Session No. 1: funk dancing for self defense

Welcome to the first edition of Breaking News (letter), my name is Alfred and I’ll be your narrator today. But feel free to read this in whatever voice you’d like.

The current format for each session is an original feature, followed by highlights and recommendations. Thanks for joining for the inaugural issue, and hopefully many more.

Today I'm talking to Retro Flow's Jerry Valme, a recently crowned featherweight champion of Cage Wars and a Red Bull BC One competitor in August.

Valme has been breaking since 2003 and started fighting competitively in 2012. I don't know many other b-boys who have choked a dude out, held up a championship belt and then hit barrelmills in the octagon right after.

I had the opportunity to chat with Valme about balancing breaking and fighting, what it's like to session while cutting weight and what to do with aggressive uprockers.

Our conversation is edited and condensed for clarity. Thanks for reading!

You competed in Red Bull BC One this year and now you're a cage-fighting champion too. How are you balancing this?

At first it was hard to do. When I told my sensei I wanted to fight, he told me I’m going to have to stop dancing.

I didn’t agree with it, but he knows more than I do. So I listened to what he said. But I knew there was a way to do it. You just gotta figure it out.

How'd you figure it out?

Literally just doing it.

Certain things were tough, like you have to listen to your body.

My first fight camp, physically it was so demanding, that when I would go to practice a couple hours after, I could not move. It took me an hour at practice before my body was ready to actually dance.

Eventually it got to a point where I got consistent, so it got easier to go to practice after.

You have to weight cut too, right? How is it doing that and breaking?

When I’m weight cutting, let’s say I do one round. It feels like I did five rounds of dancing.

I’m exhausted physically, and I’m pushing myself to move around in that exhaustion. With fighting, when I’m cutting weight, I’m fine. Dance uses way more energy than fighting.

It’s easy to find moments to breathe in fighting, because it’s just space. I give myself space, and I can survive.

when I went to Rock City, the only thing I could think about was "How do I train and develop my sets to be ready and stay healthy enough for my fight."

So how is it competing in both fighting and breaking?

I don't compete in both categories at the same time anymore.

I did it before, last October.

There was a judo competition, then there was a jiujitsu competition, then it was Rock City in LA, and then my fight.

The judo competition, I underestimated how physically demanding it was going to be and my ankle gave out on one of the techniques.

So I couldn't do the jiujitsu competition, and when I went to Rock City, the only thing I could think about was "How do I train and develop my sets to be ready and stay healthy enough for my fight."

Rock City happened, and I didn't do so well. When you watch the footage, it looks good, but I know my performance.

This is where you start to learn about overuse, and this is why it's important to listen to your body. Learning when to rest is just as important as being physical.

At King of What, you stole an entire battle while the b-boys were staring at each other. What was going through your head when you did that?

Any time DJ Fleg plays music, it gets me ready to rock out. But most of the times when he's playing, I'm stuck in prelims.

I heard the beat, and I'm looking at these dudes like, "Yo, they're really not going to go?" And I didn't want to take the chance with not getting a dope beat for my round. So I look at Dr. K and I said, "Yo, let's run this."

He beat me at Rock City Philly, and that was in the back of my head – and I thought, “I gotta get this round back.”

Who are you trying to get the runback against the most?

Dagget. Dagget, Dagget, Dagget.

We battled at Rock City, I was hurt. He didn’t get to see a real version of me, and I know I can roast him, I know I can beat him.

Who was your favorite person to battle recently?

Illz, man, straight up.

I beat him at King of What, and I beat him at last year’s Armaggedon.

I just remembered every time we went to Buffalo, we would lose to him.

When I finally got to get that round back, I felt really good about it because I’ve been working my butt off. To finally get the opportunity to show him that I’ve been working and I’m better now.

Taking the W was the best feeling ever, because we lost to him more than once in Buffalo.

You've been breaking a while. What do you wish would return to the scene?

Crew battles. I grew up watching Skill Methodz, and now everybody is just a super crew.

The Ruggeds are still around, Hustle Kidz are still around, I’m still in a space where I want to be in a crew that can compete heavy with the big crew names like Jinjo crew, Rivers crew, those dudes.

What do you wish would go away?

You have kids who are watching us, and if you’re constantly cocking, I think that is the No. 1 thing that needs to go away. Do you know where that came from? Do you know the feeling that was behind that originally?

We’re in a space where we have an opportunity to teach kids, it has to be a healthier environment for them in order to have longevity.

Speaking of that – you’re a trained fighter and a high-level b-boy. How do I defend myself in a battle with an aggressive uprocker?

I have my personal bubble. I don’t wanna let anybody cross my bubble. Some people get too close for comfort, some people don’t understand their range, so they might hit you by accident.

If you’re battling me and you’re moving wild and extra crazy, I’m walking side-to-side so I’m never standing in front of you comfortably.

In a fight, if I’m backing up, that’s a bad thing, but in a dance, I’m going to just keep on moving and that personal boundary comes with me.

Let's close on a positive note. What's your favorite thing about the breaking scene?

It’s how free everybody is starting to be. I miss specialties, in terms of people who are really good at a certain thing and they stand out. So for example, when you see b-boy Pop, you know what you’re gonna see.

Everybody’s similar to the point where you can really see the people that are standing out because they’re actively trying to do something different.

There was a moment where I asked, “What can we do new, what can we do differently?” And the new generation is starting to push it more.

Get recc'd:

Last weekend was packed with high-level events, especially at the World Breaking Championship in Belgium.

Check out this short compilation of Kid Karam’s sets in Belgium breaking to three very different beats but ripping it all the same.

The DJ on those sets is DJ Nobunaga, who released a mixtape in June for the World Breaking Classic. Valme said he's been bumping this at sessions:

From the same event, here's Logistx killing the beat by DJ Fleg.

Another clip I'd like to highlight is this exchange between Zeshen and Heatrock from Vans' "In The Circle" 5 v. 5 Presented By Rock Force Crew (With Over $15,000 in Cash and Prizes)*.

*You gotta say the full name, sorry, I don't make the rules.

It's a masterful showcase of footwork, details, and responding in a battle. The MC summed it up best: "That's hip-hop as fuck."

And Valme recommended this clip from Red Bull BC One highlighting Phil Wizard and Lee.

"I thought that was dope because that’s the direction I think breaking looks like it’s transitioning to with the new generation. It’s a hella abstract style," he said.

On deck, we got:

Renegade Rockers 40th Anniversary: Sept. 30, San Francisco

Smoke Sesh 6: Sept. 30, Philadelphia

Street Styles: Oct. 1, Brooklyn

Editor’s note: Hey everyone,

Thanks for reading the pilot edition of Breaking News(letter). I’m Alfred, I’ve been a b-boy since 2007 and a journalist since 2011.

I’ve tried combining these passions in the past – you might have seen a 16-year-old version of me interviewing b-boys for BreakerNYC – but those efforts flamed out when I left the city for college.

Since then I’ve been focusing on my career as a reporter and lurking on the scene in IG groupchats, at practice sessions and of course on the Cypherbreak Discord.

There’s so much happening in the breaking scene that we only get through people’s IG posts or talking about at session and on Discord.

Cyphers become lost to memories, and stories surrounding battles don't always translate over screens. This newsletter is an attempt to document all this and make knowledge more accessible.

If you think something is wack or have ideas on what to improve on, tell me! We all did ugly baby freezes at one point, and had someone in our lives to tell us to fix our form.