some moves from his best friend, he started taking breaking classes at the well-known Hotstepper dance studio in his home town. It was here that he met teachers and studio owners, B-Girl Tuff Cookie and B-Boy Suprize, both of whom inspired Zoopreme and encouraged him to pursue his passion.
“They taught me the importance of being fresh when you dance, as that’s the first thing you do,” says Zoopreme. With this mindset imprinted on him early, music was also an important part of his practice from the very beginning.
“I grew up dancing to a lot of '90s rap, like Smith and Wesson, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan. I also became really fond of instruments, like the combination of bass, saxophone, drums, piano and solo guitar," he explains.
Zoopreme dancing in Hangar 7
© Little Shao / Red Bull Content Pool
Zoopreme would also find inspiration in other dancers with a fresh style and ability to always connect to the music; two of whom were House dancer Kapela and B-Boy Kid David. Zoopreme knew that he didn’t want to copy and dance like those guys but that he wanted to get to the same level of musicality that they had, so he "kept practising, playing around with forms and syncopation, listening to different music, and always dancing". And it wasn’t only breaking that Zoopreme practised in the early years of his training.
When Zoopreme first started dancing at the Hotstepper dance studios his parents couldn’t afford the class fees, but Tuff Cookie and Suprize took Zoopreme in as if he was their own child, becoming like second parents to him. They said he could take any classes he wanted as long as he practised, and so Zoopreme tried as many styles as he could. Having tried everything from hip-hop and popping to house and contemporary, he began to develop a deep respect for every style of dance.
He says: “Every style had a foundation I knew nothing about, so I worked hard to bring them all to a decent level. I think this opened my mind and helped me understand dance more in general.”
02
Tackling self-doubt along the way
Zoopreme had encouraging teachers and an open mind to other dance styles. However, he still ran into the same feelings of self-doubt and uncertainty that most dancers deal with at some point on their journey to finding their individual style.
Zoopreme says: “There are times when you notice what others do that maybe you don’t, and you start thinking 'I can’t do power moves like that, my footwork and form is not the same, I’m not that flexible or creative'.”
Zoopreme had to overcome these feelings and he did so by seeing that "you can be so focused on what you’re not, that you forget that you're yourself, and they are not you, which makes a huge difference".
Zoopreme in the battle against Wild Jerry
© Little Shao
03
When Zoopreme’s style finally clicked
Zoopreme finally found his own unique style in 2019 at Outbreak Europe in Slovakia, some 16 years after he started. After a random conversation with B-Boy Stripes, Zoopreme reflected back on when he started dancing, remembering: “I didn’t know about competitions, I didn’t know that you could win and live off this. I just did it because I loved it.”
He recalled that as a kid he used to imagine the type of rounds he wanted to do, seeing it all play out in his mind. He says: “I would be the audience cheering as I saw the solo construct in my head. It looked so cool to me, like super-extraordinary, ninja turtle stuff.”
Zoopreme does a cork in the countryside around Salzburg
© Little Shao
I didn’t know about competitions, I didn’t know that you could win and live off this. I just did it because I loved it
He also remembered seeing B-Boy Victor win a competition based on using the moves in his breaking that he liked to do. This made Zoopreme realise even more that he didn’t need to compromise in order to tick boxes, a decision that had a huge impact. “Things became purer, I felt calm, like endorphins were released in my head. I started relaxing and from then I knew I was going to enjoy every moment in this dance. No matter what, I was going to be alright.”
With everything now clicking for Zoopreme, he decided to evolve his approach to training. Instead of stressing about hitting certain moves or sets, he could train in his own “safe zone”. Here he could expand on his style, taking his dance to unknown places to create variations and become more comfortable. This allows him to feel the moment and do whatever comes naturally, to the point it becomes like second nature to him.
04
Words of advice
For those dancers working hard to develop a musical style and become the dancer that they envision in their heads, Zoopreme offers some words of advice. “Have patience with this and try to reach out to the dancers who inspire you to see if they have time to explain their approach. You might agree or disagree with how they see things but you will learn something that you can reshape into your own."
"Try to understand your own physical abilities and be real with yourself about how you want to look in your dance – because you have to beat and smoke your own ideas.”
