Bboyizm (Gatineau)

Crazy Smooth

Dancing since 1997, Crazy Smooth is one of Canada’s top street dancers, performers, choreographers, instructors, judges, and community leaders. He is the founder and artistic director of Bboyizm, an award-winning street-dance company that has been instrumental in the preservation and proliferation of street dance in Canada and internationally.

Crazy Smooth was named the 2020 Clifford E Lee award recipient by the Banff Centre for the Arts for In My Body, at that time a work-in-progress. He continued creation on the piece as the 2019-2021 Long Term Artist in Residence at the Centre de Création O Vertigo in Montreal. The project received a CanDance Creation Fund grant and significant investment from the NAC National Creation Fund.

In 2004, Smooth founded Bboyizm and the company has successfully brought authentic street dance into the professional theatre setting. Three of his full-length creations— The Evolution of B-boying, IZM, and Music Creates Opportunity—have toured throughout Canada. The company has been nominated for a Dora award (2012) and won both the Atlantic Presenters Association Touring Performers of the Year Award (2013) and the Ontario Presenters Network Emerging Touring Artist of the Year (2012). Crazy Smooth has performed, taught, and judged competitions in cities and events throughout North America and Europe. He continually strives to be a positive example for the community and an ambassador of the street dance culture at large.

Saxon Fraser

A third generation dancer with a B.A. in Dance Kinesiology, Saxon’s versatility has brought her together with Cirque du Soleil, Moment Factory, W&M Physical Theatre (Poland) and Dragonfly Orchestra (China). She was a prominent choreographer on Radio Canada’s series Les Dieux de la Danse, TVA’s Revolution and the award winning short film La Volière. As Artistic Director of Art-Terre she brought her show Temnein to audiences in Haiti before creating Juxtapose whose production disˈtraktəd was presented at 100LUX and Toronto’s world renowned Breakin’ Convention. Saxon and Crazy Smooth premiered Patina at NAC’s Dance Forth in 2020 and she joined him as Associate Choreographer for Bboyizm’s recent creation In My Body which received 4 2022 Dora Awards. Her choreography for Olympic Ice Dancers Guillaume Cizeron and Gabriella Papadakis of France won Gold at Beijing’s 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Saxon has collaborated with the fashion industry choreographing for Aubainerie, Y! D.N.A. Collection, Saco International, X-presion (Madrid), L’Oréal, Filler Magazine, and Noize (London). Travelling worldwide, her creations have been presented at Royal Albert Hall in London, the Vancouver Olympics, le Zénith in Paris and the incredible Kremlin Palace in Moscow.

Jayson Collantes

Jayson Collantes is a 24-year-old professional B-boy who currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. He started dancing at the age of 14 and has been competing internationally for 5 years, including You Be Ill – The Vaccine (2020), Battle Of The Year (2019), The Legits Blast Prague (2018), and several other competitions worldwide. 

Jayson is known for his explosive transitional moves while maintaining fluidity and continuity, a style that creates an unpredictable and sporadic feel to his dance. 

Aside from breaking, Jayson has also immersed himself in different art mediums such as the culinary arts, fashion, clothing design, and other dance styles. He is part of Breadcrumbs Crew (Ottawa) and Unknown Floor Force (Toronto). 

As a member of Bboyizm, Jayson has discovered mentors who have helped him continue to grow as a dancer. He hopes to pass on the valuable experience and knowledge that is helping expand his creativity and skills as an overall artist to future generations. 

Mark Collantes

A Graphic Designer by training, Mark Collantes is a multi-disciplinary artist. Apart from his career focus on visual art and design, Mark started Breaking at 15 years old, and in time Breaking has grown into an obsession, falling in love with the culture of Hip Hop. The dynamic between his two passions of visual art and dance creates a symbiotic environment for his creative energy. Mark’s style revolves around dynamic movements, transitions and power moves. He aims to create a style and approach to Breaking uniquely his own, intending to never look or feel like someone else with his movements. Mark is one of the members of Unknown Floor Force, a crew that started between siblings and now has grown since. Other crews that he represents are Breadcrumbs Crew(Ottawa) and Jamillz(Japan). Mark’s goal is to leave a lasting legacy in Breaking and inspire future generations of Breakers and artists.

DKC Freeze

Born in Montreal in 1965, DKC Freeze belonged to the original generation of the organized street dance movement in Canada. A street dancer from the get-go, he has no formal dance training and is a first-generation autodidact of the Canadian street dance scene.

From 1982 – 1983 DKC Freeze was a member of the Flash Trick crew. From 1983 – 1987 DKC belonged to the legendary crew New Energy, one of Canada’s most influential groups of the time.  In 1995 he joined the Flow Rock crew and in 2004 he was a founding member of Legz Crew.

DKC has been active as a competitor and judge in events all over the world. He has been invited to judge at the renowned Just 4 Rockers breaking event in France three times: 2016, 2017 and 2019.

DKC Freeze has performed for James Brown (1985 live concert), DJ Grand Master Flash and during the 1986 Les Expos de Montreal series. His festival appearances include Les Francofolies (Montreal), Jazz Festival de Montreal and the Nancy Jazz Pulsation Festival in France.

DKC has been an active community leader for decades. Over the past 20 years he has been a positive influence on generations as the youth coordinator at both the Cotes de Neiges and Laval community centers.  He is the founder and organizer of one of the longest running street dance events in Montreal, Gravity Rock.  

DKC Freeze is a living library for the Canadian Street Dance community and is one of the newest members of Bboyizm Dance Company, where he continues to influence the evolution of B-boying.

Miss Marie Monsta

Marie Benoit A.K.A. B-girl Miss Marie Monsta started dancing when she was 10. She started with Irish Step Dance and was introduced to Street Dances about 2 years later. That is when she discovered her passion for dance and tried every dance style she could. She now specializes in Bboying and Samba but also practices other styles such as: Old School Party dances, Rocking, House dance, Salsa, Bachata, Hustle, to name a few.

Her love for dance led her to travel, perform, compete and teach in Dominican Republic, Brazil, Colombia, Thailand, France, England, USA, Argentina and across Canada. She started teaching at the age of 14. Growing up, she really loved battling and getting down in cyphers, it has always been a great way for her to release her ton of energy. Through the mentorship of Bboy Crazy Smooth, her and her sister Bgirl Julie Rock had the privilege to travel to the Mecca of Street Dances (New York City) to meet some of the legends and pioneers of the dance and train with them. At the age of 16, she was chosen to work as a facilitator for Blueprint for Life “social work through hip hop” company and taught in many Indigenous communities and cities in Canada. In 2008, she moved to Alberta and got to discover the west coast Street Dance scene and eventually joined the well known Original Rudes Crew. As a core dancer of the Bboyizm Dance Company she took part in many National tours. Miss Marie Monsta performed on stages such as the National Art Center in Ottawa, the Harbourfront theatre in Toronto, the Banff Art’s center, LA’s famous Conga Room, The Avalon Theatre in Hollywood and the Saddler’s Well Theatre in London. She worked with Artists such as Black Eyed Peas, Mohombie, J Balvin, Farruko, and A Tribe Called Red when they performed at the JUNO Awards.

She trained with world known teachers in establishments such as the Broadway Dance Center in New York and the Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and master teachers you might have never heard of in hidden corners of the world. Miss Marie Monsta still works with Bboyizm, Blueprint for Life, Rhythm Works, Create of, and started Las Tchutchucas Locas with her sister.

Nubian Néné

Montreal native Nubian Néné’s muse is music. She is a well-versed dancer/choreographer who finds inspiration weaving the hip hop, house, waacking, and breaking styles of dance together to create her unique approach. Her ability to expand her creativity into a choreographer, performer, producer, director, and host makes her an asset to any project.

Living in New York for the past twelve years has enabled Néné to work with some of the pioneers of Hip Hop culture. Her lifetime involvement with cultural awareness began in 2007 when she joined the Canadian company BluePrintForLife, which teaches the principles and values of the Hip Hop Culture and aims to facilitate some of the social issues facing the Inuit communities of Northern Canada. She has done as many as fifteen weekly trips as a teacher and facilitator for the group.

Néné pursues her teaching career participating in multiple dance festivals including the “Ladies of Hip Hop Festival (LOHHF)” held in Vienna, Austria; New York; Los Angeles, and Toronto, Canada. She has also participated in the “Illadelph” and “Funky Fundamentals” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the “Block Party” in Boulder, Colorado, among others. For the last five years, Néné has served as Master of Ceremony in the “Ladies Battle,” an annual street dance competition presented by the Ladies of Hip Hop (LOHH), as well as presenting her choreography and teaching expertise at the festival for the last 10 years.

In 2013, she created a dance company, A Lady in the House Co., for which she has developed and presented numerous shows. More recently, Néné has worked with multidisciplinary artists and utilizing her creative outlets such as drawing, to develop a new work approach and material, broadening her artistic arsenal. She has been invited on different discussion panels with subjects such as social issues/activism, and dance community topics.

Néné’s experience as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher has led her to showcase her talents on television, in music videos, and in live performances in some of the most prestigious festivals and stage productions in the world.

Julie Rock

As a child, Julie trained mostly in technical dances, but as a teenager she was introduced to, and fell in love with, Street and Latin Dances. Versatility has always been one of her strengths, both as a dancer and as a person. Along with her strong skills as a teacher, Julie used her knowledge of so many dance styles as a tool to diversify her dance career. For the past 15 years, she has been performing nationally and internationally. Julie diverse activity in the milieu includes teaching b-boying/b-girling in Northern Canada, performing at multiple theaters across Canada and abroad (highlights include the Alvin Ailey Theater (NYC) and Saddler’s Wells (UK)), she has danced/walked the catwalk during Toronto Fashion Week, impersonated a character for the Holiday season in Bahrain and for Gatineau’s premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s show VOLTA, she was featured in a TV commercial in Taiwan and performed in a circus show at the Atlantis Hotel (Bahamas), amongst others. Julie also performs with Las Tchutchucas Locas, a group she co-founded in 2011 while abroad. Julie Rock is proud to have been a Bboyizm company dancer since 2006 and continues to be active in the Bboyizm mission of promoting and preserving all street dances. 

Tash

Natasha “Tash” Jean-Bart was born in 1971 in Montreal, and has been dancing professionally for 34 years. A member of the renowned Montreal Canadian breaking crew Flow Rock since 1998, her love and dedication to learning the street dance styles led her to search and learn from the creators and pioneers of the street dance culture internationally.

In 2005, Tash was nominated Head Judge of Hip Hop International (HHI) street dance competition, a position she held for six years. That same year she also landed the lead role of « Lady Madonna » in the acclaimed production of The Beatles “LOVE” by Cirque Du Soleil at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas. In 2006, she was invited by the late Greg « Campbellock Jr » Pope and Frank « Sundance » Sams to contribute to the growth of the Elite Locking Camp. The camp’s organization was passed down to her in 2014 as she re-branded it « Las Vegas Locking Camp.»

In 2011, she co-founded the Wättssoul company with her husband and helped produce and sponsor multiple events over the past seven years. Tash is a connector and has created hundreds of opportunities for artists and companies alike. She now travels internationally to pass on the knowledge she has accumulated throughout the years to a new generation of dancers. Tash recently completed a three-month tour with the biggest European Street Dance competition as the Juste Debout 2018 Locking Judge. She is still studying and training with the pioneers and forever will be a student of this culture.

Vibz

Professional breaker originally from Toulouse (France), now based in Montréal, Romain Gailhaguet (Bboy Vibz) discovered bboying in video clips at the age of 14. He rapidly developed a passion for this form of art, attracted by the creativity and the energy that emerges from it. He learned the rudiments of this dance with young dancers from his neighbourhood who train in halls of buildings and at his university. Very influenced by the martial arts he has been practising since the age of 7, Romain learned very fast and quickly made a name for himself in the Battles (breakdance competitions) of his region. In 2006, he became a founding member and leader of the FreeZtyle Impakt dance collective, with which he won numerous competitions.

For more than 10 years, he perfected his dance with big names in Bboying such as: Swift Rock (Battle Squad, Germany), Karim Barouche (Aktuel Force, France), Roxrite (Renegades, USA), Hong10 (Drifterz, Korea), Ken Swift (Rock Steady Crew, USA) etc.

With several victories during Battles in France and in Canada, Romain Gailhaguet, enriched his artistic career with his participation as a professional dancer in several public events such as Shower Light Blues (France 2012), Qui bougera le dernier (Montréal 2015), Le Musée s’éclate au rythme de la diversité (Montréal 2015), La Bacchanale du Vieux-Port de Montréal (2015).

In 2015, he was recruited by the company Ample Man Danse, for which he became one of the main dancers. He appeared in the shows KLIMA, Fragment, Divisible and Piano public which brought him to discover the new creative possibilities offered to him by contemporary dance.

Since then, he has danced for renowned dance companies such as: Ismaël Mouaraki’s Destins Croisés or Bboyizm by Yvon Soglo (bboy Crazy Smooth), and he also created his own organization: the Flow collective with Émilie Demers and thus continues to flourish on the stage.

A good communicator, full of passion and driven by the thirst to pass on his knowledge, Romain Gailhaguet stays active in the development of his discipline by giving introductory and advanced breaking courses, both in France and in Canada.

As Executive Producer, the Centre de Création O Vertigo – CCOV brings aunique combination of experimentation and innovation to dance creation and production. Via its productions program, the CCOV collaborates with distinctive choreographers to produce ambitious, large-scale works that contribute to the healthy evolution of contemporary performing art practices. A focal point for artistic reflection, an incubator for talent, and a catalyst for ideas, the CCOV’s production model empowers the creative brilliance of a new generation of artists. Crazy Smooth is the CCOV’s 2019-2021 Artist-in-Residence.

Ash Cornette aka Complex

​​Starting in 1998, Complex is a long-time artist in the B-boy world and has been placing the North West on the map ever since. His detailed footwork, flow, and strong foundation in breaking have allowed him to share his craft across North America, Asia, and Europe. He is a member of Ouro Collective, Dance Broomz and Hoodz, a decorated battler, and a strong performer. He has won titles, such as Massive Monkees Footwork Champion and Vancouver Street Dance Festival Breaking Champion. He has performed for events and companies, such as Takashi Murakami Birthday Bash, Lululemon, L’Oréal, and Leica Geosystems.