Dr. Rachael Louise “Raygun” Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University, Australia, who has extensively studied and participated in the Sydney breaking (more commonly known as break dancing) scene. Her work has primarily focused on studying social dynamics in the breaking scene from feminist and queer perspectives: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=LLebtn8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra. Gunn has also demonstrated outstanding ability in the breaking scene, having won numerous competitions across Oceania and garnering wide respect from other Australian breakers.
Gunn has also been widely reported as having a background in Jazz, Tap dancing, and Ballroom dancing.

I put it to you that Rachael Gunn is intimately familiar with breaking, to a much higher degree than most breakers, having both personal and academic experience with the scene. Her academic work breaking down elements of the scene indicate a detailed understanding of the moves, speech, social and cultural contexts, modes of dress, relationship with gender, and numerous other individual aspects. She also has a detailed understanding of her relationship to the scene, having written a paper titled The ethics of living a double life: rethinking ownership, authenticity, and identity in hip hop culture, and spoken in interviews of being white and middle class in a scene that grew from socially impressed minorities.

So how could someone with the demonstrated knowledge and ability of Raygun not score a single point at all, having reached the Olympics as the highest scoring competitive b-girl in Oceania? Indeed, Martin Gillian, head breaking judge at the Olympics, praised her performance, and she’s received extensive support from the breaking community in defence of her routine, so a score of zero seems impossibly unlikely.

The inclusion of breaking at the Olympic games was a controversial topic ahead of its debut, primarily due to concerns over the corporatization and dilution of breaking culture inclusion would bring, and was widely criticised by the breaking community. One person who studied the divide in opinions was Dr Rachael L Gunn, who in 2023 published The Australian breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification, which criticised the IOC and WDSF’s implementation and homogenisation of the scene. From the conclusion of the paper:

[…] the concerns are centred on the impact upon culture, and a potential loss of agency and self-determination. Isolated from neighbouring countries, and consisting of distinct, localized scenes guided by individual agents, top-down decision-making led by the WDSF already impacts the social organization, identities and hierarchies of respect within the Australian breaking scene.

While sport and the Olympics are framed as ‘great equalizers’, the exclusivity of Australia’s sporting institutions along gendered, class and racialized lines means that breaking’s sportification may in fact impact the accessibility of breaking. While the ABA aims to ensure that Australian breakers retain self-determination and agency through this Olympic process, there are many obstacles that come with the introduction of concepts like governance, transparency and accountability. Making global what is essentially a localized practice invariably requires standardization, homogeneity, professionalism and risks further moving breaking away from its African American and Latin cultural traditions and histories.

I put it to you that Raygun’s olympic performance was in fact carefully calculated to show off breaking without meeting a single olympic criteria, as a protest against the inclusion of the sport, choosing to show breaking off as an artistic medium rather than athletic one. Using movements that were specifically contextual to Australia’s presence in an international space, her performance was a criticism of the IOCs attempt to represent breaking as a gymnastic sport rather than artistic expression, and directly intended to sabotage the inclusion of breaking - and expected resulting gentrification of the scene - in the Olympics.
Currently it has been confirmed that the 2028 Olympic Games will not feature breaking, and there are currently no plans to include it in the 2032 Games.
Raygun wins.

  • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    49·
    3 months ago

    NB: I didn’t actually watch any of the Olympic breaking I just saw a meme about her dissertation, looked up her other work, and smoked a joint.

    • regul [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      341·
      3 months ago

      Yeah. I, for one, am glad there’s a white woman PhD who gets to make this decision for everyone.

      • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        22·
        3 months ago

        I mean that’s how it goes for a lot of these niche sports in certain regions. For instance the womens South African and African speed climbing champion and record holder doesn’t even train on a full sized speed climbing wall, and travels over 1000km by bus once a month to practice on a full sized wall, which isn’t even officially certified. Resources are slim and a lot of athletes have to get inventive with training and attending competitions. Which means that sometimes you just can’t attend certain competitions.

    • MF_COOM [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      21·
      3 months ago

      Yeah people are acting like it’s weird that a country is significantly outclassed by the competition in an Olympic competition but do these people even watch the Olympics? That shit happens all the time.

      If you want to know what happened on stage you have to watch the round robin. If you haven’t seen how her dancing changed over time but that even at the start when she was seriously trying she was no where near her competition’s level of skill, then you don’t know what happened. By the time she was doing the kangaroo hop thing it was her sixth public dance off against someone obviously better.

      She started dancing in her 20s, is 36 and took a bunch of years off dancing for her PhD. Her competition was all under 20 and have been doing nothing but breaking since they were in single digits. It’s not supernatural.

  • flan [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    271·
    3 months ago

    Be that as it may unilaterally delegitimizing breakdancing on the world stage seems like a pretty bad way to protest. Maybe get other people involved in your harebrained scheme.

    • MarxMadness@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      18·
      3 months ago

      This should be the first response: that if this is what she did (and it makes a certain amount of sense given the fact she’s won other competitions), it wasn’t decided democratically and does not seem to be supported by the broader community.

      That’s a much better critique than “she may have dedicated much of her life to this, but she doesn’t get an opinion because she’s a white lady.”

    • booty [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      18·
      3 months ago

      Does it matter if something like breakdancing is “delegitimized” in the eyes of the public? I feel like that’s exactly what the average person who’s into it would want. They’re having fun doing their thing, why would they want it to be “legitimized”

      • flan [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        31·
        3 months ago

        I don’t have any connection to the breakdancing community so I don’t know what they want or dont want. I’m just thinking if my favorite activity (edging) became an olympic sport I would both be mad that it became an olympic sport and that some australian phd in edgeology fully finished on purpose to prove a point

      • Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        15·
        3 months ago

        I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the vast majority of people who enjoy breakdance probablly aren’t happy that the vast majority of people now think their sport is stupid and is at least partially hopping around with your arms up like a bunny and slowly gyrating on the floor like a worm.

        In this case “legitamizing” means “not thinking it’s fucking stupid”

        • booty [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
          5·
          3 months ago

          I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the vast majority of people who enjoy breakdance probablly aren’t happy that the vast majority of people now think their sport is stupid

          Isn’t that already the case? Any time I’ve seen breakdancing in pop culture the vibe has been “this is really fucking dorky and stupid but they’re having fun and they aren’t hurting anybody so good for them”

          Furthermore, I highly doubt one olympic breakdancing event in any way impacted the popular perception of breakdancing as a sport/art/whatever. I doubt most people are even aware any of this happened (or will ever be aware)

          • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
            11·
            3 months ago

            Furthermore, I highly doubt one olympic breakdancing event in any way impacted the popular perception of breakdancing as a sport/art/whatever. I doubt most people are even aware any of this happened (or will ever be aware)

            Most people will just say white people can’t dance and continue with their day.

  • Jacobo_Villa_Lobos [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    25·
    3 months ago

    OP is cooking up some delicious copypasta

    Raygun meant 👀 to do 🤤 that 👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉 Dr. 👨 Rachael Louise “Raygun” Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University, Australia, 🇦🇺 who 📷 has 👏 extensively 👀👣🦱👄🦱 studied and participated in 🔙📥 the Sydney breaking 😩 (more ➕ commonly known 💫 as break 💥 dancing) 👯‍♂️ scene. 🤝🌅 Her 👩 work 🏢 has 👍 primarily focused 😤 on 🔛 studying social 👥 dynamics in 😛 the breaking 😩 scene 🤝🌅 from 😮🐣 feminist 🙅 and queer 👭 perspectives: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=LLebtn8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra. Gunn has ♌ also ✅😒 demonstrated outstanding ability in 📥👇 the breaking 😩 scene, 🎬 having 🈶 won 😉😉 numerous 👎🏻🐆💯💯 competitions across 🤭 Oceania and garnering wide respect 😱 from 👉 other 💰 Australian breakers. 💔 Gunn has 👏 also 👨 been 🍯 widely 🌎 reported 😱 as having 👉 a background in 👈🔱 Jazz, Tap dancing, 👯‍♂️ and Ballroom dancing. 🕺 I 👈 put 😏 it to you 😱🤯😳 that 📝 Rachael Gunn is intimately familiar with breaking, 😩 to a much 🙀💘 higher 👆 degree than 👉👉 most 💯👥 breakers, 💔 having 😋 both 🌜 personal 💻 and academic experience 😋 with the scene. 🎬 Her 🏻 academic work 😠📝 breaking 😩 down ⬇️ elements of the scene 📰📞 indicate a detailed understanding 🌞 of the moves, 🕺💃🌟 speech, 🗨 social 👥 and cultural contexts, modes of dress, 👗 relationship with gender, 🚹 and numerous 👎🏻🐆💯💯 other 💰 individual 🥖 aspects. She 💁‍♀️ also ➕👨😛 has 🌳 a detailed understanding 🌞 of her 👸 relationship to the scene, 🎬 having 👉 written a paper 🧻 titled The ethics of living 😮😮 a double 👥 life: 😷 rethinking ownership, authenticity, and identity 🆔 in 👇 hip hop 👆 culture, 🏛️🎭🌎 and spoken 😣 in 🙌👏 interviews of being 😑🙄 white 👨🏻 and middle 🤬 class 🏫 in 👏 a scene 🕑 that 🥀 grew from 😂🙃 socially impressed 😳 minorities. 👶 So how 🤔 could 👈 someone 👤 with the demonstrated knowledge 🥖😷🤒 and ability of Raygun not ⛔ score 💯 a single 🚫👆 point 👉🏻 at all, 💯 having 👉 reached the Olympics as the highest scoring competitive b-girl in 🧚🏻 Oceania? Indeed, 👌 Martin Gillian, head 🗣 breaking 😩 judge 👩‍⚖️ at the Olympics, praised 👏🙏 her 👸 performance, and she’s 🏆💁‍♀️💁‍♀️💁‍♀️ received 💌 extensive support 👍 from 🤤 the breaking 📦 community 💰 in 💖 defence of her 💁‍♂️ routine, so a score 🎼 of zero 👆🏻 seems 👀 impossibly unlikely. The inclusion of breaking 📦 at the Olympic games 🎮 was a controversial topic 🧕🏽😷 ahead 🏻🏻 of its debut, primarily due 💢 to concerns 😟 over ↘️ the corporatization and dilution of breaking 📦 culture 🏛️🎭🌎 inclusion would 💀 bring, 😑 and was widely 🌎 criticised by 😈 the breaking 📦 community. 👩👩 One ☝️ person 👫 who 🤷 studied the divide ➗ in 1️⃣4️⃣9️⃣2️⃣ opinions 👏👏 was Dr 👨 Rachael L 💀 Gunn, who 🤷👫 in 👏 2023 published 🤓 The Australian breaking 😩 scene 📹🎬 and the Olympic Games: 🎮 The possibilities 💡 and politics of sportification, which 👏 criticised the IOC and WDSF’s implementation and homogenisation of the scene. 📰📞 From 🚥 the conclusion 🔚 of the paper: 📄 >[…] the concerns 😟 are centred on 🔛 the impact 💰 upon 💰 culture, 🏛️🎭🌎 and a potential 💪🏼🧠 loss ❌ of agency 🧑🏼‍💻 and self-determination. Isolated from 👉 neighbouring countries, 🇺🇸 and consisting of distinct, localized scenes 🎬 guided by 😆 individual 🥖 agents, top-down decision-making led by 😈 the WDSF already 👋 impacts the social 🤳👬 organization, ✊ identities and hierarchies of respect 💯 within 🎉 the Australian breaking 😩 scene. 🎬 >While 🐏 sport 🎣 and the Olympics are framed as ‘great 👍 equalizers’, the exclusivity of Australia’s sporting institutions along 🕺💃 gendered, class 😛 and racialized lines ➖ means 🙌🏻😮 that 💯 breaking’s sportification may 🤷📅 in 👊 fact 😽 impact 💰 the accessibility of breaking. 📦 While 💯 the ABA aims to ensure 🤗 that 👹 Australian breakers 💔 retain self-determination and agency 🧑🏼‍💻 through 💸 this Olympic process, 💻 there 💓💔💑 are many 👬 obstacles that ⏪👀 come 🕺 with the introduction 🎮 of concepts like 💋❤️ governance, transparency and accountability. Making 🏽 global 🌎 what 😦 is essentially 💯 a localized practice invariably requires 📣 standardization, homogeneity, professionalism and risks 😐 further 🌉 moving 🚚 breaking 📦 away 😂 from 🧚‍♀️ its African American 🇺🇸🦅 and Latin 🔠 cultural traditions and histories. I 🙋🏻‍♀️ put 🚮🚮🚮 it to you 😈 that 👊👉 Raygun’s olympic performance was in 🧚🏻 fact 📕 carefully 👌 calculated 🚜🚜 to show 📺 off 📴 breaking 😩 without ❌ meeting 🥩🥩 a single 🚫👆 olympic criteria, as a protest against 🚫 the inclusion of the sport, 🏁 choosing to show 🌵 breaking 😩 off 🎮 as an artistic 👨‍🎨🎨 medium 🔉 rather 👉 than 😻 athletic 👟 one. 😡 Using 🤳 movements 📦 that 😐 were 👥👥 specifically 🔵🔵 contextual to Australia’s presence 🏽 in 👍🏻 an international 🌎🌎 space, 🌎 her 👸 performance was a criticism of the IOCs attempt 🚫 to represent 🇺🇸 breaking 😩 as a gymnastic sport 🚴 rather 👉 than 😻 artistic 👨‍🎨🎨 expression, and directly intended to sabotage the inclusion of breaking 😩 - and expected 🤰🙄 resulting gentrification of the scene 🎬 - in 👏 the Olympics. Currently 😗 it has 👏 been 🍯 confirmed 🚤 that 🚪 the 2028 Olympic Games 🎱 will 🔥 not 🙅 feature breaking, 📦 and there 😌 are currently 😗 no ⛔ plans 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦 to include 📲 it in 🙈 the 2032 Games. 🎮 Raygun wins. 🏆

  • Alaskaball [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    231·
    3 months ago

    Currently it has been confirmed that the 2028 Olympic Games will not feature breaking, and there are currently no plans to include it in the 2032 Games.

    Raygun wins.

    Events are literally decides years in advance by the Olympic committees of the countries hosting the games.

    Some Australian dweeb doing careful calculations on how many kangaroo hops it takes before dropping into a donkey roll to make an effective form of protest didn’t do jack shit besides becoming an international laughingstock.

  • sexywheat [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    22·
    3 months ago

    So you’re saying she was a wrecker on purpose? I would believe that.

    As someone who has followed breaking very closely for about a decade, I’m rightfully furious that she turned breaking into a fucking meme and made a laughing stock of the sport when we finally got a spot on the world stage.

    Big ups to the actual athletes who danced their hearts out in Paris though.

  • Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    3 months ago

    If the intention was some kind of protest to highlight the artistic aspect of breaking it failed pretty bad because she just single handedly made like 90% of people who watched the olympics or follow memes that break dancing is stupid.

    Seems like not a great outcome if you’re trying to get people to respect the art form.