Soopa Jay & Leebee IntervIew by Joe Downes PhotograPhy by anIs alI
After bagging some cheap train tickets, I made my way to the wild wild Southwest for an exclusive interview with the Bonnie and Clyde of the UK breakin’ scene, Soopa Jay & Leebee
Please introduce yourselves sJ: soopa Jay from swindon, I represent scarecrows, rolling like Kingz, UK allstars lb: My name is leebee from Cheltenham and I represent the south west and scarecrows How did you start breakin? sJ: I started dancing in the early 80’s when I was about 6, probably saw rocksteady Crew or something like that on tv, breakin’ and hiphop was massive in the 80’s when it first hit the UK. then it just disappeared for me, but I stayed into dancing because before I’d ever seen hiphop I was into Michael Jackson and James brown and stuff. when I was 6 we had a school disco during thursday breaktime, I think it was 10p to get in, I remember having battles back then but most people could just do the caterpillar but I could already do headspin drills, backspins and run arounds, stuff like that. then around 1990 I saw banxy doing windmills down the link Centre in west swindon and I was like wow, I need to do that! lb: I started bboying in 2004 but I’ve always loved dancing, I just never knew how or where I’d end up doing it. What have been some of the highlights since you started? lb: My highlights been a lot of things really, meeting people travelling around, having the highs and lows that come with bboying or shall I say bgirling sJ: Dancing at UK Champs, our crew’s been to battle of the year, I’ve had lots of good opportunities from breakin’, going to different parts of the world, it’s been dope. back when I started you didn’t get into it to make money or get a career from teaching or doing shows etc. What do you think to the current breakin’ scene in the UK? lb: I think the scene in the UK has changed for me because a lot more styles are coming out and it’s a different vibe but I’m a cypher girl, I’d jam all day in the circles because that’s where my heart is at sJ: It’s good, it’s getting up there, there’s good crews, I can’t knock it, there’s more bboys than ever. Competition wise and things it’s weird, you go to a bboy battle and it’s mainly just bboys that turn up, I think promoters need to do a bit more to build up an audience to come and be a part of it. I don’t think you should have to pay to enter a competition, because really the audience should be the ones paying and the bboys compete and entertain.