Breaking
Tune out to tune in: how Yell found fame through breaking
Read up on the inspiring story of B-Girl Yell, who rose to superstardom as a dancer in her home country of South Korea, despite having a hearing impairment.
Kim Ye-ri, aka B-Girl Yell, is fast becoming South Korea's most famous B-Girl. Since stepping on the breaking scene, she has wasted no time racking up a lengthy list of impressive titles. In less than half a decade, she won a bronze medal at the 2018 Youth Games in Buenos Aires, won the 2019 Red Bull BC One South Korea Cypher and then qualified for the Top 16 in the Red Bull BC One World Final. In 2020 she was the Red Bull BC One E-Battle runner-up and battled as a wildcard in the 2021 Red Bull BC One World Final.
Yell at the Red Bull BC One World Final 2021
© Romina Amato/Red Bull Content Pool
But that wasn't her only achievement to be proud of this year. Yell just secured a ticket to next year's Asian Games in Hangzhou by winning the inaugural Breaking Project Korea in November. She was also selected to become a member of Korea's national breaking team.
Speaking after the win, Yell expressed: "There were many things I had to endure and there are so many things I want to say, but now I've really become a national representative. I will repay everyone who has been supporting me and giving me love with an even better me! Thank you."
I will repay everyone who has been supporting me and giving me love with an even better me
Outside of battle wins, Yell’s passion and endless practice saw her clock clout on the scene in 2017 when she locked down a coveted spot on South Korea's notoriously respected Gamblerz crew. Then in 2019, she was one of the recipients of the government's Talent Award of South Korea.
On-screen, Yell has gained legions of fans and carved out monstrous fame as a contestant of the television dance contest Street Women Fighter, representing the YGX crew.
Witness Yell in her element on stage and her rising hype will come as no surprise. The dancer's complex grasp of musicality and connection to the vibrations is evident from her highly stylised flow, slick power moves and ability to swerve onto a multitude of styles as well as master choreography.
4 min
Yell vs Fen Qi – B-Girls Round of 16
Yell and Fen Qi battle in the Round of 16 at the Red Bull BC One World Final in Mumbai, India.
Speaking about how the show has changed her day to day life, Yell says: "I really like being on the show. I get recognised everywhere since being on it. It's pretty crazy. When I was going to get vaccinated, everybody knew me. When I entered the centre, they called me by my breaking name 'Hi Yell, please go through'. Then, even when I went in, the nurse saw me and kept looking down at the paper and back up until she finally said, 'Are you Yell?' I can't take a train or a bus because too many people know me."
Yell's blazing trajectory didn't happen overnight. She attributes her success to her "spirit of dogged persistence", passion and endless practising. "I think practice is the most important thing in my dancing life. At first, when I started breaking, my parents really didn't like my way. In the beginning, they didn't like my dancing. My mother was a teacher in a school and she wanted me to do something similar. She didn't want me to become a dancer."
Yell continues: "She wouldn't allow me to go to a proper academy for breaking, so from 15 years old, I practised in the playground in front of my house every day after school for two years. My mother saw me and how much I loved it, and after that, she allowed me to study breaking in a studio class and learn properly when I was 17 years old."
Not long after that, Yell joined South Korea's top breaking crew Gamblerz after battling four other B-Boys for the spot. Today she is the only B-Girl in Gamblerz and the only B-Girl on Street Women Fighter. She confesses that cementing her status on both platforms and not being looked down on for being a woman has been no easy task.
Yell is freezing at the Red Bull BC One World Final in Mumbai
© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool
"I'm the only B-Girl in this program, but it's tough because the judges don't really like B-Girls, so I've had to learn and do so much choreography. It's been a hard journey, but most people love my performance."
Yell said that it was really difficult to switch between styles at first, but she practised day and night at every chance. "I put a lot of determination to level up my styles, choreography and make my body dance well. This was my goal for my dance journey, and I think it's been successful. Now that my parents have seen what I have been able to do with my dance, they are very proud as well.
"When I joined the show, my parents were apprehensive about me because I had to prepare so many things. But I told them, 'I can do it, don't worry about it. I'm finally here where I've wanted to be and I'm ready to fight'."
Yell is certainly no stranger to a fight. Her greatest obstacle thus far has been losing her hearing as a young child. "I started losing my hearing way back. When I was in the third grade of elementary school, I noticed something was wrong (with my ears) and told my parents about it. Nobody knows why it happened.
"I'm fine with dance choreography because I can repeatedly practise the same movements following the songs I know. But in a battle, it's really hard to listen to music. You can't predict what the DJ will play. I can hear really well when I'm practising in the studio or with headphones on. This is ok. But on a battle stage, there is a lot of noise: people, big speakers and the MC. These are often mixed with pyrotechnics, etc."
4 min
Kastet vs Yell – B-Girls quarter-final 1
B-Girls from around the world compete to make it to the final battle of Red Bull BC One World Final in India.
Because of this, Yell confesses that watching her rounds off stage often looks different from how it felt at the time. "I really care about the music and focus on it. Sometimes what I heard on the stage versus what I see in video playback is very different. For example, I can feel like I'm dancing to '5,6,7,8' on stage, but it's offbeat when I monitor my performance. I frequently find differences between the music I heard during the competition and the actual music."
Over time Yell admits that she's got used to adapting her breaking to work with her difficulty in hearing and it's become a natural thing for her. "I face more hardships communicating with people wearing face masks these days and lip-reading. But because I lost my hearing, my other senses are stronger. I can hear the music, not only the sound, but I can feel the music. I try to dance this way on the battle stage and when I'm performing."
Yell's schedule is packed with numerous commercial shoots, concerts, practice, high profile sponsorship from Nike, but her conviction has never been stronger thanks to Street Women Fighter.
Yell is destined for an incalculable rise to the top and ultimately, she hopes to positively impact others with her dancing. Just like how she fell in love with breaking, Yell wishes to see more talented young dancers conquering world stages.
Outside of gearing up for the 2024 Games in Paris, what's next for Yell's spectacular performances and unique charisma? "I would like to clinch the top spot in world competitions, including the Asian Games and the Red Bull BC One World Final," she says. "It's my wish to win at least one trophy at an event where many international dancers compete against each other and continue to move on my own frequency."