Cringy moves and a white b-girl's durag prompt questions about Olympic breaking's authenticity

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Cringy moves and a white b-girl's durag prompt questions about Olympic breaking's authenticity

2024-08-11 00:39 Last Updated At：00:40

PARIS (AP) — From the Australian b-girl with the meme-worthy “kangaroo” dance move to the silver-medal winning Lithuanian in a durag, breaking's Olympic debut had a few moments that raised questions from viewers about whether the essence of the hip-hop art form was captured at the Paris Games.

Rachael Gunn, or “b-girl Raygun," a 36-year-old professor from Sydney, Australia, quickly achieved internet fame, but not necessarily for Olympic-level skill. Competing against some b-girls half her age, she was swept out of the round-robin stage without earning a single point, and her unconventional moves landed flat while failing to match the skill level of her foes.

At one point, Gunn raised one leg while standing and leaned back with her arms bent toward her ears. At another, while laying on her side, she reached for her toes, flipped over and did it again in a move dubbed “the kangaroo.”

Gunn has a Ph.D. in cultural studies, and her LinkedIn page notes she is “interested in the cultural politics of breaking."

“I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best — their power moves,” said Gunn. “What I bring is creativity.”

Clips of her routine have gone viral on TikTok and elsewhere, and many cringed at her moves platformed on the Olympic stage as a representation of hip-hop and breaking culture.

“It's almost like they are mocking the genre,” wrote one user on X.

Many Black viewers, in particular, called out Lithuania’s silver medalist b-girl Nicka, (legally named Dominika Banevič) for donning a durag during each of her battles. Durags, once worn by enslaved Africans to tie up their hair for work, are still worn by Black people to protect and style their hair. They became a fashionable symbol of Black pride in the 1960s and 1970s and, in the 1990s and early 2000s, also became a popular element of hip-hop style. But when worn by those who aren’t Black, durags can be seen as cultural appropriation. Banevič is white.

Actor Kevin Fredericks responded on Instagram to Banevič donning the headwear by saying it looked “weird to see somebody who don’t need it for protective style or waves to be rocking the durag.”

The 17-year-old breaker ultimately won the silver medal after losing in the final to Japan's b-girl Ami (Ami Yuasa).

For her part, Banevič has credited the breakers from the 1970s in the Bronx — the OGs — or “original gangsters” in hip-hop who created the dance — for her own success and breaking style.

“It’s a huge responsibility to represent and raise the bar every time for breaking because they did an amazing job. Big respect for the OGs and the pioneers that invented all those moves. Without them, it wouldn’t be possible," she said. “Without them, breaking wouldn't be where it is today. So I'm grateful for them.”

Friday night’s slips “may have alienated too many new viewers to garner the anticipated response from our Olympic premiere,” said Zack Slusser, vice president of Breaking for Gold USA and USA Dance, in a text message to the Associated Press.

“We need to change the narrative from yesterday’s first impression of breaking as Olympic sport. There were significant organizational and governance shortcomings that could have been easily reconciled but, unfortunately, negatively impacted Breaking’s first touching point to a new global audience.”

The challenge for Olympic organizers was to bring breaking and hip-hop culture to a mass audience, including many viewers who were skeptical about the dance form’s addition to the Olympic roster. Others feared the subculture being co-opted by officials, commercialized and put through a rigid judging structure, when the spirit of breaking has been rooted in local communities, centered around street battles, cyphers and block parties. Hip-hop was born as a youth culture within Black and brown communities in the Bronx as a way to escape strife and socio-economic struggles and make a statement of empowerment at a time when they were labeled as lost, lawless kids by New York politicians.

Refugee breaker Manizha Talash, or “b-girl Talash,” channeled that rebellious vibe by donning a “Free Afghan Women” cape during her pre-qualifier battle — a defiant and personal statement for a 21-year-old who fled her native Afghanistan to escape Taliban rule. Talash was quickly disqualified for violating the Olympics' ban on political statements on the field of play.

Both American b-girls were eliminated in Friday’s round-robin phase, a blow to the country representing the birthplace of hip-hop in what could be the discipline’s only Games appearance. B-girl Logistx (legal name Logan Edra) and b-girl Sunny (Sunny Choi) both ranked in the top 12 internationally but came up short of the quarterfinals.

“Breaking for the Olympics has changed the way that some people are dancing,” said Choi, referring to some of the flashier moves and jam-packed routines. "Breaking changes over time. And maybe I’m just old-school and I don’t want to change. ... I think a lot of people in our community were a little bit afraid of that happening.”

The b-boys take the stage on Saturday to give Olympic breaking another chance at representing the culture.

Associated Press Race & Ethnicity Editor Aaron Morrison contributed to this report from New York.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Tourists can finally visit the Oval Office. A replica is opening near the White House on Monday

2024-09-20 20:45 Last Updated At：20:50

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington is getting a new tourist stop that offers visitors the next best thing to being in the Oval Office: an identical replica of President Joe Biden 's office, right down to his desk, the armchairs in front of the fireplace and the weathered family Bible resting on a side table.

And when Biden's successor takes office next year, the full-scale replica Oval Office at “ The People's House: A White House Experience " will be redecorated to look exactly like the new president's office, said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, which is opening the doors of its technology-driven education center to the public on Monday.

A separate space in the center called the “Immersive Theater” uses technology to transform into some of the more notable rooms in the White House every five minutes.

“A terrific thing about this Oval Office, unlike the current Oval Office, is if you’re visiting us you can come and you can sit in this chair and be the president of the United States," McLaurin said, talking about the desk chair as he led The Associated Press on a tour of the center before Monday's opening.

Few people ever set foot in the Oval Office. It is not on the White House public tour route. But at “The People’s House,” not only will visitors get to see what one of the most famous offices in the world looks like, they can experience it, too.

“You can take a call from Mr. Putin or anybody you’d like to receive a call from, have your photo taken there,” McLaurin said. "You can sit on the sofas or in the president's chair as you’ve visualized him sitting there and you see him on the news talking with a visitor or a head of state. You can do the same thing right there in front of the fireplace.”

The wallpaper, draperies, rug, furniture, paintings and other artwork are exact replicas of the furnishings as they are currently in the Oval Office. The plan is to change the decor with each future president.

“It is exactly like President Biden's, exactly,” McLaurin said. “Even the family Bible with the weathered elements are duplicated.”

Except for the “digital column” in the center of the room that shows visitors how the physical office has evolved throughout the presidency. It also turns into a mirror so visitors can see themselves standing in the Oval Office.

Technology is also used to transform the “Immersive Theater” every five minutes into each of the five rooms on the White House State Floor: the East Room, the Red, Blue and Green Rooms, and the State Dining Room. Images on the walls in each room were chosen by the association's historians. Visitors can touch the walls to unlock information about the art, furniture or other history that happened there.

"We want people to feel they are in that room of the White House,” McLaurin said.

Leaving the theater, visitors will walk to the replica Oval Office along a stone path resembling the White House colonnade with a view of art made to represent the Rose Garden.

Another exhibit shows how presidents use the White House for work, family and social functions. Visitors can attend Cabinet meetings and vote on a course of action for the president, sit at a table set as it would be for a state dinner to learn how presidents use these glitzy events to conduct diplomacy, or settle into a seat in the family movie theater.

In a separate gallery, the head groundskeeper, florist, lead military aide and chief usher are among White House staff members featured on video explaining what they do.

After entering the education center, visitors will come upon a large model of the south side of the White House, listen to an audio greeting from first lady Jill Biden and watch an orientation film narrated by Martin Sheen, who played a president on television's “The West Wing.”

The back side of the model looks like a dollhouse, exposing cutaways of the ground, state and residence floor rooms. Visitors can tap electronic kiosks to learn more about the rooms.

The education center covers three floors of an office building at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., one block from the White House. Technology is used throughout to help teach the history of the executive mansion, the presidents and the families who have lived there, and the staff whose work keeps it functioning in its multiples roles as a workplace, a residence and a museum.

McLaurin said the center was designed to be an enhancement to the White House public tour, not a replacement. But with White House tour tickets hard to get, he expects “the vast majority of the people who have the opportunity to visit here will not have the privilege to visit the White House itself.”

Jill Biden visited twice during construction and has planned an event on the White House lawn on Saturday to celebrate next week's opening.

“This new immersive education center will take visitors on an incredible journey using technology and innovation to bring White House history to life,” said the first lady, a community college professor. “Especially as an educator, I'm so excited to see it opening to the public.”

Admission is free, but visitors must request timed tickets. The association is planning for 800 visitors every day, with most staying a little over an hour.

The association raised $60 million for construction and initial operating costs, and is working to build a $50 million endowment to sustain operations, McLaurin said.

The White House Historical Association was created in 1961 by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to help preserve the museum quality of the interior of the White House and educate the public. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that receives no government funding. It raises money mostly through private donations and merchandise sales, including an annual Christmas ornament.