All the athletes who entered the national team’s athletes’ village in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, gathered at 6 a.m. for joint gymnastics. It was to ensure that the Taegeuk mark had a sense of pride, belonging, and responsibility. There are players who take on the role of “mood maker” in the quiet early morning. They are “dancers” participating in breaking, which was first adopted as an official event at the Hangzhou Asian Games (AG).
Kim Heon-woo (36) said, “There is an expert teacher who leads gymnastics in front of me. However, the players around me induce me to “go to the front and do it.” “I can’t play around (by showing my breaking skills), but I shake my body little by little (at early dawn) to raise the mood,” he said.
Kim Heon-woo, who awakened Jincheon’s morning, is preparing to write a new history of Korean breaking at Hangzhou AG. Breaking, which was born in New York in the 1970s, is a high-level dance that shakes its body to the hip-hop beat.
Kim Heon-woo passed the tournament’s breaking preliminary round held at the Archer Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, in the afternoon of the 6th. The final will be held at 9:20 Korean time.
He is a legend of the non-bio world. He has won more than 100 breaking competitions in his career. In 2008, she reached the top of the Red Bull BC One Final, considered the most prestigious international competition in breaking. He is currently the artistic director of the B-boy (men’s breaking player) team “Jinjo Crew”, and joined Hangzhou AG as a founding member when the Seoul Metropolitan Government created a breaking team ahead of next year’s Paris Olympics.
Kim Heon-woo’s name is Wing. It was made in the sense of “I want to dance freely like I have wings.” His breakings have original details in their flamboyant techniques. That’s why he’s considered the best in the world. 슬롯머신
Kim Heon-woo started dancing in 1999 when he was 12 years old. He was greatly influenced by Kim Heon-joon (Director Jinjo Crew, Skim), the elder brother of two-year-old Tuul. He also swept all five major breaking competitions in the world with Kim Heon-woo and Jin Jo-ru. Still, Kim Heon-woo said, “I’m a rookie (in the national team) in my first year. Unlike other players who entered Jincheon, he introduced himself as a completely new player. This is because it is the first time to wear the Taegeuk mark in an international sports competition, although it has shown brilliant techniques on stages around the world.
Breaking will be introduced as an official event at the 2024 Paris Olympics following Hangzhou AG. Kim Hyun-woo said, “I never expected to become a national team member as a ‘sports player’. However, so far, he has performed on the stage with the mindset of competing on behalf of Korea as a ‘dancer’. “Isn’t Korea a B-boy and breaking powerhouse?” he said. “We will go out to prove this in international sports competitions.” “I get energy and inspiration from athletes in other sports through my life in the athletes’ village,” he said.
Originality is important in breaking. Kim Heon-woo’s signature moves are Wingmill and Two Thousand (2000). Wing Mill is a technology developed by Kim Heon-woo by transforming Windmill into his own style. If the existing windmill is a technique in which shoulders and back are placed on the floor, lifting legs and circling, Kim Heon-woo continues to rotate his entire body alternately, such as shoulders, back, top of his head and arms, while crouching heavily. Kim Heon-woo’s Two Thousand is strong in terms of fast speed and a lot of rotation.
Kim Heon-woo originally planned to participate in the World Breaking Championships to check his skills and condition. However, he decided to hide his weapons and focus on AG.
According to the World Dance Sports Federation (WDSF), Kim Heon-woo is ranked seventh in the world. He is not ranked high for his reputation and skill. This is because he did not participate in many competitions according to his conditioning and competition strategy. At the WDSF Asian Breaking Championships in Hangzhou in July, he won a gold medal and gained confidence. Kim Heon-woo said, “The Japanese player’s skills are also good. Recently, Chinese players have grown very fast and scary as they prepare for AG, he said.
Breaking is a one-on-one battle method in which you compete by showing dance moves alternately for 60 seconds on music that flows randomly from 8m stages, horizontal and vertical, respectively. The winner is determined through scoring, including the technical skills, expressiveness, originality, and performance of the judges (9 people). Veteran Kim Heon-woo’s strength is his rich experience of reading the flow and being good at change. He said, “Breaking is performed to the music provided by DJ at random, and the flow is also important here. “It is necessary to suddenly remove or add my skills while competing with the other person,” he said.
Kim Heon-woo, the breadwinner of one son and two daughters, aims for the “Golden Grand Slam” until next year’s Olympics with this AG. Kim Heon-woo said, “The fact that I danced until the end will mean that I have reached the medal table. Korea’s breaking is so good. In addition, it is expected to receive a lot of attention as it was first adopted as an official Olympic event, he said. “Breaking includes an entertainer personality.” I want to come back with a strong image by showing a performance that will be remembered by everyone,” he said with a smile.
