Sometimes people ask how I feel about the isolation of bgirls from the scene in terms of bgirl classes and bgirl battles. Bboy competitions and classes are open to girls too, so why this special treatment? I personally think it can help the bgirl scene grow, cause there are differences between girls and boys in many ways and they reflect in our breaking and our social behaviour.
When I was a teenager, most of the friend-groups were either girls or boys, not too much mixed. When there was mixing, there was kissing 😉 So when I started breaking as a teenager, all these guys didn’t directly seem to be friend-potential, and therefor not too welcoming. I know not all girls will experience it this way, luckily, but I did so I was happy to be able to start in a bgirl class, and with a friend.
The bgirl class stopped after a year, and my friend after 3 years, but I think the fact this class was there and she was with me in the beginning made it a lot easier for me to go on. Cause the first few years can be hard, all those boys throwing freaky moves, learning new moves like it’s nothing while you struggle to do a turtle freeze for weeks.. My friend was there while I could get comfortable and make friends and get used to sessioning with boys. When she started to drop out, the boys weren’t so scary anymore.
My crew is like family now, a bunch of brothers from other mothers, as are the boys I practice with. And by then I learned enough about breaking and got so motivated to break and practice, a few boys throwing crazy shit wouldn’t stop me. I knew where my strengths could be found.
But still I do like practicing and battling with girls.
I like the ease with which I can talk and level with other bgirls. I teach a bgirl class and support bgirl battles. It’s because of how I started and I feel like it can help the bgirl community grow. I think the girls-break-among-boys thing is a given, bgirls entering bboy battles and training with boys just happens because it’s 90% of the time what’s there. And that’s good, we’re one community where everyone can feel at home and we all want to learn the same things.
Bgirl things are just that little extra for girls to be among girls and provide that something we miss sometimes being among boys. It can be more comfortable when you’re a beginner, and now for me it’s fun and extra challenging. You can’t blame any of your girl attributes for losing when you battle girls; If she can do it I can do it, so you get motivated, train, upgrade and develop.
And that’s the whole point of bgirl classes and battles for me;
motivate girls to grow in breaking.