Session No. 7: Returning after a break, with DOMkey
Lionz of Zion’s b-boy DOMkey has been training to return to the competitive scene for 2024. Here’s what that’s been like.
Let’s talk about a thought that I’m sure crosses many breakers’ minds – “I should get back into the competitive scene.”
Whatever your reasons are, you stopped competing actively, and are suddenly motivated to battle in a competition again. It can be a scary process, questioning if you’re still dancing at a competitive level, and how you should train to get there.
B-boy DOMkey, of the Lionz of Zion crew is getting ready to return to the competitive scene in 2024 – and I was fortunate enough to chat with him about the process.
We talked about why he stopped competing, what’s motivating him to come back, and how he’s preparing for his return. This conversation was edited and condensed for clarity. Thanks for reading!
You started dancing in ‘99 and were competing actively for over a decade at an international level before you stopped. What happened?
It’s not that I got bored, but the motivation just isn’t there. The hardest part is the mentality of it all – Why am I really competing? The motivation I had when I was younger is not there.
When you’re just starting out, you wanna get to that level of “I wanna be known.” You wanna be at that level, and so you’re always pushing to get this recognition, not only from the people you’re competing with, but the people that you grew up watching.
I hit that goal, and I think that mentality of “What do I have to look forward to, what do I benefit from competing,” I have to change my mindset. I just have to switch my mentality to just go out and have a good time with the crew.
What’s the difference between preparing for competitions and just breaking?
Preparing for a competition compared to just breaking is like night and day. It’s a lot more strategy and preparing. There’s a certain conditioning that I do for competitions.
Competitions for me are a game – I know for a fact it’s going to be one to two rounds, all the way up to the final battle, which is going to be between three and five rounds. All I need to do is get a certain number of rounds prepared to go into this competition and hit every category I think of in my head.
If somebody is more power-focused, I have a round that will be slightly power-focused but also add in footwork and blow-ups to show that I can do what he just did but I can easily counter it.
It’s a different mentality, it’s almost like doing drills, in a sense. It’s a mix of actually having a routine versus literally just breaking to break.
For random battles, I’m not practicing anything, I break to break. For competitions, it’s strategy. I know the game and how it works: How many rounds you need to go out, what you’re going to need to throw in each round. So you gotta work on stamina, you need to work on what you’re going to throw out to make sure that it’s going to be clean, and you need to make sure you hit all these categories.
What made you want to return to competition?
One is seeing Isaiah battle again. He was really starting to practice a lot again, and then Mario doing his whole Cypherbreak Discord, talking with everybody got me back to really talking with everyone in the scene.
And I felt like I should test the waters and just compete. I’ve been itching to compete again. It’s always been in the back of my head, but now that my crew is all starting to break again, I guess it was a sign to kick it up again and try to do something.
What’s something that’s changed during your hiatus?
I see a certain structure in breaking right now, and I’m leaning away from it, but I do tend to think about some ideas involving it.
It’s hard to pinpoint, but the structure of competition is a little different today. Let’s say this, for example: During competitions, the music nowadays is very accent-heavy. When I was competing, there was accent music here-and-there, but now the accent of a song is at like every 16th or 8th of a song. There’s going to be horns, or a certain sound that somebody can literally do a halo to handstand and everybody goes crazy for it.
That wasn’t really that big when I was in full competition mode. This is the thing in breaking right now. That’s another part of me, where it’s like, “Do I really want to compete and lose against somebody doing a fucking handstand?”
The only thing I can think of to up it is to play with the accent of a song, which is super basic, and then do something more difficult and original. I’ve thought about it, but when I go to practice this, I don’t feel good doing it. I feel cheesy, and I feel cheap.
What do you wanna say to breakers in your situation – people who’ve taken a long break but wanna come back to competition?
It might sound bad to say, but it’s a good thing to leave for a little bit. You need a breath of fresh air out of the scene for a little bit to clear your head.
Personally, for me, I realized not making breaking a priority was a more enjoyable experience than hustling and stressing out all the time. For people taking a break, see how you feel. If you feel better, then good job. Life is bigger than breaking, it shouldn’t be your entire life.
I was breaking for a living and that was my life. It’s fine and everything, but traveling for 17 years, it comes to a time where you’re like, “Holy shit, I’m burned out” from literally traveling every weekend.
I remember a flight home from China, where the weekend before I was in Japan. Those flights are not easy flights, they’re like 19 hours. I remember doing them, coming back home, and then I went to Taiwan for a month.
While I was in Taiwan, I was like, “What am I really doing this for? I’m not getting paid, b-boys don’t really get paid like that, what’s really benefiting me at this time? Maybe I should take a break.” I got home, I said, “Fuck it,” I didn’t stop breaking, but I got a normal, stable-ass job, and I just settled down from competing.
Personally for me, I realized not making breaking a priority was a more enjoyable experience for me.
For people taking a break, see how you feel. If you feel better, then good job. Life is bigger than breaking.
Only Built 4 Links:
On March 7, a benefit jam in Brooklyn for Gaza. All proceeds will go to the Camps Breakerz crew, which is rebuilding its dance school damaged by bombings.
DOMkey recommended this mixtape from DJ Skeme Richards – it’s not a full breaking mix, but there’s some tracks that are good for just listening, and others that are pretty good practice tracks, he said.
Check out this set of battles between Team USA and Team Japan, whose members consist of all the dancers who are qualified to compete in the 2024 Olympics or are competing for a spot in Paris in summer. This is just the crew battle, but there are also 1-on-1s in the set, like Gravity vs. Hiro 10.
Dr. K gets the dub in Hawaii at the Endless Summer Jam over the weekend:
Heat Rock’s got a hoodie dropping, sale ends on Feb. 28:
If you’ve ever wondered how to throw your own jam, check out this blog post from Break Jam Insight.