British breaker Karam Singh performs during a Reuters interview on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Samsung Galaxy innovation space on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, April 29, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
PARIS (Reuters) - Weeks before his eighth birthday, Karam Singh joked about becoming a break dancer while watching a Justin Timberlake video and, 16 years on, Kid Karam is preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The 26-year-old from Derby, England, the first breaker to land a sponsorship deal with Nike and a Samsung Galaxy ambassador, is using his breaking community's "superpower" to climb the rankings as he prepares for the Olympic Qualifying Series (OQS).
"When I started breaking, I was in a crew and I looked up to that crew and that was my community. And I had older people to sort of guide me through life experiences and breaking experiences. And the community for me is still there," Singh told Reuters.
"The community makes me who I am. Some people allow being from a smaller place to hold them back, but for me, I allowed it to be a superpower. You know, I wanted to turn up to big events, kind of arrive unknown and leave unforgettable."
Breaking, an acrobatic style of street dancing, is making its Olympic debut in Paris and Singh will have the perfect opportunity to make his mark on the Place de la Concorde if he claims one of the 10 qualifying spots available at events in Shanghai and Budapest starting in May.
Singh will represent Britain and his crew.
"I feel like at first when we had the Olympic announcement, some people were for, some people were against even within our own scene. But I think the more it's gone on, the way that it's been exposed to this new world, I think it's done really, really well," said Singh, who stars in the Sky feature film Breaking Point.
"I think generally it's attracting a new demographic to breaking and to dance in general, because as much as breaking is a sport, like I said, it's still a dance, a sport of culture. You can do it for fun or you can do it to be the best in the world."
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)
