Interview with b-boy Amin Drillz

In the dynamic world of breaking, few names resonate as strongly as Amin Drillz. At just 24 years old, this half-Iranian, half-Austrian B-Boy has already carved out a unique space in the dance community. Growing up in a small town in Germany, Amin’s journey to becoming a respected artist wasn’t straightforward. From watching dance movies that sparked his passion to overcoming numerous challenges, including the lack of local resources and support, Amin’s story is one of determination, resilience, and an unwavering belief in his dreams. In this interview, Amin shares his journey, the hurdles he faced, and the philosophies that guide him both on and off the dance floor.

Who is b-boy? A B-boy (short for Break-boy) or B-girl (Break-girl) is an individual who practices breaking, a dynamic and acrobatic style of street dance that emerged in the South Bronx, New York City, during the 1970s. Breaking, often referred to as breakdancing in mainstream culture, is a cornerstone of hip-hop culture, alongside DJing, MCing (rapping), and graffiti art. The term “B-boy” originally referred to the dancers who would “break” during the breaks in a DJ’s music, unleashing their most impressive moves when the rhythm intensified.
Breaking is characterized by a combination of athletic and rhythmic movements that require significant strength, flexibility, and control. The dance style is divided into several key components:
Toprock: The introductory sequence of a breaking routine, performed while standing. Toprock involves various shuffles, twists, and footwork patterns that set the rhythm and tone for the rest of the performance. It allows dancers to showcase their rhythm, style, and flair before transitioning to floorwork.
Downrock: Also known as footwork, but it can include Legwork, Backrock and Floorwork. downrock refers to the movements performed on the ground. It involves a series of steps, often circular, executed with the hands, feet or even back and belly in contact with the floor. This part of the dance highlights the dancer’s agility and ability to maintain rhythm and fluidity even while close to the ground.
Power Moves: These are the highly acrobatic elements of breaking that require significant strength, speed, and coordination. Power moves include spins (like windmills and headspins), flips, and other dynamic moves that often serve as the climactic points of a routine. These moves are visually impressive and are often the most physically demanding aspects of breaking.
Freezes & Tricks: A freeze is a move where the dancer halts all motion and holds a specific pose, usually in a position that showcases balance and control. Freezes are often used to punctuate a series of movements or to transition between different sections of a routine. The ability to hold a freeze smoothly and confidently is a key skill in breaking. Tricks, or freeze stacks, are a combination of different freezes in a dynamic way.
Suicides & Flips: Suicides are dramatic moves that give the appearance of the dancer intentionally crashing or falling to the ground in a dangerous manner. Despite the name, these moves are carefully controlled and are meant to shock the audience, often serving as the conclusion of a routine. Flips are moves like backflip, frontflip and acrobatic movements, sometimes listed as powermoves as well, or sometimes as “blow ups”.
Breaking is more than just a collection of moves; it is a form of personal expression and a way for dancers to tell their story through movement. B-boys and B-girls often engage in battles, competitive dance-offs where they showcase their skills against one another. In these battles, dancers are judged on criteria such as creativity, musicality, technique, and overall performance.
The culture surrounding breaking is deeply rooted in community, creativity, and self-expression. B-boys and B-girls are often part of crews, groups of dancers who practice, perform, and battle together. These crews become like families, supporting each other in honing their craft and navigating the challenges of the dance world.
Breaking has had a profound influence on global culture, with B-boys and B-girls from around the world contributing to the evolution of the dance form. It has transcended its origins to become a global phenomenon, with competitions and events held in virtually every corner of the globe. The dance has also been recognized in mainstream culture, with breaking set to debut as an official sport in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
In summary, a B-boy or B-girl is much more than a breakdancer; they are artists, athletes, and cultural ambassadors who embody the spirit of hip-hop through their dedication to the craft of breaking. Their dance is a powerful medium for storytelling, self-expression, and community building, making them integral to the fabric of hip-hop culture and beyond.

Who are you and what you do?

My name is Amin Drillz, I’m 24 years old and I grew up in Germany, I’m half Iranian half Austrian. I’m an Artist, more specifically a Dancer/BBoy.

How did you start with Breaking?

I started in 2011. I saw a dance movie and wanted to learn breaking because it looked so super human and cool to me. But I come from a very small city so there was only one dance school around and of course it wouldn’t teach breaking. So I gave up on that dream at first and tried different hobbies but after some time I got back to the idea of learning it and asked my mom to find breaking for me.

My mom, desperate about what to do with me, tried to search for some Workshops this time. She actually found an old ad of a workshop from two years ago on the internet. It was from a crew living one hour away from my city. On the ad there was an email, so she emailed them and asked if they would do any workshop anytime soon or if they know some other places close to us. That crew happened to forward this email do my first crew living in the city just next to mine. They practiced in a youth center and I joined them on one of their practices and straight fell in love with the art form. After that I canceled all my other activities and from then on drove everyday to the city next to mine to practice in that youth center.

What was the most challenging part of developing your style and arsenal of moves?

Lack of support and hate from other BBoys in the scene I guess.

Don’t get me wrong, I also had good friends who supported and encouraged me, especially in the early days, which I’m super grateful for! But there were also many people who weren’t like that, always talking down on my powermove or headspins. Telling me all I do is only headspin or that I look whack with my beanie and so on. I think that’s a very wrong way to approach a kid who just loves what it does. I think the older generation should always encourage the young ones no matter what they do.

Becoming “complete” can happen after, first focus on what you like and even if you won’t become a “complete bboy” ever, that’s fine too. For me being a complete bboy means something different anyways, but that’s another topic. However I think that was the most challenging growing up and could have been a nicer experience but it also made me strong in the end, so there is a good thing in everything.

Another real challenging part of my life was when I studied medicine. After school i thought studying medicine would be a great way to combine breaking with something beneficial, so i started studying for a lot of entrance exams. Basically my life after school was studying half day until about 4pm and then practice the rest of it. Well, fast forward because of some circumstances and unexpected situations, I happened to study in Bulgaria in English which wasn’t something I was thinking or even planing. Moving there was pretty sudden and felt like it came out of no where, I had no apartment, couldn’t speak the language, didn’t know anything about the country and the worst part, there was no practice spot at first. On top of that, before leaving many people told me that now I will stop progressing, get worst in breaking and basically have to give up on my dream. So not really a nice situation mentally. Therefore I told myself “now you have to be super focused, switch to Shaolin mode, no parties, no girls, no distractions and go even harder with your training”.

What was the most challenging part of developing your style and arsenal of moves?

So I did! I was only practicing, studying, eating, sleeping. That was my schedule. I’d wake up early, depending on my classes, but usually at 7 or 8am, sometimes earlier, go to university until 3 or 4 pm, come home, eat , sleep, study until 9pm, then grab my linoleum floor and go to a park and practice hardcore outside until midnight or even longer, then head home shower, eat, sleep and repeat. That was next level though, sometimes it was cold, the floor was hard, uneven and small.

The way to go and come back was exhausting and on top of that I was scared all the time that I will get weaker in breaking since I had to study so much, so I didn’t really give myself and my body a rest, which wasn’t always the best idea but also got me where I am right now. To be honest in that moment I didn’t really think about it, if it was hard or exhausting or if I liked it but looking back on it and compare it with my life right now, that was a real though part of my life and without the hard work and dedication in that time I wouldn’t be where I am right now. So it definitely shaped me!

What are the main ingredients that brought you where you are now?

Sticking to my way! Believing in myself and always listening to my feeling. Of course I tried many different things, listened to many people and their opinions and I think that’s a very good and helpful thing to do and to grow, but in the end you gotta do what feels right for you! I think listening to that feeling and believing in that, over all, is very important, especially as an artist developing your own style, which actually is just a reflection of your true self.

And then also believing in your way and your goals. It might take long sometimes but never doubting that one day you’ll reach a certain level or achieve a certain thing, will definitely get you there. Just stay on your way consistently!

Maybe to sum it up simply:

Never stray from your way
Believe in yourself and what you do
Listen to your feeling
Don’t regret anything, just learn from your “mistakes”

Oh and obviously a looooot of practice lol

If the younger version of yourself would see you now, would he be happy and why?

Super happy, my younger self would be Suuuuper happy and probably super inspired. I actually achieved everything I dreamed of as a kid and right now I’m living even beyond that dream.

I’m so thankful for this life and the possibilities it gave me and at the same time it feels like a big reward for all the hard work, struggle and even the doubt there was sometimes. Sometimes it really feels unreal and I’m surprised/shocked by what I already achieved for myself.

At the same time I feel like I’m more and more becoming the person I always wanted to be , not breaking wise but as a person, mentally. How I think, act, behave etc.

Of course there is always room to improve, learn and evolve but my younger self definitely always wanted to be like me right now. It’s a little bit hard to explain what I mean by that exactly but there where certain things I wouldn’t do, I would feel shy about or where I wished my mindset would be different and where I would look at other individuals, questioning myself, how they can be so strong, proud, confident, independent etc. , which now isn’t the case anymore.

So all in all I’m beyond thankful and grateful for my life and the way it is going and I’m happy to be able to learn and improve even more day by day.

What would you like to learn or improve about yourself in what you do and in your life as a person?

So Many things, I’m kind of a perfectionist in a way and always search for ways to improve myself and maximize my Potential. Right now for example I really focus on waking up early and having more or less a strict plan through out my day to get more things done. I have a lot of goals and things that I want to achieve but often let things fall behind because I don’t have enough time in one day and such a structure helps me right now. But it’s a constant process of learning, try and error and adapting new ways, strategies or habits.

I definitely wanna improve a lot in breaking, I have so many things I still wanna learn, get better or more comfortable with. Besides that I’m constantly trying to get stronger mentally since this is, in my opinion, the number one key to achieving your goals, having success and just enjoying life in general. When you have a calm mind, you can control your distractions and emotions and at the same time you can focus on your goals while staying in the present moment, that’s a huge win!

And besides these personal goals I also have my business goals that I wanna work on. So as you can see actually my whole life is about learning new things and improving. But that’s also the beauty of it to be honest.

Where do you take inspiration from? Some people/movies/books or anything else that inspired or inspires you?

So many things which also always change. My whole life is based around breaking, it’s my job, my hobby, my way of life, my teacher, everything . So naturally I view everything through the lens of breaking and my art, and therefore everything where I can learn about myself and life is inspiring.

Back in the days I loved to watch dancers and would get all my inspiration there. Nowadays I like to watch a lot of different stuff too. I like watching interviews or documentaries about successful people who achieved something unbelievable, I also do like to listen to certain songs and their lyrics to get inspired.

I like watching old martial arts movies, a lot of anime & manga, which probably inspired me the most through the time but I also like to read or learn about different philosophies, about meditation, Zen Buddhism, Taoism or old samurai like Miyamoto Musashi for example and their teachings and way of life.

So a lot of different sources which also shift from time to times and all in inspire me in different ways and different aspects of life.

What are your goals for the short term future (up to 1 year)?

That’s so difficult to answer , I don’t really have short term goals. I have life goals which I work on every single day and the sooner I achieve one of those the faster I can go on and either set new goals or achieve goals which lie more far ahead and which require achieving other goals first.

How do you see yourself in 10 years & do you think is it hard to imagine a long term future with Breaking only?

I would like to create my own shows. First, solo shows, where I can show what im really capable of and how I see my art and my potential. Once I did that, then I would like to take it a step further and work as a choreographer and creative director and create amazing projects with all the unique people that I met and meet on my way, showcasing their real skills and potentials and use the experiences that I’ve gathered doing my thing.

And personally I would like to grow even more, get better at meditation, grow mentally and get closer to enlightenment. I also really wanna improve much more in breaking and be the best, which for me isn’t the one who wins the most but the one who enjoys the most and is the freest in his art form and craft

What is your final message to people who have similar goals as yours?

Believe in yourself! Whatever you wanna do, you can do it if you put all your effort and energy in it. Don’t ever believe the people who say you can’t, because if you follow it without stopping you’ll get it one day for sure, there is no other way that it won’t happen. But do the work!

And set your goals clear, so that you know exactly where you’re going and after each chapter reflect on it, improve and set the goals new according to your experiences and the things you learnt.

And of course ENJOY because in the end of the day you only live ones and you should enjoy your journey and this one precious life that you have. Be humble, be friendly, be thankful, be happy and work hard for your dreams.

Much love to all of you, thank you for reading my interview, hope you liked it!

Conclusion

Amin Drillz’s journey is a testament to the power of perseverance, self-belief, and hard work. His story not only inspires aspiring dancers but also offers valuable lessons to anyone striving to achieve their dreams. Amin’s message is clear: believe in yourself, stay true to your path, and never let obstacles deter you from your goals. As he continues to evolve as both an artist and an individual, Amin’s vision for the future—creating his own shows and pushing the boundaries of his art—serves as a powerful reminder that with dedication and passion, anything is possible. His journey is far from over, and we can’t wait to see what he achieves next.
Amin’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amin.drillz/