Hi all, this is the first in my series of interviews / portrait sessions with my portrait subjects. I plan for this to be a regular feature on the blog, so come back to check out more periodically. Thanks!

1. Who are you and what is your bboy name?

What’s up Peter and thanks for the interview. My name is Ebun Omoni and I’m a 27 year old techie, teacher and b-boy currently residing in Iwate, Japan. My b-boy name, Boon, is an abbreviation of my name which is pronounced “eh-boon”. People started calling me that in college and I’ve been using it ever since.

2. How long have you been dancing and why do you dance?

I first started dancing in 1998 but it wasn’t until 2007 that I really started to build a deeper connection to breaking. Before then, it was more of a fun, occasionally stress-relieving activity and workout to me. But after an evening of therapeutic breaking in 2007, Misa—a dope bgirl from Austin—remarked “You needed that floor tonight”. I had pushed myself harder that night and those 5 words made me question why. In that moment, I realized that breaking was a means for me to truly open up and express myself unapologetically. I can’t lie when I lose myself in the music and there are few ways for me to be so shamelessly honest. I continue to dance for that reason.

3. If you had to describe bboying to someone who had never heard of it before in less than 10 words, what would you say?
It’s the art of full body musical call and response.

4. What have you learned from all of your years of dancing?
I’ve learned a lot but the biggest thing is that music is an important part of life. I feel like our bodies crave music and that dancing is really just a natural reaction to it. I don’t like it when people say they can’t dance. We all have rhythm at our core. It just sometimes takes time to dig inside and find it.

5. You once started regular bboy practices at a corporate 9-5 sort of office. How did that go?
That was a pretty interesting experience. It came together quite well but a lot of it had to do with the circumstances.

First, I had been working at a San Francisco-based startup company at the time so the “sort of office” part is spot-on. Startup companies tend to have flexible working environments so they allow pretty much anything as long as you get your work done. And since they had an extremely danceable kitchen floor, I proposed weekly breaking practices there.

Second were the people. Another great thing about startups is the type of talent they attract. Out of the 100 or so people using that office, 5 were already into breaking. So we would break after work and occasionally take “break breaks” during the day. It was a pretty cool ordeal and the company even mentioned it in job listings for a while.

The last factor was that our office was in the same building as a 24-Hour Fitness gym. We moved practice there because we all had a heavily discounted group membership and the gym had a general purpose room with an even nicer floor, lots of space and mirrors. And as luck would have it, one of the guys who worked there was also a b-boy. He started practicing with us and hooked up the room’s sound system for our music.

Had any of these contributing factors been different, it definitely would not have worked out as well. We ended up forming a crew and practiced together at least 2 times a week. We’d also occasionally go to area b-boy practice spots and clubs around San Francisco and Berkeley. Through it all, we ended up meeting some of the Renegades Crew and learned a lot from b-boys Wicket and Iron Monkey. And even though I’m no longer there, the rest of the crew is still going strong.

6. You are now in Japan teaching English and still consistently dancing out there. What can you tell me about the dance scene in Japan and was it easy to communicate with other dancers without knowing the language?

Japan has a vibrant breaking scene and I run into bboys and bgirls nearly everywhere I go. For example, on my second day here, I had an impromptu session with some bboys who were practicing outside of a mall near my hotel. Though my Japanese is horrible and very few of the ones I’ve met speak English, we always manage to communicate through our common dance. Rhythm and movement replace nouns and verbs. It’s amazing to be able to connect despite the language barrier.

It’s also fascinating to see breaking in a culture that’s so different from America. Breakdancing started in the States and its inherent ideas are somewhat aligned with U.S. culture. In Japan, however, those ideas—individuality, ego, being distinct—are seen as “Western” and are traditionally frowned upon. There is sometimes a notable difference in breakers attitudes when compared to the rest of Japanese Society though they usually leave their swagger on the dance floor. But the longer you break, the more breaking becomes a part of you so I don’t think they can keep it separate forever.

7. Any final words on bboying?

I’m glad that bboying is once again gaining traction, that bboys are winning nationally syndicated dance shows and that there are $50,000 breaking competitions. But I’m also of the mind that there is absolutely NOTHING better in the breaking world than a cypher. There’s a pure, harmonious energy generated in cyphers and it’s uplifting to be a part of it. Whether you’re new to breaking or have been at it for years, don’t forget to get down in cyphers!.

In January of 2009, I participated in a Strobist photo shoot at the Go Dance Studio in Austin, Texas and had the pleasure of meeting a whole bunch of talented dancers. The Go Dance studio had beautiful bluish green walls that made the perfect backdrop for my studio portraits. I shot more than a dozen dancers over the course of a few hours and I had a blast.

I have been shooting breakdancers for years, so I was excited to capture that same excitement and sense of motion in a different form of dance. Both groups of dancers are passionate about what they and their love comes through in their body language and expressions express that while in the photos.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the photos.
-Peter

Dance partners and couple Favian and Jennifer meet after a spin

Lorenzo brings Monica out of a dip so that I could capture the motion of salsa dance

David and Barbara pull off an acrobatic sweep move

Monique and Johnny, a couple and dance partners

Pearl, a hip hop dancer striking a pose for the camera

Amanda, a dance instructor at Go Dance Studio

Jason, a salsa dancer

Jason and Aleth, salsa dance partners from San Antonio

About a year ago, I photographed the martial arts group Cry Havok in their practice space in Austin Texas. These guys are Martial Arts action choreography experts, using a variety of weapons and hand to hand combat techniques. While they look pretty intimidating, these guys were really cool to work with and they seemed like cool dudes. Check them out in action here – it’s crazy! http://sg.video.yahoo.com/watch/195554/1191682

Stick Fighting in Motion

Jump Kick – Bruce Lee Style

Martial Arts Weapons