Menno

Other Interests: Music and Chilling
Other Profession: Just Dancing

Motto: “Love the life you live, so you can live the life you love.”

Titles

• 2005 1st place IBE’s Ultimate 1on1 Battle, Rotterdam, Holland

• 2005 1st place
  Temple Of Style, Paris, France

• 2006 1st place
  Hipnotik Solo, Barcelona, Spain

• 2007 1st place
  Outlaws International Solo, Roma, Italy

• 2007 1st place
  Outbreak Europe Solo, Rotterdam, Holland

• 2007 1st place
  UK World Champs Solo, London, UK

• 2007 1st place
  Circle Kingz 2on2, Lausanne, Switzerland

• 2008 1st place
  B-Boy Unit Benelux, Breda, Holland

• 2008 Participation
  Red Bull BC One, Paris, France

Profile
Menno Van Gorp aka MENNO DE MEEUW (Menno the seagull), is one of the B-Boys to look out for this year. He represents the new generation of Dutch B-Boys and is the winner of last year’s UK B-Boy Championships and the Circle King Finales in Lausanne. He is a dancer with heart and explosive energy and promises to surprise. He is a master of smooth blow-ups. Blow-ups are the mind-boggling moves that whip the audience into a frenzy. His signature moves are baby-freeze transitions, slides and rolls.

MENNO started breaking around 2001. The first time he saw breaking was in the Run DMC video clip “It’s Like That.” He learned his first moves from his cousins and has been dancing ever since.

Living the life of a dancer, MENNO makes money through shows, battles and workshops. He would love to continue doing that, but knows it’s going to be hard and that he needs a backup plan because he could get injured and not be able to dance anymore. He will go back to studying eventually, but at the moment he is just too busy with dancing and can’t picture himself sitting at a desk listening to a professor for 32 hours a week.

Menno also helps putting a B-Boy event together. It’s called Autumn Madness/Flow One Tree. It’s an event with international exhibition battles, competitions, performances and more. He really enjoys that work and organizing events is definitely an option for the future.

Asked where he sees himself in 10 years, MENNO laughs, “In a nice house with a nice woman and some kids, living a “normal” life” but still dancing.“ Then he says he hopes that Hip Hop will always be a part of his life and that he will be able to give back to the scene by teaching and organizing events. “I hope I will be remembered by my dance when I’m too old to do it and thus will inspire youth to dance.”

MENNO loves Hip Hop culture, it’s his life, but he regrets that the elements are mostly separated these days. “When I watch old footage, I see B-Boy jams with MCs, DJs, dancers and writers. You don’t see that very often anymore and that is a shame.” MENNO tried graffiti as well, but not very seriously, since he feels his talent lies in breaking.

The Hip Hop scene in Holland is constantly growing, but MENNO laments that, affected by the media, many people still see Hip Hop as something negative, when in his opinion Hip Hop is such a positive thing giving many kids a direction in their lives. His family always understood how important Hip Hop was for him. They saw the dedication with which he practiced and always supported him.

For MENNO being a good B-Boy means being an all-round breaker with style, character and originality. “If you want to win a battle you have to give your all. You have to dance on beat, be original, be able to freestyle, and have the right attitude. As soon as I walk on stage I feel the stage is mine. I’m a very laid back person in everyday life but whenever I dance, the beast comes out. I have a lot of respect for my opponents but in a battle it’s war!”

MENNO expects the RED BULL BC ONE to bring out the best in him. “The RED BULL BC ONE has the highest level of all one-on-one battles. Nobody knows who is going to be the best B-Boy this year, but we all are going into the battle to win. If I will win, it’s because I’m ready for it.“