at Insep, the French breaking team wants to find its place among the Olympic disciplines

“If you hear music at Insep, it’s because you’re breaking.” Xavier Fleuriot, director of performance breaking at the National Institute for Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep), sets the scene. Music with a catchy rhythm Evan finds the third roomof the Texan group Khruangbin, escapes from Building A, a red brick building with large bay windows, located at the entrance to Insep.

All behind our French team of #breaking who is competing today at the world championships in Seoul! ‘ pic.twitter.com/Tc9ZEG69Px

— INSEP (@INSEP_PARIS) October 21, 2022

On the right of the building, and after passing through an airlock serving as a cloakroom, a small dance hall has been hosting, since September, the newly formed France breaking center (also called breakdance). “Everything is not yet organized, emphasizes Xavier Fleuriot, waving his hand at the things that still need to be put away and installed. But Insep deploys a lot of energy and resources to welcome us as best as possible. We feel really welcome.” From new sports integrated into the Olympic Games, the breaking is the only one to have taken up residence in the temple of French sport and Olympism. Skateboarding and rock climbing can benefit from Insep services, but do not find there no equipment related to their practice. They do, however, have access to the Creps facilities, such as in Talence for skateboarding and Toulouse for climbing.

The small dance hall, with white walls and large mirrors installed across the width of the room, is still in “construction”, confirms Omar Remichi, coach and manager of the French breaking team. “The room is still a bit bland. We are settled, now I need there to be an atmosphere, with musical instruments, and that our break identity is represented.”

On this Wednesday, the agenda is the preparation for the world championships in Seoul, South Korea, which will take place three weeks later, on October 21 and 22. “We are on the polish. We are working on the cleanliness, the recitation or the repetition of certain passages and especially on the relational in battle, in other words on the question-answer game, the look, the charisma and the occupation of the ‘space”, explains Omar Remichi, dressed in the official T-shirt of the France team, his curly black hair gathered on the top of his skull.

The rest of the time, he makes his athletes work on different “labs”, or sessions (musicality, charisma, personality expression): “That’s what’s going to make us win, deciphers the head of the France division. They are all old wolves, who have been breaking for twenty years. They belong to the generation of the 2000s who broke to express themselves and claim something. So we are not going to teach them the break, but we are going to work more on their flaws, on the strategy with personalized work.

To the left of the room, two large black speakers broadcast the previously selected songs. Danny Civil (b boy Dany Dann), Khalil Chabouni (b boy Khalil), Sarah Bouyahyaoui (b girl Sarah Bee), Carlota Dudek (b girl Carlota), Nathanael Etouke (b boy Nasty), Gaëtan Alin (b boy Lagaet), are part of the first promotion of the French breaking team at Insep. With them, three sparring-partners share their training to put them in a battle situation and help them progress.

These six b-boys and b girls were selected from among the fifteen athletes who make up the French team, aged 16 to 35, to join Insep.

The music is linked without interruption, and each in turn, according to their feelings, they work on their compositions, and manage their intensity and their breaks themselves. As the arrival time. If the athletes have an appointment at 3 p.m. this afternoon with their coach, in fact, each one arrives gradually in the following hour. Far from the strict framework of Insep, and the more rigid roadmaps of other high-level sports, the breaking has kept its codes and its freedom. “At first, it disconcerted a lot, me first”, smiles Xavier Fleuriot, former director of the French canoe-kayak teams.

“What does it bring them to come at a specific time? For them, nothing. The approach is more artistic and they use this time to exchange, time that they need.”

Xavier Fleuriot, director of breakdance performance at Insep

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A vision confirmed by Dany Dann. “The break comes from the street, and it has not lost its spirit. Of course, we are at Insep, there is the athlete side, but also the side b-boying that we keep.” Here, the trainer is therefore more of a guide, “to help them reach their highest level. You shouldn’t pollute them, or teach them something you’ve mastered”, supports Omar Remichi.

More than the precision work carried out this September afternoon, it is also a question of being able to perform your scales on different music, since in competition, the music is dictated by a DJ. “We all rehearsed what we had planned for the Worlds. Me, I rehearse again and again new sequences so that my body assimilates the movements well. Between us, we make circles, and we give each other advice on the each other. It’s a real plus”, rejoices Dany Dann.

Dany, dressed in a purple tracksuit, rushes forward. “When you swing, ‘tak, tak’, it feels so good”, encourages Omar Remichi, who mimes his onomatopoeia with his body, visibly convinced by Dany’s proposal. “Don’t stop, keep going”, he throws at her in stride in a loud voice above the music.

“I already told you several times, it’s good what you do and you stop”, also points out Omar Remichi to Carlota, just next door, after a few passages. Brown hair tied in a low bun, dressed in black jogging and an ecru T-shirt, she nods. Out of breath after several repetitions, she sits on the floor, readjusts her disheveled bun and takes notes in a small notebook. Details of the movements, the sequences, his notebook is a veritable collection of ideas.

Before September, the breaking activity in France was not federated around a single entity. Her reception at Insep, where she had already completed internships in the past, is therefore a turning point for the young Olympic discipline. This creation of the France pole changes its dimension, with access, in the same way as all Insep athletes, to medical, paramedical, socio-professional follow-up, as well as support for the performance project (logistics, material etc).

“We have had the project since 2019, but the journey has been long. A few months ago, no athlete in the group would have joined”, admits Xavier Fleuriot. The switchover took place in early summer 2022. “What has changed is their view of performance, the acceptance that entering a framework like Insep would be beneficial for their Olympic project, continues Xavier Fleuriot. They also realized the importance of the Games in Paris.”

Around these six athletes, a staff of about ten people has been formed to guide them towards Paris 2024. “It’s amazing to be here. It’s something I never imagined. You feel that discipline is taken seriously, salute Khalil Chabouni. Before our arrival at Insep, I already considered myself a top athlete, but I was managing myself from A to Z. Here, everything is easier because we are accompanied and helped. These are better conditions to progress.”

“I can already see my progress since September, even in terms of sports performance. It’s a real pleasure to be in this work environment, among the French champions, and with a group that has a common goal, the Olympic Games. .”

Dany Dann, b-boy of the France team

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Beyond putting the athletes in better conditions to prepare for the Games, integrating the breaking at Insep is also a way of giving him the recognition he still lacks. “It’s a strong symbol, notes Xavier Fleuriot. At Insep, they rub shoulders with the champions of other sports, and vice versa, which allows them to tame themselves and take their place, to feel legitimate, at a time when there are still doubts from some, even from people that breaking is a ‘real sport'”.

If some doubt it, Khalil Chabouni is not short of answers. “In addition to being athletic, break racing also requires creativity, which is not the case in other sports. It is not enough to know how to do a trick. You have to be able to bring the figure and the jurors into a universe, while keeping its personality.” Before launching a final argument in the form of a challenge: “Let them come and try.”