Eric Devellerez - Break Dancer

Dancer! Actor – Specialist Performer

Growing up

Growing up in Armadale Western Australia, Eric found his passion for dancing at the tender age of 7, while watching his older cousin’s dance. Growing up in a   hip-hop environment, they influenced him into break dancing where he performed at PCYC discos and family functions. Progressing into high school Eric started to perform power moves consisting of head spins, flares and windmills.

After completing his HSC, Eric pursued his love for dance.  “I knew that B-boying and dancing was what I was meant to do” His big break came as one of the supporting acts for L.A based rap star Snoop Doggy Dog.  From there he appeared in numerous film and TV productions and went on to perform as a support act for such other popular artists as Public Enemy, Run DMC & Beastie Boys. Eric also toured around Australia performing workshops with various groups as well as teaching students between the ages of 8-35 years.  After moving to Sydney 3 years ago, Eric has been studying with the renowned choreographer, Dario who specialises in Hip Hop and Street Funk Style dancing.

How it all started

"Break dancing" all started with James Brown and the explosion of his hit song "The Good Foot" in the 1960's. During his on stage performance, he got to the ground with some footwork for a couple of short seconds, which at that time wowed the crowd. After that, people started going to the floor for longer periods of time with their own unique blends of style. What encouraged the growth of this new dance was the new way DJ's were spinning their records. They would only play the breakdown of the record, or the part of the record where there are no lyrics, just "break" beats. Since kids started diving toward the ground for the break beats, they got the name "break boys" which later became "b-boys". Many people also started calling this new craze break dancing. The world famous Rock Steady Crew, are legendary when it comes to break dancing, they incorporated many more acrobatic moves, like the windmill from Chinese martial arts, the swipe from Capoeira (a Brazilian martial art) and the flare from gymnastics, with the style of the original "breaking" and created something that has to this day not died out.  Hip-Hop is a culture based on style and creativity. Break dancing has been a major element of the Hip-Hop culture. From the beginning, breakers have displayed mind blowing acrobatics. In addition to displaying such stunts, break dancing also encompasses the many of the laws of physics. With every kick, twist, and spin, physics has played a major role.

Eric Devellerez