Jonzel represents Australia at "The Olympics of Hip Hop"!

I started breaking when I was eight years old in 2019, just before COVID-19. I attend Street Beatz Hip Hop, and this is my 5th year of Hip Hop. 

I auditioned for a competition crew when I was nine and made it! Our crew originally started in 2021, originally named Splatoonz. We have since changed our name, and are now known as Splat Pack. We have eight girls and two boys (including me) aged 11-13 years old. We rehearse a couple of hours a week. All my crew members are local and attend local schools, in the Wollongong area. 

We have entered local, state and national competitions over the last 4 years and have placed in the top 3 in all of them! Splat Pack has been competing in Hip Hop International since 2022. In May this year, my crew competed in the Hip Hop International dance competition, in Sydney, at the national level. After an exciting and nerve-racking two days, we placed second in the Junior division and it was very close, as we came second by only 0.3 points! 

All our years of hard work paid off! We were so thrilled to represent our country in the Junior Division and make everyone locally, regionally and nationally proud.

Hip Hop Inernational – Worlds!

On August 2, “Splat Pack”, alongside three other crews from my Hip Hop studio, Street Beatz, travelled to Phoenix, Arizona to compete at Hip Hop International – Worlds, an event dubbed the “Olympics of Hip Hop.” 55 countries were competing from all around the world, all of whom had a shot at gold.  

We danced on the Monday at our prelims. There were 33 junior crews. In the preliminary round, we fought hard and ended in equal 7th! Only 18 crews were announced to go to the next round.

In the semis, we fought hard again and tied 7th again! The ruling was judges only take 7 junior crews into the finals. The judges judge on 2 criteria – skill and performance. If two crews tie in any place, the crew with a higher performance score places higher.

The other 7th-place crew had a higher performance score than us, but we had a higher skill score. Because of this, we unfortunately missed out on the finals, by just 0.04 points!

Going to America to represent Australia was an awesome, memorable experience! The skill and performance of Australia was on par with the rest of the world.  

Street Beatz (my studio) also had two Varsity crews, Tricky Treatz (13th in the world), and Soul Blitz (8th in the world). We also have an Adult crew, Sweet Feet (6th in the world). 

It was an unbelievable experience, and I saw God’s work at hand through all the dancers and choreography as the talent on the world stage was breathtaking. I feel extremely blessed to have had the experience and thank God for the talent and skills with which he has blessed me.

Jonzel Munoz

Year 7 Student