Phil Wizard
Canada
·
Breaking
Nationality | Canada |
|---|---|
Career start | 2009 |
Disciplines | breaking |
While his family were originally from Korea, Phil was born in Toronto, Canada, and now lives in the city of Vancouver (BC). He was inspired to start breaking in 2009, at 12 years old, when he saw N.O.N crew performing street shows in downtown Vancouver.
Mesmerised, Phil went home and searched for breaking videos on YouTube. Blown away by what he saw online, his journey to become a b-boy began and he quickly fell in love with the dance.
N.O.N crew became Phil's first breaking teachers, while he also went on to learn a lot from B-Boys JBugz and Reflex and from Soul Felons crew. Looking up breaking footage on YouTube was also a big source of motivation for Phil, as he was inspired by watching breakers such as Hong 10, Wing, Victor and Issei.
A member of the crews United Rivals, 7 Commandoz and the Red Bull BC One All Stars, Phil has a unique and intricate flow to his dance. His style is one that he says naturally formed from hours of training, enjoying the dance and being influenced by those he has practised around.
Phil has earned a reputation as one of the best b-boys in the world through claiming a variety of championship titles. He won the Red Bull BC One Cypher LA 2017, and the Red Bull BC One Cypher Canada 2018. He also won the 2018 Undisputed World B-Boy Series, in Morocco, and was victorious two years in a row at the IBE solo competition in the Netherlands, winning in 2018 and 2019.
He won the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, directly qualifying for Paris in 2024. He came prepared and won the gold medal, becoming the first b-boy in history to do so.
Phil believes that to succeed in breaking you have to stand out, and to do that you can’t take shortcuts when it comes to improving, and you shouldn’t change the way you dance just to win. He promotes working to develop and cultivate your most authentic self within your dance, and says that an important part of this development comes from learning to be alone with your art.
Breaking is Phil’s passion and it's truly shaped who he is today. Through the art form he has gained a broader perspective on life, culture and cultural differences that exist, teaching him gratitude for what he has. Breaking has also taught him that through consistency and hard work you can truly achieve anything.
Phil continues to be inspired by his crews, friends, battling in competitions, and others that he gets to train with. Having achieved a career in breaking that he never imagined when he first saw the dance, he's proud of how far he has come and still constantly thinks about what he needs to do to get better and further develop his style and craft.
A driven competitor who's also a creative dance artist, Phil thrives competing at the highest level and wants to continue to test himself against the best breakers in the world for as long as possible.
Ultimately, Phil wants to continue to grow as a competitor, artist, person, and teacher, within in the art form of breaking, while embracing and enjoying everything the journey brings.