Jeff Kaʻimi Naʻauao Wong KSK’08 arrived to morning Piko at Kawaiahaʻo Plaza on Monday, August 1, exhausted and exhilarated – and for good reason. The KS budget and awards analyst in the Financial Aid Department had just returned from Minneapolis where he won the Red Bull BC One Midwest Cypher, earning one of 16 coveted spots in the Red Bull National Final later this month.

A cypher is when breakdancers (known as B-boys and B-girls) gather in a circle and then one after another enter the middle and dance. The Red Bull BC One format consists of three judges presiding over one on one elimination battles until a champion is crowned. Wong, whose B-boy name is Ark, is believed to be the first kānaka ʻōiwi to win at this level. 

Jeff Wong and girlfriend Mylinh Nguyen share an emotional embrace after Wong won the regional breaking competition in Minneapolis. Nguyen was one of eight B-girls in the women’s division of this competition. Photo courtesy: Red Bull BC One

“As a B-boy or B-girl in these battles, you're not in control of the music. You're not in control of the floor. There's no such thing as regulation floor breaking. Sometimes you're on concrete, sometimes you're on wood, sometimes you're on slippery plastic, vinyl. Sometimes you have five feet of space. Sometimes you have a 50-foot stage. You're not in control of what your opponent does in their battle or says to you. Maybe they get in your face, maybe they actually aren't giving you any room to do your moves. You have to make all of these adjustments on the fly,” said Wong.

A large crowd looks on as 16-year-old kānaka ʻōiwi breaker Kaimana "Manabreaks" Domen competes in the Red Bull BC One Midwest Cypher in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy: Red Bull BC One

Wong has been involved in breaking for decades. He’s an original member of 808 Breakers and co-leader of Keiki Breaks where he mentors the next generation of performing artists. After graduating from KS Kapālama, and U.H. Mānoa, he spent more than a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area honing his craft in breaking and hip-hop dance.

To the uninitiated, the connection between hip-hop/breaking and Hawaiian cultural values may seem non-existent. But Wong who is a student of both, says it’s important to consider the origin of hip-hop culture – the impoverished Bronx neighborhood in New York. In fact, the very first hip-hop block party took place there 50 years ago on August 11, 1973.

“A huge reason why hip-hop has such a strong history and strong appeal in Hawaiʻi, is that it grew and evolved in places where there are marginalized and oppressed people. Wherever there's a hood, there's hip-hop.

 “I think we also have to remember that our Hawaiian ancestors were very worldly people. You can’t box people in by their ethnicity in terms of their passions, interests, hobbies and pursuits. And I think that's what makes art in general beautiful. Part of flying out to Minnesota and being a competitor as well as a teacher and crew member and a student to the art form refreshed my perspective and reclamation of space as a Hawaiian in the breaking scene on a global level,” Wong said.

Wong and Keiki Breaks co-director Jack “Hijack” Rabanal, who earned an at-large berth, will represent Hawaiʻi in the national competition on August 25 in Philadelphia. That national winner will earn a berth into the world championship in Paris. That locale is also the host city of the 2024 Olympics where breaking will make its debut as an Olympic competition.

Whether he wins or not, Wong says he’s reached an ironic, but sweet spot in life. After a decades-long career where he lived and breathed hip-hop, his biggest breaking achievement only happened after he started working at Kamehameha Schools and breaking transitioned from profession to passion. 

“The poetry of my path going into this competition is just incredible. I think if anything, it's just living proof that you are at your best when you are relaxed, confident and in a space that you feel like you are the most honest. To do your best,”

Click here to check out a photo gallery and here for a video of Wong in action in Minneapolis.

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