meeting with Abdel Chouari, four-time breakdance world champion
Quadruple world champion, multiple French champion, founder of the First breakdance school in France… Abdel Chouari has quite a track record. Aged 37, this Columérin is one of the best breakdancers of his generation. The Independent Opinion the encounter.
A “classic” youth
Abdel Chouari was born in Toulouse in December 1984. Coming from a modest family, he grew up in Colomiers, more precisely in the Val d’Aran district. “I have always been immersed in the sporting world, I started playing footwork very early and at a rather good level until the age of 14/15,” he explains. If he describes a “classic but very effective in sport” youth, Abdel Chouari’s life took a turn that will be decisive at the age of 12.
My cousin was a breakdancer. The ‘elders’ danced near the place of the Colomiers swimming pool basin. Once he told me to come. I added a lot and finally I came every Sunday. I was one of the youngest”, recalls the dancer.
“Breakdance outings” which are necessary: if the little boy can take football lessons, it is not so for dancing. “At the time, there was no breakdance school, everything happened through transmission,” he says. Hip-hop culture is then linked to working-class neighborhoods, but his family does not try to dissuade him. “I’ve always had confidence because I was well surrounded. The greats who accompanied us are still friends today and I’ve never been someone who did stupid things. I knew what I wanted, I was fully into the sport,” says Columérin.
And to analyze: “It’s an environment that has a lot of values, breakdancing has made it possible to avoid a lot of excesses in working-class neighborhoods, it channels energies. Hip-hop was created in the American ghettos in the 1970s, precisely to avoid gang wars between different communities. It’s a way of using art to exteriorize and transform the negative into a positive.”
He stops his foot to devote himself to breakdancing
While reconciling his passion for football and breakdance for several years, Abdel Chouari decided to devote himself entirely to dance at the age of 16. “I prefer the values conveyed by the break, the friendly side and the sharing”, admits the champion. The young man then set up a first breakdance group with friends and went on to perform. Then comes a first major appearance at the La Villette freestyle festival in 1998, one of the biggest breakdancing events at the time. Le Columérin and his friends then provided the 1before part of a professional company.
We stood out on the choreographic aspect and we did a little bit of a tour of France from 1998 to 2001″, relates Abdel Chouari.
But the young man does not stop there. “With some people who are very focused on performance and competition, on the decision to set up our own group, Pose Styleand there we did a lot of battles all over France.”
Invested in his discipline, Abdel Chouari admits not having had “the same youth as everyone else”, taking care to maintain a lifestyle worthy of an athlete. Sacrifices that pay off and help him get noticed by the best dancers. In 2003, during an event in Grenoble, he was approached by one of the biggest breakdance teams, the wanderer crew. “For the comparison with football, it’s a bit like Real Madrid”, illustrates the world champion. A few months later, he joined the group based in Paris.
World Champion with the Vagabond Crew
A fruitful collaboration since four world champion titles followed for the wanderer crew in 2006, 2011, 2012 and 2014 as well as several individual French champion titles for Abdel Chouari. For 15 years, the latter went on to compete. Despite his performances around the world until 2018, he refuses to leave Toulouse and multiplies the round trips between Paris and the Pink City.
Abdel Chouari won several titles of champions of France. © Ghostographic
True to his roots, it was in Colomiers that he set up the first breakdance school in France in 2008, Break-in school. “I had noticed that there was no training spot. I created it in associative form, it was a hit from the start”, rejoices the now associative director. An adventure in which he meets as much success as during his years of high level. Having become a benchmark in France, Break’in School has been organizing the Nothing2Loozfestival dedicated to globally recognized hip-hop.
In 2019 and 2022, the group Break’in Kids, from the school, won two titles of champions of France. A consecration for these young people aged 11 to 16 coached by Abdel Chouari, who will participate in the breakdancing world championships in Japan next December. But Break’in School is not limited to the artistic dimension.
We do a lot of socio-cultural work, we try to go to places where there are not too many activities to fight against inequalities and allow access to culture for everyone”, specifies Abdel Chouari. .
Jury and CEO
For his part, the quadruple world champion, now 37 years old, has moved to the other side of the stage which he has occupied so brilliantly for 15 years. “I teach all over the world, I am a jury for these same world competitions in which I participated. In our environment, when you have a great reputation and an important background, you are often led to judge the new generations”, analyzes he.
Next, the thirties did not disadvantage his retraining. While he had to stop his studies of foreign languages because of his when he was younger, he has been at the head ofAC Training & Consulting, a training organization for future directors of associative structures. With a solid experience and holder of a DESJEPS (Higher State Diploma of Youth, Popular Education and Sport) at Bac + 5 level, Abdel Chouari provides advice in order to set up projects in all areas and on all aspects (communication, administrative, event sponsorship, etc.).
However, breakdancing is still part of his daily life, even if he has seen the discipline transform over the years. “It has become enormously democratized. We even see it in school, we have a lot of people from very different social categories, sometimes quite well off,” he says. The challenge now is to succeed in preserving the very essence of this culture.
Finally, we sometimes backtrack by going back to the source in terms of energy, in the neighborhoods. But we are very happy to have made sure that it is democratized.
A job that has paid off so well that breakdance is preparing to include the Olympic Games during the Paris Olympics in 2024. A divisive announcement in the middle according to Abdel Chouari. “On a beautiful discipline straddling sport and culture with our codes. If I have to think of future generations, I tell myself that this is one more opportunity to have access to things, such as Insep in Paris , but the discipline must not be distorted”, he says.
Named to the National Order of Merit
Married and father of two children, Abdel Chouari observes this change with a wise eye, while continuing to practice breakdance himself. “As I’m always surrounded by young people, it’s very positive for motivation,” laughs the athlete. The one who calls himself hardworking, honest but sometimes too demanding is already preparing new events dedicated to breakdance, in particular thanks to the support of the town hall of Toulouse.
In October, there is a major project coming up, the World Battle of the Pink City. Last year, it was at the Halle de la machine, this time it will be roaming on several spots in Toulouse”, he announces.
Resolutely turned towards the future, Abdel Chouari was recently rewarded for his commitment. On June 22, he was appointed to the National Order of Merit. “It’s the first time in our environment, it’s a very big recognition”, rejoices the sportsman. One more medal for an outstanding champion.
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