to think Rachel 'Raygun' gun has broken the phrase 'Oh for the confidence of a mediocre man'?

Oh, I didn't know the foxtrot was African-American, thank you. I was going to put waltz actually, not sure why I changed - but for the purposes of my argument let's pretend I stuck with that!

Although... if the foxtrot too is from African-American culture, do people consider it racist and disrespectful when a celebrity bungles it on Strictly? And who gets to say how bad it must be to be disrespectful - somebody might be trying really hard but muck it up, is that disrespectful? Can we only let excellent, proven dancers even attempt 'black' dances so we can be sure they will dance it well? Do we need to quiz them to make sure they understand and appreciate the culture from whence it came? Shouldn't then that apply to all dance forms - should little girls learn about the rise of the Sun King against a backdrop of starving peasants, or about the horrors of Russian Tsarist society and the subsequent revolution before they're allowed to attempt ballet? Both cultures, and others equally miserable, are central to the development of the artform.

And what about if this Raygun was a black Aboriginal Australian... would it have been any less racist or disrespectful?

I have no idea if this woman was trying her hardest and genuinely thought that her interpretation was valid; as I understand it, innovation and creativity is important in breaking so she may have really believed that she was authentically paying tribute. If she really was taking the piss then absolutely that's disrespectful and should be condemned - same if she'd disrespected javelin, or football, or the high jump etc. I don't personally see how the African-American origin of her event makes any difference, same as I don't see it's any more offensive for Ann Widdecome fluff a foxtrot than a waltz.

Now if she deliberately and maliciously took the role from someone else, or if there was discrimination against other applicants for any reason, then of course it should be investigated. But I think that's a separate issue - if she'd stolen the role but been amazing, she should still be investigated.

Thank you! I'm more interested in seeing the actual genuine break dancers.

Where did you all watch the rest of the competition? I only found very short clips on the BBC.

I'd forgotten about the yawning thing. I'm no expert but have watched a fair bit of breakdancing & have never seen that. More often, if the opponent does something particularly impressive it gets acknowledged positively.

She behaved like it was a fucking panto.

Yes. Eddie the Eagle was definitely the best British ski jumper that year.
Eric was very probably the best Equatorial Guinean swimmer. He'd never swum in an Olympic pool because there wasn't one in the country.
Nobody was being unfairly denied a place.

It seemed so disrespectful towards the other competitors. Her moves looked like it was a joke to her after their hard work to get to the Olympics and compete. I know she's an intelligent woman so I'm not sure what she was trying to do. I'm not sure I'd want to be a student taught by her.

I think it is really odd to say people can only compete in an Olympic sport if it has roots in their culture. How far does that go? So do you have to be a black male from a certain area in New York to do breakdancing? If it isn't that restricted then where do you draw the boundaries? Can women do it? Can mixed race people do it? Can black people who don't have their roots in Africa (although that one is tough as we all have our roots in Africa.) It will get really difficult I mean how about hockey? Is it English is it from more ancient stick and ball games? Is it OK for people who aren't Japanese to compete in judo?

Whatever people think about Raygun I think trying to restrict events to certain ethnicities based on where people think a sport started is going to cause utter chaos. Might be entertaining to watch the whole thing implode.

I'll just add, because they have been mentioned a few times in this thread, that most ballroom and latin dances, excluding the waltzes, either originate in or are influenced by African culture. The competitive ballroom and latin world may be very white-dominated but the dances didn't start out that way.

The foxtrot is a dance that comes from African-American culture. Aside from that, the idea that black people are innately good dancers is an uncomfortably racist one. I think the problem here is a middle class white woman muscling in on something that has meaning for working class black people, winning a qualification process that excluded people without passports (foreign travel is expensive for Australians) and may have been rigged by cronyism, and then performing in a way that was not only excruciatingly bad but also entirely lacking in any self-awareness. The sense of entitlement was off the scale. If she had been brilliant there would have been a sense of her paying tribute to another culture but she just came across as a cosplayer.

This is just like when Eddie The Eagle ruined skiing forever. You never have it in the Olympics now and it's all because of him.

She's the very kind of academic who makes a career out of denouncing others for cultural appropriation or being anti-DEI but who thinks their own allyship renders them above suspicion of those crimes. Basically she's Ali G with a PhD.

Her husbands comments are ridiculous

I just read this comment on her husband's IG. Having read what other breakdancers on the Australian and US scene are saying, I think it articulates some of the issues pretty well:

You guys are Modern dancers not break dancers. That confident voice in your head telling you the world needs to know your post modern contribution to break dancing, is actually internalized white supremacy in action. Dance how you want but stop centering your style in that small scene and telling everyone that’s what break dancing is or should be! Centering yourselves this way is colonial behavior - more people need to tell you this & when they do, you need to listen

She's a professor of cultural studies who lectures on things like breakdancing. I think there might be more self-awareness than she lets on. And maybe there's a book in the pipeline or something.

Other talented b-girls probably exist in Australia. But sports cost a lot of money. I would imagine you have to fund yourselves getting to the qualifiers and likely even to Paris. Australia and NZ wouldn’t have been funding anything to do with breakdancing. Every parent who has a child doing sports that’s not football can probably tell you how much money it costs.

I don't actually think that her impression of a kangaroo was at all convincing. For someone who has apparently had dance training, she seems to be utterly lacking in any kind of knowledge of rhythm, let alone breakdancing ability.

It's great shame that this has overshadowed genuinely talented competitors who showcased what breakdancing could be. It is a shame this will possibly finish it as an Olympic category. It is a shame more talented people were not chosen to represent their country, because I'm sure they exist.

Her husband is called Samuel Free. Someone posted the Guardian article about it. They got 15 entries, which you can also find on the site. https://www.worlddancesport.org/Competitions/Ranking/Oceania-Championship-Sydney-Adult-Breaking-1vs1-B-Girls-60318

The Guardian article says many didn’t compete because it costs money to get a passport and to join the associations needed. Australia is a big country and you have to fly and get accommodation unless you are based in Sydney. Many kiwis don’t have passports when I grew up because we don’t usually travel outside of the country. I think the small scene and the cost eliminated a lot of entries.

The one at number 2 was reusing moves according to the Guardian article. You can google their names and find Gunn has scored more than her at other competitions too.

Yeah, I think Oti and Motsi Mabuse and Johannes Radebe might have something to say about that.
Eminem and Macklemore can both rap well. Although it did mean a lot of w*as in the late 90s trying to emulate the former (you still get street slang/patois appropriation now with teens shouting about being top gs and using bunda and bumboclaat).
Breaking, b boying, b girling originated in the Bronx - African Americans and Puerto Ricans were the pioneers. It's not racist to point that out - it's respectful to history. It expanded to Oz, France, Japan and others. It's not cultural appropriation if you participate.
But show some respect and put the work in, for crying out loud.
Ami Yuasa did that and that's why they got the gold.