The first breakdancer to qualify to represent Team USA at the Paris Olympics became a two-time world champion after he dropped out of high school to pursue the sport.
Victor Montalvo, also known as B-Boy Victor, is one of four dancers representing the USA as breaking, commonly referred to as break dancing, makes its Olympic debut.
Montalvo, 30, started dancing when he six years old, but fully committed to his craft when he left school at the age of 17 to dance professionally.
‘I started getting opportunities to fly out of the country to Europe, to Asia to Latin America, and I ended up taking those opportunities,’ he told DailyMail.com of his decision to drop out. ‘My family didn’t like that.’
The dancer, known for his signature self-titled move the Supa Montalvo, became a two-time world champion in 2022, which secured his spot on the Olympic team.
He, alongside other Team USA dancers, will compete in solo dance battles as they aim to bring home the gold medal.
Montalvo fell in love with braking ‘naturally’ at the age of six, the Kissimmee, Florida native told DailyMail.com during an interview last week.
‘My dad and his twin brother used to be breakers back in Mexico. They did it for a couple years, before they moved to the US for a better life,’ he explained.
He said the pair introduced him to the artform almost by happenstance while he was was watching Beat Street, a 1984 film about breaking, with his brother and cousin.
‘My dad and my uncle were just like, “Oh, we used to do that back in the days” and we’re like, “Yeah, you’re lying, whatever”,’ he recalled.
‘They go into their rooms, put on hoodies, come out and they start busting out windmills, head spins, and we’re like, “Oh, my God, wow, they weren’t lying”.’
The dancer said the experience ‘was just so exciting’ and fueled his initial interest in the sport. However, he was ‘really young’ and ended up taking a break from dancing for roughly four years.
He picked the sport back up when he was ten, which he credits to his cousin. He told DailyMail.com: ‘My cousin got back into it. He was the one to teach me and reintroduce me to breaking – and that’s when I just like, fell in love with it.’
Montalvo got into the ‘competitive world of breaking’ four years later after a dancer friend invited him and his cousin to a contest in their hometown.
He continued to compete and was becoming so successful that he decided to give everything he had to the sport.
‘I never had a backup plan,’ Montalvo said of his career. ‘I dropped out of high school at around 11th grade because I became famous in the breaking community at the age of 17.
He shared that his family was skeptical at first, but says his father’s support never wavered.
‘My dad was the only one that supported me. He was like “Victor okay, you love this dance. Go and fly out, go enjoy yourself go to these events”… and I never looked back.’
Montalvo says his family is now incredibly supportive of his career and has even seen him dance live at a competition – which he won and was ‘one of the best moments in my breaking career’.
He has invited his cousin to join him in Paris as he competes during the Olympics.
‘My cousin, the one that taught me breaking, and his wife are coming,’ he said. ‘I’m super excited for that. It’s just so awesome for him to come because he’s been there since the beginning, since like my first breaking days at the age of six years old. Then he reintroduced me to breaking, and now he’s gonna watch me at the Olympics.’
Breaking was declared an Olympic sport in 2020, four years before it would be making its official debut on the global stage.
Montalvo earned his spot on Team USA last September after beating out Canadian dancer Philip Kim, known as B-Boy Phil Wizard, during the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) World Championship in Belgium.
‘My proudest moment, I feel like is winning worlds, making it into the Olympics, and just like being able to showcase my dance, my sport, an art form that is amazing,’ he said.
‘You don’t need much to do it, just to dance floor, self expression and music. So for me, that’s been my proudest moment and now I’m representing hip hop culture, breaking culture.’
He had previously placed first at the World Breaking Championships in Paris in 2021, but said he was ‘pretty upset’ after learning that the competition ‘didn’t count towards the Olympics’.
But the setback didn’t hold him back and he instead went on to win the Red Bull BC One World Championship in 2022 and the WDSF competition in 2023.
He also said that every mistake he has made and challenge he has faced in his career so far has helped prepare him for the Olympics.
‘In breaking, you lose more than you win,’ he said of his failures. ‘I’ve had a ton, you know, but I honestly just learned from them.
‘Last year, around this same time, I was training so hard. I was in physical peak shape, but I just wasn’t mentally there – and I remember just losing to myself.’
He explained how he was ‘just so tense’ and focused on winning that he wasn’t allowing himself to the time to do things he enjoyed – and unfortunately, it reflected in his performance at competitions.
‘I can’t do this. I have to compete. I can’t do that because I have to compete. I can’t walk around because then I’m going to fatigue my legs,’ Montalvo said, sharing the thoughts that used to flood his mind. ‘It’s like, “guy relax, like have a good time”.
‘From that moment on, I understood that I have to have fun. I have to enjoy myself. I have to enjoy the process.
‘So I know at the Olympics, I’m going to enjoy myself. I’m going to have fun with everyone. I’m not going to take it too serious. Of course, I’m going to be there to win, but it’s all mental. I’m physically ready – but mentally, I need to be ready and enjoy myself.’
While he considers qualifying for the Olympics to be his proudest moment, Montalvo describes his first victory at the Red Bull BC One World Championship in 2015 as his ‘most important’ win.
The 2015 competition marked the first time he won a world final and saw him honor his father, who was also a break dancer, by giving him his championship belt.
To Montalvo, style and personality are what matter the most in breaking, which is why he blends old-school moves with new, and unique styles.
He creates his choreography himself, but says a lot of his most popular moves were improvised ‘in the moment’.
‘My process is just dancing, being in the moment, and most of my signatures that I came up with were just on the spot,’ he explained
‘I’m more of a dancer that likes to have feeling, so nothing is premeditated. For me, it’s just freestyle improvise and from there, I just create my own concepts and come up with new signatures.’
However, the dancer revealed that during competitions ‘you can’t really freestyle’ because you’ll ‘end up like not knowing what to do after a couple rounds’ – so having signature moves and a prepared set is ‘really important’.
‘I try to adapt both both criteria together, so I like to have my signatures, but also be able to improvise in between or excite myself and the crowd and be unpredictable,’ he said of his process.
He also explained that because dancers do not pick their own music, but instead dance to a playlist selected by the competition’s DJ, that ‘you have to adapt to what they’re playing’.
‘That’s the hardest part about us. Because music is key. Music is what makes us dance, is what we need as dancers and you just really have to be able to adapt in the moment,’ he said.
‘Every DJ has their own type of style and don’t know the setlist Sometimes they might have something new and we just don’t know what that song is. And sometimes they might not have something new something that you recognize. So it’s all about like just being in the moment and adapting.
‘It’s tough for us, but we learn throughout the battles how to adapt to it.’
Montalvo will represent Team USA in Paris this July, when breaking makes its Olympic debut. Until then, he is spending his days prepping for the competition on a rigid schedule.
His day kicks off with breakfast, followed by strength training and conditioning at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center.
He then rests before going into his breaking training in the evening which he says involves ‘getting creative or practicing stamina, or doing drills’.
After the Paris Games, Montalvo will then prepare for appearance at this year’s Red Bull BC One World Championship – which is being held in December in Brazil – and is hoping to win the contest for the third time in a row.
Asked if he had any advice for dancers who aspire to have a successful career in breaking, Montalvo said: ‘Just stay consistent. Do the dance for the love, don’t do it for the competition.
‘The competition comes second, do it for the love, create your own fingerprint in whatever you’re doing. And don’t take the losses personal, learn from your losses. It happens to everyone we all start somewhere, so just stay consistent.’