Dance
Find out how the German hip-hop dancer and Juste Debout champ is taking his skills from the battle to the big screen.
“I don’t have idols because I feel like it gives you a tunnel view. I prefer to follow my own vision and dance hip-hop the way I see and feel it – not the way someone else dances it or thinks hip-hop should look.”
It’s clear from the outset that German dancer Majid has always been on a different type of wave. From the moment he stepped foot on the hip-hop scene his style was unlike those around him.
But being so unique didn’t come with overnight clout or battle wins. In the beginning, Majid was met with more dancers, judges and veteran hip-hop heads not feeling his flow than he was fans. He continued training and trusting in his style, and eventually managed to shrug off the naysayers in favour of following his passion.
I don’t have idols because I feel like it gives you a tunnel view
With nearly two decades under his belt, the German dancer is more fiercely determined to stay on his own path than ever. He’s clocked up a global fanbase, has become a studio owner and Juste Debout champ alongside a string of other titles. Majid’s a member of Raw Sushi Gang, organiser of the hip-hop dance festival Summer Week‘47 and is currently making inroads to becoming an actor.
Off the back of his first tour as a Red Bull dancer and ahead of his double big-screen debut in January 2021, Majid’s future is looking fire. Before the madness we caught up with Majid to find out what it took to get to where he is and where he's headed next.
1. He's following in his father's footsteps
“I started dancing because of my father. I was raised in Germany, but I was born in Iraq and as a child I watched him perform as a national Kurdish folkloric dancer. I was always looking up to him and really wanted to do what he did. He’s really proud of how far I’ve come with my dance, but it means even more to him that he knows he inspired that.”
2. He made it from the studio onto the scene
“At first, I danced around the house just for fun. When I was nine years old my sister forced me to take hip-hop classes. I played soccer and loved dance, but it was a hobby for me. As a teenager, there came a point where I outgrew my studio. I’d learnt enough, and so I started going to youth clubs. It was the dancers there that introduced me to hip-hop culture and the urban dance scene. I started travelling with them and did my first battle. I was hooked. It’s been 18 years now since I started dancing.“
3. The toughest battle is with himself
“A French dancer said I dance like I’m under water. Even the most powerful moves I like to be fluid and smooth. I don’t dance hip-hop in the way that everybody is dancing it or wants to see hip-hop look. Because of that, the biggest challenge I had at the beginning was the battle against myself.
"I know a lot of people didn’t appreciate the way I danced and didn’t want to accept my style. I had to keep going and trust that there would be a time when people would be into it and that there must be other dancers out there who’d connect with it. It was tough to stay who I am and stay true to my style, especially during those first battles. But I had to keep pushing and not give up.”
4. Winning Juste Debout was a matter of mind
“I love performing, but battling is too real. You can’t compare the experience to anything else. The first time I went to Juste Debout was in 2008 as a spectator. I was there in the audience and I thought 'I’m going to be on that stage and win'. I competed in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and finally, in 2014 I won! What made that battle different from all the ones was my mentality. I’d trained a lot and my style was there, but it was all down to my mindset. I had injured my left ankle pretty bad. I taped up my feet and took pain killers and even then it never took me out of the mindset that I was going to win. I had it clear in my head.
"If you have a focused mind, if you’ve trained hard and put in the studio time then knowing that you’re going to win is not arrogance, it’s fact. Nothing can stop you. If you’re self-confident and your clear with yourself you’ll win.“
5. He knows about the importance of setting goals and growing from weakness
“Goals give our lives direction. If you have no goals and no vision you are lost in this world. Dancing is the same. You should dance because you love to do it, and not care how long it takes to get to where you want to be. Nothing comes easy.
"It can take 10 years or one year, but it all depends on how hard you work, how much you want it, your discipline and how much luck you have in this world. If you get injured, don’t be demotivated, know that that’s your chance to learn new moves that need improvement and train other areas of your body harder.
"Don’t give up or lose focus on what you love, and you’ll reach stuff. That’s a fact.”
I feel like if I’m not growing as an artist and a person I’m dead
6. He dances on different frequencies
“I don’t like categorising. When it comes to putting music, dance, art, people or whatever into a box: No. So if I could choose the music or DJ my own rounds for battles I would play completely different hip-hop from what you hear in battles today. I would play more spiritual and freedom-based records. In fact, one of my favourite battles actually was one I did a few years back in 2013 in France. There was only live music, with a live band. They had drums, a lead guitar and all the musicians played freestyle. I just loved that and I won it because I felt so good.“
7. He opened his own studio and teaches the next generation
“I opened my own studio Area UDC in 2014 even before I won Juste Debout. Today I have around 300 students and 10 or 11 teachers. It can be tricky to balance owning a studio and travelling with dance and my other projects, but luckily I have a good team who all care about the studio. It’s my home and it’s my base and I connect everything I’m doing back to the studio. Even for the last stop of the Red Bull Dance tour, our last thing in Germany was an outdoor event with my studio. I'm really proud of this and feel so grateful as a teacher too. I teach my students not only dancing but personality and mindset, and I help them grow and follow their path.”
8. His thoughts on going back to his roots
“I’ve only been back to Iraq twice since my family moved to Germany, but I would really like to perform, teach or battle there one day. The Kurdish hip-hop scene is growing and I have some fans from the capital who write to me and send little pictures from battles and stuff.
"I’m grateful and I feel so blessed. When I started dancing it was never my goal to inspire people or win battles or become famous. I just did it because I loved it. So to know I’m touching people where I was born and around the world with the projects, my studio and my dance, it’s so mad.
"So many people said that my dance style wasn’t really hip-hop at the beginning, but now it turns out some people out there felt the same way I did. Hip-hop hit different for them as it did for me, and it means so much that I inspired them to go their own way by doing my own thing and not trying to pretend to be someone else.“
9. He's making a double acting debut
“I was looking for the next step in my career and acting was it. I have a big cinema movie coming out in January 2021 called FLY which will be out in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. It's a dance movie. The director felt really passionate about choosing real dancers for a dance movie and supporting the culture, and we vibed really well. She felt a strong connection with my audition. I didn’t do any acting classes for it, but in the end I got a really positive response for my part, which made me realise I want to stick with it.
"Alongside the film, in January 2021 I’m also playing the bad guy in a German series called Crews & Gangs. I would love to play more roles like that or a psycho like The Joker, or Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island or be in Inception and these kinds of movies.“
10. What's next after the big screen
“I feel like if I’m not growing as an artist and a person I’m dead.
"Becoming a Red Bull dancer and being a part of this crazy new team definitely feels great. I’m sure the future is bright for all of us so I'm excited to be a part of it."
"Acting is my next goal. I'm taking acting classes, hooking up with agencies to do more auditions and already working with a director to shoot some short films playing different roles.
"I don’t want to just be a dancer in a movie who can act. I want to be an actor who can take their techniques from my dance, such as body awareness, and incorporate that. Directors and people in the industry have already told me that some of the most famous actors don’t even know how to walk, so I hope my future is bright as part of that world as well.“