Yahoo Finance B-Girl Sunny Choi shares her breakdancing journey from a serious knee injury to the Olympics: 'It’s me locked into music, alone on a stage'
The 2024 Paris Olympics might still be over a year away, but the excitement is already building.
One of the many highlights is that breakdancing will debut as a sport for the first time, with Team USA already assembled and working hard towards earning the gold.
Among them will be Sunny Choi, otherwise known as B-Girl Sunny, whose impressive breakdancing skills have wowed fans for years.
According to Sunny, who lives in Queens, New York, she never imagined this would be her life. She was a dedicated gymnast for 15 years before a knee injury derailed her plans, and a painful surgery led to complications. Ultimately, she quit for good just before heading to college in Philadelphia and says she felt “lost” as to what she should do next.
It wasn’t until she heard about a group that would gather off campus and breakdance late into the night that she had the urge to try something new. After checking it out, Sunny says she was basically “hooked,” even though she initially had a “love/hate relationship” with breaking.
“I’m naturally more reserved and timid,” she told In The Know. “Coming from a conservative background, I had never done anything like that. So I used to sit in the corner and watch everyone else dance. And I hated myself for it. It’s really been a journey of learning who I am and learning how I express myself and learning about what it is that really drives me.”
Eventually, she found her groove — and hasn’t looked back since.
“When I’m dancing, I enter this Zen flow state,” she explained. “It’s me locked into music, alone on a stage, doing whatever my body feels like doing.”
Her breakdancing style may not be for everyone, but she’s determined to do things her own way.
“I dance with a gigantic smile on my face,” Sunny shared. “It’s kind of unassuming, and then I kind of weave in [something] more intricate and dynamic, like blow-ups and tricks in the middle.”
“I’ve been told my entire career that ‘you need to be more aggressive. You need to go out there and like smoke.’ But you know what? This is who I am,” she added.
Now that she’s headed to the Olympics, she can’t wait to showcase her passion on the world stage.
“It’s been a slow journey to get to where I am today, where I really love the dance and also love me,” Sunny shared. “What I would say to the scared and very timid girl who I used to be in the corner is basically, ‘Just be you. Don’t be so hard on yourself because nobody is judging you like you do yourself, and just go out there and do what you love to do.'”
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