The world champion of South

It was this wrong track that earned Menno, who was born in Tilburg in 1989, his unique b-boy résumé. He is the only breakdancer in the world who has managed to win the world championship in the Red Bull BC One World Final three times. Following on from Paris in 2014 and Amsterdam in 2017, he won his most recent title in Mumbai two years later. So is Menno going to add yet another title? He says: ‘I am now totally focusing on wining gold in Paris in 2024, when breakdancing will be an Olympic discipline for the first time. Actually, I consider that to be the last great arena where I will really go for broke’.

That means that Menno has stepped up his training regime. ‘Obsessed’ is the label that he himself has attached to his efforts. He trains daily, although the aftermath of a wrist injury is still bothering him slightly. Says Menno: ‘If you don’t have optimal use of your wrist, your creativity is bound to be hampered, but I am currently in perfect dancing shape’. He can afford so many hours of training because he is sponsored by Red Bull: ‘As one of only ten Red Bull All Stars worldwide, I can make a living from this form of art. That provides freedom and peace of mind’. In fact, he combines his ‘job’ as a breakdancer with the roles of photographer and painter. And then there is his Menno Leisure clothing line, for which he produces designs himself.

Menno, who describes himself as having been ‘fairly clumsy as a child’, credits to his older cousins Nick and Robin as the ones who planted the seeds of his breakdance passion: ‘There would always be hip hop music playing in the attic at their house and one thing leads to another. By the way, breakdancing was hugely popular in Tilburg at the time; every school had its own crew and we were battling one another throughout the week. Rotterdam was another great hip hop scene during that era. In breakdancing, 010 playing against 013 was similar to Ajax competing with Feyenoord, albeit in a less sporty vein. When they’re not battling, the b-boys are one great big community. Age doesn’t count, and we all know one another and always help each other out. Within the battles in particular there is great respect for an adversary’s funky styles and good skills’.

The Dutch epicentre of breakdancing gradually moved from Tilburg to the City on the Meuse, and Menno moved along with it: ‘I made the move ten years ago, when Rotterdam was the breakdance city of the Netherlands. More raw than Tilburg, but it was easier to connect there. The Schouwburgplein, which at the time featured that perfect, smooth surface, was the hotspot’. In the meantime, it would seem that the momentum of the breakdance scene has shifted southwards again, in the direction of Eindhoven and Heerlen. Menno, who is now firmly planted in Rotterdam, regrets this development, and it is one of the reasons why he has set up a breakdance school at the Groene Hilledijk with Kees de Haan: Out-of-the-Box Movement is an incubator for ‘breaking & movement culture’. Says Menno: ‘I would like to carry on building up a new breakdance scene in Rotterdam’.

Menno teaches breakdancing to children from the age of four, and he also organises clinics: ‘For me, it’s all about creativity and perseverance, and that is what I want to put across to my pupils. Breakdancing is more than sheer spectacle on the dance floor. You get to know your body, it builds self-confidence, and you can unleash your creativity as well as make new friends. It’s an opportunity to discover your talents while engaging in all kinds of music’.

For Menno, Rotterdam – and South in particular – is his favourite place to be: ‘Hip hop came into existence in the Bronx, and Rotterdam-South is the closest thing in the Netherlands to that New York quarter: international, plenty of music and an amalgam of cultures. The people are relaxed and I really do enjoy living here. If I happen to forget my wallet, the baker simply says that I can pay tomorrow. I go abroad at least every two weeks for my breakdancing activities and I have visited a lot of countries. Travelling gives me energy and inspiration, but so does coming home to Rotterdam-South’.

Menno really gives everything he’s got during his breakdance battles, and he is a big name on the breakdance scene: ‘At the end of the day, you could say that I have become who I am by simply doing what I want to do. In the process, I have figured out how it all works, and that is how I have made such great progress. The funny thing is that, basically, I am not the cock-of-the-walk type; I tend to prefer to see which way the wind blows, which is still my attitude. As a result, I have no trouble at all relaxing at home with my family. It’s not hip hop music playing all day long, because I also love mellow jazz. You can deploy music and dance effectively for meditation, and that is something I like to do. It helps to put matters into perspective and enables me to enjoy other things as well. My five-year-old daughter is totally averse to breakdancing; she wants to become a ballerina. That is fine by me. I am not pushing anything, although I do like it when she engages in dance in some way or other. Dance makes everything in life just that little bit better. It’s the cherry on the cake’.