FEATURE/Quake alert! Taiwan B-Boy Sun Chen hoping to give Paris a shake

By Yeh Kuan-yin and Chao Yen-hsiang, CNA staff reporter and writer

It is said that destruction and creation go hand in hand, a duality that has shaped Taiwanese break dancer Sun Chen's (孫振) life from the start.

He was born on Sept. 21, 1999, the same day Taiwan was struck by the magnitude 7.3 921 Jiji Earthquake, the second-deadliest earthquake ever recorded on the island.

It was from that natural disaster that Sun got his given name "振," which refers to shaking and is pronounced the same as "震," meaning quake in Chinese.

So it was only natural that when he fell for breaking, he took on the name B-Boy Quake.

Now, the two-time champion of the Red Bull BC One Cypher Taiwan, the premier breaking competition in the country, has his eyes set on fully appreciating Paris Olympics and showing the world his own distinct personality on Aug. 10, when the B-Boys breaking event is held.

Calling his Olympic entry "unprecedented, with no successor" after securing his berth in Budapest on June 23, Sun still cannot believe how far his journey has taken him.

"It's beyond magical. You live only once. This is my first and probably last Olympics. I'm going to enjoy all of this," Sun wrote in an Instagram post at the time.

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Sun's journey has been unusual and in interviews dating back to late last year, he has talked about how his home-schooling indirectly got him into the sport, his evolution as a break dancer, and his desire to do for his sport what Chien-Ming Wang (王建民) and Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) have done for theirs.

Groundbreaking

Unlike the majority of children in Taiwan, Sun was home-schooled before enrolling in a university because of his parents' relatively liberal ideas about education.

As a result, Sun's only playmates aside from his brother and sister were boys in his neighborhood six to seven years older than him.

When the serial street dance movie "Step Up" gained commercial success in Taiwan in 2010, it triggered a fad that had the older guys in the neighborhood practicing moves on paperboards, and Sun felt he had to get involved.

"I wasn't making any friends if I didn't join them," he recalled.

The sport quickly grabbed hold of him, and his mother Wu Chen-hua (吳晨華) gave him nothing but support.

"My mom's concept of education is a bit less traditional [in Taiwan]. She thinks it's best to let kids explore and develop freely. She believes imagination and the thirst for learning new things are the most important things for a kid," Sun said.

His mother would take Sun out to catch stag beetles when he showed interest in the bugs, and when they bought a new house and were going to have the floor redone, she asked him: "What kind of wood is best for you to dance on?"

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That education has had a "profound influence" on him, cultivating in him a sense of responsibility for his own choices.

"Since I love dancing, I never think about giving it up when I'm tired or lost because no one forced me to do it," he said.

Realizing he would dedicate part of his life to breaking, Sun decided to get a college education by enrolling in the University of Taipei, which has the only street dance-specific department -- the Department of Sports Performing Arts -- of any local university.

"I wanted it, and I needed it."

Break it through

Sun developed his skills while looking up to other B-Boys, but that also made him the target of "copycat" accusations, which frustrated him a lot.

Accusing people of lacking originality is a serious affront to people in the arts, said Sun last year, who believes he went through a normal process of first emulating others and then using what he learned to develop his own style.

"It doesn't frustrate me anymore now, but it was an experience of growth. You don't get knocked down if you are really into it."

According to Sun, breaking has its roots in the street and hip-hop culture, and stresses respect for and equality between individuals. "No matter who you are, you earn respect with your moves."

He has described his "dancing style" as being "characterized by humor and having fun with it," adding that "I enjoy interacting with my opponent and the spectators."

That style helped Sun become a recognized name in Taiwan in 2019 when his ranking surged to world No. 8.

That year, he advanced to the semifinals at the Paris Battle Pro and then made it to the quarterfinals at Outbreak Europe by outperforming nearly 500 competitors.

"After the competition, my Instagram exploded. The video had some 600,000 views, and many people shared it. That made me feel recognized," he said.

Other dancers have since struck up conversations with him, including his rival in the Outbreak Europe quarterfinals -- Lil G -- a B-Boy from Venezuela, whom Sun has admired since childhood and battled into a tiebreaker.

After that battle, Lil G even invited Sun to team up and compete in The Notorious IBE tournament in the Netherlands in 2021.

Similarly, Sun made friends with Russia's No. 1 B-Boy Alkolil when they competed in Paris, as the latter came to his teammate to ask for a cigarette.

"It's really ridiculous. Like I cheered for you on YouTube before, but when we first meet face to face, your first remark is 'Can I borrow a cigarette?'" he said, now having met almost all his idols.

Dance for life

Sun's rise in the rankings over the past few years has put him in the media spotlight, and while it has brought pressure, he intends to use it to give breaking the same lift in Taiwan that retired MLB pitcher Wang and former world No. 1 female shuttler Tai gave to baseball and badminton, respectively.

"If my performance and results can make everyone cheer for Sun Chen and attract different groups to breaking, then I want to be the person to do that," he said.

"I don't have to be [as famous as] Chien-Ming Wang. Being Sun Chen is just fine."

It would be a stretch to see Sun as a medal contender. He was knocked out of the Hangzhou Asian Games in October 2023 in the quarterfinals, and secured his Olympic slot in late June after finishing the two legs of the qualifier series with the 10th most combined ranking points.

For Sun, it is simply amazing that breaking has been included in the Olympics.

"I really like breaking so much, I want to go beyond myself and stand on the international stage. This is my choice, my passion. This is why I dance," he said.

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