“I haven’t really taken the most obvious path to anything,” Australian breaker Rachael Gunn, AKA Raygun, told The Weekly as she was gearing up for the Paris Olympics.
Rachael Gunn is not only Australia’s first Olympic-level breaking competitor but also the holder of a PhD in breaking culture. Over the weekend she went viral for her moves in the Paris Breaking competition at Place de la Concorde.
In the face of the overwhelming response, the 36-year-old professor and breaker took to social media. “Don’t be afraid to be different, go out there and represent yourself, you never know where that’s gonna take you.” Heading into the games, Raygun shared her love of the dance form.
How Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn got into breaking
“I’ve danced my whole life,” Rachael said. She tried ballroom dancing, jazz, tap, studio hip hop, swing dancing and salsa. When she started breaking, something just clicked.
“I entered my first competition in 2012 and I did terribly. I forgot all my moves. I lost my beanie! But it was such a thrill. I was hooked.” She began her PhD around the time she fell in love with breaking and used her learning of the dance style to form the basis of her study. “When I finished my PhD, I was still breaking and still training. I kept coming back to it,” she says.
For a time, her priority became establishing her academic career. Around 2018 she entered a competition. “And I didn’t do as well as I thought,” she says, laughing. “I wanted to get better. That was a turning point, that poor result, to come back. I did come back the next year, but I lost in the final and I was like: I’m going to try even harder.”
Breaking is “totally different” for each individual, Rachael says. Her strengths are her style and her creativity.
Raygun’s Olympic dream
“For a few years there weren’t many B-girl competitions. There was a lull in the scene. Most of my experience battling over the next few years was in open competitions. It was pretty much all guys. Maybe another girl or two would be in the competition,” she says.
“It was pretty challenging, but I am really grateful for those experiences because it’s given me a lot more experience in battling.”
Once breaking became more established in Australia, with rankings and more competitions, particularly B-girl competitions, Raygun began making a name for herself.
“Then it was announced it was going to be in the Olympics, my training really amped up.” Despite the uncertainty she has always been devoted to the artistry of her sport. “It was just one of those things where I was going to train hard but my goal was to get better and be the best I can be.”
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