Here are my prelim rounds for Popping and Hip Hop at this year’s @summerdanceforever. This year I decided I wanted to work on my freestyle game and battle more. The way I like to live my life is I like to explore things I like and work on areas that i’m not so good at. I feel like i’ve achieved a very high level in Choreography and i’ll always continue working on it and I still have hunger to grow but I wanted to start working on something that I feel like i’m not very great at - battling, particularly in the styles of Popping and Hip Hop, which I very much love. At the beginning of this year I was honestly very anxious to battle in Popping and Hip Hop, I just didn’t practice enough and hadn’t entered enough battles to work on that fear. There was also some self created pressure from my ego that I was aware of because of my reputation in the global dance scene. I was used to dancing in front of my people and showing something special and blowing their minds (with my choreo and interpretation of the music) but now I had to start from level 1 again and show mediocre rounds 🤣. I’m also EXTREMELY competitive, I have to excel and be the best at EVERYTHING I do and love 🤣. I was aware of this from the start and just observed my ego, and set myself the intention that this is for my personal growth and exploration, I want to get better at this and this is the way. I want to explore music and connect to Dance on a deeper level than what is required in the professional dance industry. It doesn’t matter what other people think, this is the path of growth. Every battle I entered, I was kind to myself and I allowed myself to be at the level I was, I allowed my fear and insecurities to be present and reflected on them after. I allowed myself to be the student of life that i’ll always be. Every battle my fear lessened. I’m posting this not because I think the rounds are great, but because I plan to continue progressing in this and I wish to share my journey and progress with you all. I’m really proud of myself for entering the biggest battle event in the world, with no fear, no insecurity, no expectation, just surrender, fun and experience 😌💚✨