Some time ago, the Mongkok Pedestrian Precinct was a paradise for many dreamers. The protagonist of this feature article, B-Girl Lady Little (陳嘉怡), went there with her teammates 10 years ago in order to raise funds for their trip to Europe, and the memories of her youthful enthusiasm are still endless.

Breaking Lesson Begins with a Misunderstanding

B-girl Lady Little, who is 1.55 meters tall, began learning breaking by mistake. In her second year of secondary school, the school required every student to take an interest class, and she chose a dancing class. However, when she entered the classroom, she was shocked to see a male student doing a handstand breaking move, and she had the urge to quit the class immediately. "I really thought about it, but I never imagined it would be a breaking class. To be honest, I resisted it at first, firstly because there were too many males and too few females in the class, and secondly because it was difficult to see the breaking movements, but after enrolling, I had to go to the class for one school year and could not withdraw from it, so I could only go back to the school on Saturdays to attend the class," said Lady Little. Soon after taking the class, Lady Little's "winning" attitude soon overrode her "last resort" mentality, and breaking slowly became a part of her life. She remembers that the process was full of a sense of success, which made her love it: "At the beginning, my hands and feet were not well-coordinated, and my learning process was slower than that of others, who could learn a freeze move within one session, but I had to learn it in three sessions. I've had a strong ambition since I was a kid, and when I saw my male classmates do it, I thought I could do it too. So I kept on studying and kept on dancing until now." 

Unforgettable Mongkok Street Dance to Raise Funds 

The breaking instructor of the school's interest class (from Youth Outreach in Sai Wan Ho) invited Lady Little and a group of like-minded secondary school students to form a breaking troupe called Horizon in 2013, which took part in competitions and public performances from time to time. One of the most unforgettable occasions was when a total of 10 members of the troupe went to Mongkok Pedestrian Precinct to raise money for travel expenses for the purpose of going to Europe to observe the competition, and their wish eventually came true. Lady Little said, "We were still secondary school students at the time and we didn't have the financial means, so we went there to do breaking performances every weekend and during holidays for three to four months. At that time, we met a lot of enthusiastic people who were very supportive when they saw us as a group of young people who were pursuing our dreams; finally, we raised enough funds. We went to Europe for a few months, visited several European countries, exchanged ideas and competed with European B-Boys and B-Girls that we usually only see on the Internet, it was like dreaming, it's very unforgettable."

Having represented Hong Kong at the Hangzhou Asian Games and a series of Olympic qualifying competitions, the turning point was the Hong Kong Team Trials held by a different organization in 2021. Lady Little, who won the championship in the first leg, believed that she is short in stature though, she is well-known for her original moves. "In fact, at the beginning, I only signed up for the Trials for fun, without thinking too much about competing in the Olympics in Paris, but after I won the first competition, I wanted to move on and see how far I could go.” 

Learning Breaking since younger age marks a good trend 

Lady Little, who is now a healthcare professional, also thinks that after breaking becoming a competition event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, many people are getting more positive about breaking in recent years, and that the street image that people used to have has gradually changed and gained people’s understanding. Lady Little also said: "Breaking in the Olympics is a good thing, parents are more likely to accept it as a sport; recently, more and more parents bring their children to learn breaking, which is a very good trend.”

Lady Little, who finished with 16th place in B-girl category at the Hangzhou Asian Games in early October, is looking forward to the final leg of the “WDSF Breaking for Gold World Series – Hong Kong 2023” to be held at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai in mid-December, and is hoping that Hong Kong people will show their support and cheer on Hong Kong athletes, and she will be putting in her best efforts to compete in each battle.

WDSF Breaking for Gold World Series – Hong Kong 2023

Date:15-16 December 2023

Venue:Queen Elizabeth Stadium Arena, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Tickets:Free Admission（Please visit www.dancesport.org.hk for more details）

*Recognised as an "M" Mark event by the Major Sports Events Committee .