Victor Montalvo is one of the world’s best breakers. Known as B-Boy Victor, the Mexican-American breaker just competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where breaking was making its debut. He ended up winning bronze for Team USA, while Team Canada’s B-Boy Phil Wizard won gold, and Team France’s B-Boy Dany Dann won silver. Hailing from Florida, his journey to Paris started when he was a kid.
Speaking to Remezcla, he told us that it was his dad and twin brother that got him into breaking. “I got started with breaking because of my dad and his twin brother. They learned breaking back in Mexico in the early 1980s. They were inspired by Beat Street.” The American dance drama film Beat Street debuted in 1984 and told the story of a story of a group of friends from the South Bronx who were devoted to breakdancing, now known as breaking.
Montalvo went on to say, “They taught me at the age of six. My brother, older brother, and my cousin. They were both around the age 11 and this was in 2000.” And when his parents found out that Victor was going to his very first Olympics to represent something the family loved, their reaction was one of joy. “My parents’ reaction was like any other parent, like, wow, you’re going into the Olympics, you’re representing us, you’re representing our culture, you’re representing Team USA.”
This isn’t the first time that Montalvo has been on a world stage when it comes to breaking. He’s the two-time Red Bull BC One World Champion. But that’s catered to breakers exclusively. The Olympics offers an opportunity to bring breaking to people who have never experienced it. “With the Olympics, it’s like we’re reaching an audience that has never seen breaking. We’re reaching millions of people.”
He also understands that breaking might not be for everyone or that some aspects of breaking might get negative feedback. (If you watched the 2024 Paris Olympics, you know what I’m talking about.) But there’s also the positive feedback that comes from it all aka breaking misconceptions when it comes to the dance form and realizing how “physically demanding it is.” It’s not just “dancing on a cardboard floor. We’re not back in the 1980’s. We have well-designed floors for breakers.”
As for what’s next for Montalvo now that he’s conquered the Red Bull BC One World stage and the Olympics, he wants to enjoy his time and “have fun and keep on dancing. But for the love of it.” He’s also done with one-on-one individual battles. “I want to stick more to team battles and yeah, hopefully there’s a newer generation that enjoys breaking.” And he’s hoping that they listen to his words and take to heart that breaking “is an art form.”
“You get to express yourself however you want. You get to bring your own imagination into the dance, bringing maybe cartoon characters or whatever you’re inspired from, bringing it alive in your dance,” he explained, before adding, “And you don’t need much. You just need yourself in the dance floor. And it’s a really positive art form, a really positive sport. It keeps you fit, keeps you fit, it keeps you strong.”
And no matter how far he goes or what world stage he conquers, his dad will always keep him humbled and remind him of where this love for breaking all started from. “He still tries to show off in front of my friends, or when we have a TV crew come and show up, he’s like, “Yeah, I still got it. I taught him. Look.” And then he’ll bust out a little backspin. He’s like, hold my beer real quick, and then bust out a little backspin on his little cardboard floor, which is cool to see.”
Watch Victor Montalvo win the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics here.
