Nasty Ray: “Some of the best dancers aren’t online 24/7”

B-boy Nasty Ray from Squadron (USA) is among the most positive b-boys – he has a lot of fun when dancing and everybody can feel it. Apart from this, he shares really valuable knowledge on serious topics, so quickly jump to the next paragraph. Enjoy!

Hello, Ray, first of all, introduce yourself, please! When did you start dancing and how did you enter this culture?

Hola! I’m Ray or many people know me as “NastyRay“. I started dancing around 1998 in middle school. The first taste of the “culture” I can remember was in a store (I don’t remember the name at the moment). But this is where a lot of people in the culture sold dance videos and hip-hop clothing, it is also a place where you can find information on other hip-hop events happening nearby.

Can you, please, tell us how do you see the future in breaking scene due to nowadays global changes and Olympic Games?

My assumption for the “breaking scene” in the future, hopefully, there will be more work for b-boys/b-girls trying to do this for a living, (maybe Starbucks will sponsor me) which is nice but ultimately just like today b-boys that need it, usually never get it. We have a long way to go, sadly… but that’s life.

Do you think that the main goal for dancers should be winning events? What would you say to the young generation as they see all these big events and have dreams already to make money there?

Winning events for cash is important to children that don’t know well our culture. I also feel it’s the older generation’s duty to show that there are different paths in this culture to use our passion/skill besides competitions. I would tell all my students to experience life outside of dance to get a better perspective on how to live in the world today.

How many years passed when you have started earning money with dance and is this your job currently?

I believe, firstly, I made money 3 or 4 years after I started dancing by performing dance shows with my old crew Headhunters at birthday parties. It is not my full-time job but I do my best to make it, so even to this day.

When you dance, we can see that one of the most important things for you is to have fun, isn’t it? When did you realise that this is your main priority when dancing?

I always had fun dancing but recently why “fun” looks more obvious… these days. I realized how to have more fun when I stopped caring about what people would say or do to me. A lot of people will put you down even your heroes. That’s life.

What do you think about social media considering our culture? What part of nowadays the young generation’s life does it take if we talk only about hip-hop culture? Should we do something about that or just leave it?

Actions speak louder than words, so social media will always be that tool for talking but when the music comes on, we will see who can back up his words. That’s another thing I learned and respect – some of the best dancers are not online 24/7.

I would say ‘Understand social media but try not to take advantage of it’. For example, a lot of people these days are more known online than in any actual dance… as far as the dance goes.

If you throw down an event and you need to pick up 5 judges, who would you pick up?

I want to add is a good dancer don’t make you a good judge, a good teacher or a good person. These people have transcended that thought for me (they put in that real work) – Roxrite (read his interview here), Focus, Casper, Moy, Lean Rock.

What is the most memorable battle in your life and why?

I battled Bboy Born a few years ago in a small bar in Chicago during a layover from Europe. I didn’t plan on this happening. Not many people saw it and it was epic and unexpected which made it memorable for me.

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Can you please write down some names in our culture that deserve to be known?

Torb the Roach, Iron Monkey.… everybody that goes to King of Concrete in Slovenia. They do it right!

You can follow Nasty Ray on Instagram here.

Core Team is thankful to Nasty Ray for this interview and support to our idea of spreading valuable knowledge.

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