Breaking
Breaking
Cypher to stage: the way of B-Boy Thomaz
Thomaz is one of the most successful competitive Polish breakers. Find out how he was inspired to elevate his training through competing at stage competitions, local battles, and cypher heavy jams.
B-Boy Thomaz has a proven and hard earned reputation as one of the top polish breakers on the international, competition scene. He honed his skills, like all high-level, competitive breakers, through years of competing at local events, big stage competitions, and smaller, cypher-heavy jams.
Through the years of working to constantly improve and elevate his skills as a B-Boy, Thomaz hit pivotal moments that inspired and motivated him to evolve his mindset and approach to training, and which ultimately moulded him into the respected B-Boy, he is today.
5 min
Thomaz – part 1
Meet B-Boy Thomaz of the Polskee Flavour crew and follow his journey to the Red Bull BC One World Final.
Born and raised in Warsaw, Poland, Thomaz started breaking at the age of 16 years old, as a teenager whose curiosity was sparked by the dance of breaking. That was in 2003 and after half a year of training, he started competing at local jams and then travelling around Poland to see and “feel the vibe,” of the events. Eventually, Thomaz started entering bigger, stage battles, like Warsaw Challenge, in 2005, and Circle Kingz, in 2006.
But even though Thomaz was gaining experience at big stage events in Poland, he admits that, back then, dancing in the circles known as cyphers wasn’t something he was comfortable doing, saying it was, “easier for me to take part in competitions and stage battles, but cyphers, themselves, stressed me out.”
Dancing in the cyphers made me find my personality in breaking and taught me how to enjoy the dance
This stress Thomaz felt towards dancing in cyphers made him push himself to attend more cypher-heavy jams, and dance in the cyphers to get over the stress they made him feel. This brought one of the first levels of change to Thomaz as a B-Boy, as he says that dancing in cyphers, “made me find my personality in breaking and taught me how to enjoy the dance.”
Thomaz was also competing at events in Poland every 2-3 weeks, using the smaller competitions to test his new moves and tricks. Then, in 2007, Thomaz was invited to do an exhibition battle against B-Boy Cycu (Tit Rock), at the polish event called, Over the Top. This invite motivated him to push his training to another level.
Thomaz: “I was really hyped to hear that I would battle in one of the biggest events in Europe. I started practicing like crazy, training breaking twice a day and doing running, gym and swimming.” Thomaz says as he remembers that, “it was inspiration for me and changed my mindset towards battle preparation.”
4 min
Thomaz – part 2
Not being able to give too much of his time to dancing Thomaz is making up for it with his unique moves.
As Thomaz continued to work hard at improving as a B-Boy, he travelled the world, competing and growing his international reputation. In 2015 a lot of Thomaz’s hard work paid off when he got the wild card to compete in the Red Bull BC One World Finals. This, again, inspired him to push his body with more exercises, running, gym sessions, and swimming. Plus, he also strengthened his mindset for the big challenge of competing at Red Bull BC One, saying: “I felt a bit of stress because the Red Bull BC One world finals is the biggest 1v1 competition in the world, and if you get in the top 16 you need to prove that you deserved that spot. But I tried to change my mindset and get rid of the stress that I felt so that I could feel free on that stage.” And for Thomaz he says that: “After 12 years of breaking, my approach changed.”
From local jams, to big stage battles, to learning to dance in cyphers, and getting a wild card, world finals invite, Thomaz has been able to constantly re-think and re-shape the way he trains and the mindset that he approaches breaking with, to better develop and improve himself as a B-Boy. He has come to understand what he wants to gain, for himself, from all the levels of competitions, and urges all breakers to try and understand what they want to get from the different types of competitions there are to enter.
4 min
Nori vs Thomas – Round of 16
B-Boys compete at the Red Bull BC One Last Chance Cypher 2019 in Mumbai, India, ahead of the World Final.
Thomaz: “At the smaller jams you can have more learning phases, whereas big stage competitions can be overwhelming, depending on your experience, so I definitely suggest that breakers know what they want to get from taking part in big or small events.”
And when it comes to dealing with the pressures of competing at high-level, big stage competitions, against all the other high-level breakers, experience has taught Thomaz how to deal with any feelings of stress, or expectations to have to maybe do big moves and tricks.
Thomaz: “At big stage battles of course I feel expectations on me, but I do what I love when battling, as I always want to have a good vibe and to feel the music. And if I start to feel pressure that’s when I really just get into the music.”
For breakers gaining experience at smaller jams right now, who maybe want to start battling at big stage competitions, Thomaz has some very practical advice that was given to him when he was coming up:
Thomaz: “When I started one B-Boy told me that, ‘you need to have ten tricks if you would like to win bigger competitions in Poland.’ I tested this at the time and it worked!” laughs Thomaz.
But Thomaz is quick to remind breakers that the dance of breaking isn’t just about moves and tricks, and to be on a good path to becoming a complete B-Boy or B-Girl you should always remember that breaking is also about, “character, style, music and originality.”
Also, if you want to be a successful competitor, Thomaz says: “You have to give something which no one else has. It doesn’t matter what it will be, tricks, speed, musicality, or some other thing, but it is always good to have something you’ve trained to an incredible level”
In the end, Thomaz has learned that, “the biggest battle is you against yourself,” and in that battle of self, you got to simply aim for what you want, “and go for it.”
