The mystery of Australia’s breakdancing score of 0

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Article/Blessing CALD Editorial；Photo/Internet

Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn (also known as Raygun) has become a social media sensation after her performance at the Paris Olympics recently attracted a lot of attention.

Despite scoring zero points in the competition, her performance made her more recognisable than the Japanese athlete who won the gold medal. The event not only marked the debut of breakdancing as an emerging Olympic programme, but also triggered a re-examination of the dance form.

Jumping and crawling like a kangaroo
Breakdancing originated in the street culture of the 1970s, and is more confrontational than other dances. From its earliest days, breakdancing has had a tradition of Battles, in which two dancers take turns demonstrating their skills in order to determine the winner. The Olympic Games also use the Battle rule, which allows 16 people to divide into four groups to battle each other one-on-one to get to the top eight, and then two by two to get to the champion. Many of the first-time Olympic dance projects don’t get a lot of attention, but breakdancing is a big hit. And it wasn’t the winner, it was Australia’s Regan.

The NBC, BBC, AP and other foreign media reported that although not without skill, Regan’s creative dance steps still surprised netizens. She is seen standing on one foot, bending her arms towards her ears as she leans back, or lying on her side, touching her toes, rolling over and repeating the move.

Regan, 36, is a lecturer at Macquarie University with a PhD in cultural studies. Despite not winning a single competition at the points stage and failing to qualify for later rounds, she is widely regarded as one of Australia’s best female breakdancers and has represented her country at the World Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023. As breakdancing is partly about creativity and the other competitors are much younger than her, Regan believes that her biggest strength is her unique routine, which she knows won’t get her high scores, but she still wants to be recognised by her fans. But the internet doesn’t seem to be buying it, with some critics suggesting that the Oceania qualifiers, held in Sydney last October, were set up to favour Regan. Some believe she not only made Australia the laughing stock of the world, but also stole the opportunity for truly talented athletes to compete at the Olympics and questioned the judges who qualified Regan. It’s just that breakdancing is on the Olympic stage for the first time, and there’s no sound system in Australia or around the world to assess the qualifications of the athletes, but that can’t be a valid reason for rioting against an athlete’s character.

Traditionally, breakdancing can be divided into four categories: Toprock, Downrock/Footwork, Power moves and Freezes. In recent years, many dancers have been adding flips to their steps, hence the term flips as a fifth category. Obviously, these moves are easy to perform when you are young and your body is soft and light, so most of the breakdancers are 10 years old, also known as B-Boy or B-Girl. It is not easy for dancers over 20 years old to compete with young people in their teens to perform these basic moves.

Unlike young dancers who excel in strength, stamina and explosiveness, older dancers bring a different level of maturity or artistry to the dance. Regan’s set of competition moves was full of her own style and creativity, rather than the lively or powerful movements of other dancers, which made her an internet sensation and even subjected her to abuse and ridicule.

Dixon, an African American from Australia, expressed his strong dissatisfaction with Regan’s performance at the Olympics. He felt that her performance was completely inconsistent with the cultural values of breakdancing. With breakdancing not continuing into the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the incident has fuelled debate about cultural appropriation and respect for other people’s cultures. Dixon pointed out that the behaviour was extremely offensive to those who have been influenced by hip-hop culture. In her first post-Olympics statement, Regan said she gave it her all at the Olympics and was shocked that she was under fire, urging people to stop their rather destructive criticism of her.

Who’s in charge?
Breakdancing, which is diverse, spirited and has a strong personal identity, has seen two schools of thought when it comes to formal sports competitions. One side supports the idea of promoting breakdancing to a wider audience through the competition, while the other side believes that the rules limit the development of breakdancing and violate the nature of breakdancing. When the dance enters the Olympic Games, it inevitably becomes a form of rules and regulations – whether to reveal the attitude and freedom of street dance culture, or to prioritise how to dance in order to win, in order to get points to meet the judges’ aesthetics, this is an internal struggle exclusively for breakdancers.

The rules of Olympic breakdancing require competitors to go from being specialists to being the best of the best, which is not easy in itself. What’s even more difficult is the struggle between the competitor’s own style and the rules. Breakdancing is a daily occurrence. Breakdancing was born in the Bronx, New York, USA, and because it is not restricted to equipment, and because of the free, creative and easy-to-follow dance moves, breakdancing has attracted many young people with a low barrier to entry. Dancers of all ages come together and their different ideas collide with each other, making breakdancing innovative and changing all the time. Breakdancing is a competition, a performance and an art.

In order to pursue the objectivity of breakdancing, the Paris Olympics raised the number of judges from three to five to nine, and also required the judges to score breakdance performances according to five main criteria: technicality, versatility, execution, musicality and originality. –Breakdancing is still subjective and objective.

In most Olympic sports, there are objective criteria, such as running the fastest, jumping the furthest or highest, scoring the fewest strokes, scoring the most goals, knocking down an opponent or scoring the highest number of points, and performing the most difficult and beautiful moves. However, in breakdancing, there is no way to quantify the moves of individual contestants, and the judges can only use ‘forced choice’ from the subjective judging to determine the competitors, which resulted in the Australian contestants scoring zero because they were not as good at the basics as the others, even though they were recognised for their creativity and artistry. This may be a reflection of the fact that this ‘sport’ has yet to find a scoring method that can be objectively compared. If this is the case, then it would be hasty to put the event into the Olympic Games.

From Regan’s case, it is not difficult to see that although her style is unique and her moves are undoubtedly very original, she still did not get a single vote from the judges after three rounds of the competition. This may be due to the fact that she is so out of the ordinary that she was not able to get a buy-in from the judges, which highlighted the ambiguity in the judging criteria and reflected the dilemma of the dancers in the dilemma of ‘maintaining their style’ versus ‘obeying the rules’. The debate over Regan’s steps will probably receive a completely different evaluation in the near future, but it is just that today no one can yet understand and appreciate the dancer’s freedom of expression and attitude in dance. It’s just that those who are ahead of their time are always alone, even at the cost of being mocked, and perhaps that’s the greater sadness of being in an age where we are all free but trapped in another framework.

Just want to be myself
Regan’s kangaroo dance at the Women’s Breakdancing Cycle has been ridiculed after it became a hit online. Regan responded by saying that the dance moves were all her own and that she just wanted to be herself and not be influenced by anyone. She knows that her unexpected style may not get her high marks at the Olympics, but she hopes that the audience will be blown away by her unique performance. Despite the social pressure Regan feels as a result of her unique dance moves and internet popularity, she doesn’t feel alone.

The outpouring of support from people in Australia and across the globe has been heartwarming for Regan. She’s received solidarity from her team members, with some even honouring her by mimicking her solos in public. All this support represents not only a recognition of her personal values, but more importantly, a firm endorsement of the free-spiritedness and creativity that she preaches. Regan’s dance is like a mirror that perfectly reflects the public’s deep-seated desire and searching fire. Prime Minister Albanese also spoke out in solidarity, saying that the Games were about people taking part in sport, and that Regan’s attempt exemplified the Australian tradition of trying – what really counts is taking part. Meanwhile, the Australian Olympic Committee has called for the removal of a petition on change.org calling for immediate accountability and transparency over Regan’s eligibility to participate in the Olympics, claiming that it has incited public hatred without any factual basis.

For Regan, dance is not just about competition, it is also an effective way of communicating emotions and ideas. In the face of criticism from some audience and judges that her dance form is too abstract and does not conform to the conventions and aesthetics of breakdancing, Regan stood firm in her understanding of the concept of dance, advocating that dance should have a free soul and should not be bound by rigid rules. Although Regan’s performance on the international stage received a zero score, it allowed the world to see the unexpected sparks of cultural exchange. This is not just a discussion about dance technique, but also a dialogue about how to cross cultural boundaries and achieve true understanding and respect.

The Australian breakdancers’ performance may have been an opportunity to open up a discussion about differences in judgement and cultural understanding. Breakdancing as a competitive sport is judged not only on technical precision, but also on the ability of the dancers to convey the emotion and story of the dance. Perhaps the world can learn from this incident that when appreciating and evaluating art works from different cultures, it is important to keep an open mind and understand the cultural significance behind them in order to appreciate their value in a more comprehensive and profound way. The story of breakdancing is still going on, and cultural exchange and understanding is a common issue for all of us.