Breaking
Discover the story of B-Boy Xak from Spain on his road to becoming a professional breaker.
Before fully committing to his goals, Xak was living two lives: in one he was an internationally known, competitive B-Boy, a member of the Arcopom crew and a three-time Red Bull BC One National Cypher champion, but in his second, professional life, he worked as a lawyer in his family's firm in a small town. He wanted nothing more than to pursue his dance ambitions full-time and to earn a living from it, but he received no encouragement from those close to him.
Even Xak's father once questioned his continued dedication to breaking, asking him (in reference to his Red Bull BC One National Cypher wins): "If you've won the biggest competition in Spain three times already, but still can't make a living from dance, why still do it?"
But Xak had loved breaking ever since he discovered it at the age of 15 and so, with the pressures of working in the law firm starting to weigh on him and his dream of becoming professional breaker still calling, Xak finally decided, "it's now or never, I'm going to try."
With this life-changing decision finally made and with only about €1,500 to live on, Xak left the non-dance side of his life behind and moved to Madrid in pursuit of the lifestyle that he truly wanted to live. But his decision didn't come without sacrifice or personal consequence, as Xak says: "When I went to Madrid I broke up with my girlfriend and I kind of broke with my family as well, as they weren't happy with my decision, so we didn't have so much contact after I left."
Xak went from living in his family home, where they had a housekeeper, to sharing a flat with people he didn't know. Plus, the money that he had was just about enough to last him two months, so he went from earning a stable income as a lawyer to having to face the challenge of making enough money to live in the more expensive city of Madrid.
"I was doing street shows, dancing in night clubs shirtless, taking gigs and doing rehearsals that were really long and stressful with low pay."
Building his new life was definitely not an easy task, but Xak says, "I remember those beginnings and I smile, because even though it was stressful and I wasn't earning much money, I was feeling fulfilled."
Also free from his job as a lawyer and with nobody around him being negative, Xak was able to put much more time and effort into his breaking practise. And even though sometimes building his new life was a bit lonely, he woke up each day happy that he was pursuing his dreams.
That was just over four years ago and Xak's now finding more balance in his working and training life. With breaking being his priority, for which he wants to make sure that all his physical energy is used to practise hard, work out, increase stamina and develop his style and moves, Xak knows himself and says, "I understand that I can't have another job that would take my physical energy, so I'm focusing on other kinds of jobs that are more mental."
One of these jobs that fits perfectly into Xak's lifestyle as a B-Boy and dancer is working as a dance mentor.
"I work as a dance mentor, guiding dancers to help them reach their goals through supporting, motivating and challenging them to train more efficiently and to understand their potential. Most importantly I try to be a role model for them, showing them that they have to analyse themselves and work to develop and get out what makes them unique."
Xak continues to build on his professional life as a B-Boy and dancer, but with Spain lacking understanding of breaking culture, Xak admits that "living in Spain as a dancer is incredibly hard, no matter how good you are." And so, as well as mentoring, Xak also works with Red Bull Spain and the Spanish breaking federation. All this isn't just to save his physical energy to train, but he also wants to make it easier for other breakers and dancers following him who might want to become pros, too.
"I'd like to make dancing as a career more professional in Spain, to leave a legacy for other people to have an easier path, with more rights as dancers in the industry, more attention from the media, and more Spanish breakers and dancers being active internationally," he says.
Xak's path has shown him that it's not always easy to follow your goals and dreams, especially when family and friends might not understand the path you want to take, but looking back on whether or not he feels he made the right choices for himself, Xak says: "I don't think there's a right or wrong choice, I think we should be looking for happiness and for me happiness is being comfortable with the things that we do. Of course some days are not always the best, but I'm happy with my choices and every day I can go to sleep thinking that I'm closer to my goals."
For those who may be in the same position Xak was previously in – wanting to pursue a career as a professional breaker and dancer – his advice to them is: "I learned that you can't take advice from people who didn't live, or haven't even tried to achieve, the life you want or the goals that you have. For me, my family are lawyers and teachers – they don't understand what it is to be a dancer. So listen to yourself, ask advice from the right people and always follow your heart."
Throughout his own journey towards his goals as a professional B-Boy and dancer, Xak's learned that you have to be ready because the journey will be hard, but he says that if you truly want to work towards your dreams and goals you should "do it with passion, heart, consistency and will – and that will carry you wherever you desire to go."
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