Breaking
Dive into the mind of Red Bull BC One champion RoxRite and discover what it took for the legendary B-Boy to develop his timeless style.
The idea that style comes and goes might be true in fashion, but not as much in breaking. Many great B-Boys and B-Girls aspire to achieve a style that transcends trends. One example is multi-world title holder RoxRite, whose aspiration towards timelessness has kept him competitive through multiple eras.
A soft-spoken superstar, RoxRite preaches his philosophy in his movement. This action-first approach channels the ancient principles of Stoic philosophy, popularised by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and the freed slave Epictetus.
RoxRite may not have studied the old texts, but he seems to have achieved a level of wisdom as profound as any philosopher. For the modern B-Boy and B-Girl in search of a timeless style, here are five lessons to learn from the unwritten pages of RoxRiteism.
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1. Master your mind
Just as the Stoics emphasised tempering emotion, RoxRite stresses the importance of mental fortitude. He understands that passion can be a double-edged sword and even admits, "when breaking feels off, my life feels off."
Yet, anyone who's watched him battle will recognise his unwavering demeanour. "I don't want my opponents to know how I feel," he explains. On the surface, RoxRite looks cool as a cucumber, but underneath, he constantly channels emotion into physical motion.
This inner battle is just as crucial, explains RoxRite: "Most of the time, if I'm able to keep my composure, I win." At the end of the day, breaking is a mind game.
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2. Don't play anyone else's game
RoxRite underwent a long journey to develop his signature style. In his early teens, he focused mainly on power moves before being recruited into Renegades, one of San Francisco's most renowned crews.
His dancing certainly improved, but increasingly RoxRite found himself imitating his crewmates as opposed to incorporating their ideas into his own style. Eventually, he fell out of love with breaking.
It wasn't until he rewatched some old dance videos that RoxRite recalled the pureness of self-discovery that first moved him to dance. Thanks to his crew, RoxRite found his community, but he still needed to refine his identity.
If you're busy chasing other people's moves, you're never gonna have your own
It was his mentor, Politix, who reminded him, 'if you're busy chasing other people's moves, you're never gonna have your own'. From then on, RoxRite set on a course to master his own movement.
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3. Know where you came from
RoxRite came up in the '90s, a transformative era for breaking. It was a period torn between tradition and innovation, because it followed the dance's origin and laid the path to the new millennium. RoxRite fondly describes it as "living between two generations."
RoxRite's unique context became the basis of his style, which he describes as "incorporating the dynamics we have in California mixed with the foundation of New York." The result is a flow that doesn't belong to a particular decade or city.
True enough, RoxRite moved on to win more than 100 battles across two-and-a-half decades and continues to be a force today.
"My style isn't fixed in a particular era. It's always evolving," declares the legendary B-Boy.
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4. Always evolve
For someone with such consistency, it’s hard to imagine RoxRite veering too far from his practice, but evolution is his practice. He says: "The craft itself is about development. You want to be constantly free in it."
RoxRite continually focused on strengthening weak spots throughout years of training – whether freezes or footwork – until he eventually became the champion he is today. Now, he finds that his biggest battle is to constantly adapt and find joy in dance.
"I don't wanna keep doing the same thing. I want to fall in love with it all over again.” Having lost his passion once already, RoxRite knows all too well the toils of moving without a purpose. Now that he’s reached an apex as an individual dancer, he finds new meaning in elevating the dance as a whole.
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5. Pass it on
Throughout his 26 years of dancing, RoxRite has juggled multiple jobs and studied professional athletes in order to make a career out of breaking. Even though the idea of a full-time B-Boy seemed impossible, RoxRite persisted and became one of the first Red Bull BC One All-Stars.
"For someone like myself to do what I've done – to make a career out of competitive breaking – I believe anything is achievable."
True to his immigrant roots, RoxRite has laid new foundations for the B-Boys and B-Girls of the future. As his father taught him, one generation is supposed to better the next.
This echoes the words of another Stoic, Seneca, who famously said, "The man who thinks only of his own generation is born for few." By that definition, RoxRite is a B-Boy for the ages.
"I've just seen the trends come and go through the 26 years I've been breaking," says RoxRite. "So, I've always stayed true to myself and that has stood the test of time in many ways."
In his style and his mission, RoxRite has truly achieved timelessness. Lately, he's also branched out into other forms such as vlogging and writing, further expanding his creative endeavours. Who knows, maybe RoxRite will write a book someday. He also enjoys reading about modern thinkers like Malcolm Gladwell and Jonah Sachs and is eager to dig into the classical philosophers that came before them.
Regardless, RoxRite has already proven himself a philosopher in his own right. As they say, the fifth element of hip-hop is knowledge and RoxRite sure has a ton of it, but the subtle sage from California would be the last to admit it.
