Cover Olympic gold medallist and Lululemon brand ambassador Phil Wizard manages to look stylish while performing gravity-defying dance moves (Photo: courtesy of Lululemon)
Olympic gold medallist and Lululemon brand ambassador Phil Wizard manages to look stylish while performing gravity-defying dance moves (Photo: courtesy of Lululemon)
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The Korean Canadian dancer, also known as Phil Wizard, discusses his journey to becoming one of the best breakers in the world and his favourite pieces from Lululemon
Vancouver-based breaker Philip Kim, who goes by the moniker Phil Wizard in the dance scene, has won gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics in the newly introduced breaking category for Canada.
Kim was announced as Lululemon’s brand ambassador in March 2023, cementing his position as one of the best breakers in the world. Prior to his Olympic win, he had also won numerous competitions such as the 2018 Undisputed World B-Boy Series in Morocco, and habitually trained up to 25 hours a week—all while managing to teach budding talents and look effortlessly stylish through it all.
We revisit a conversation from last year with Kim about his Olympic goals, his passion for breaking and how he incorporates fashion in his dance.
Tell us about breaking. Could you also explain the lingo to someone outside the scene?
Yeah, totally. I think breakdancing is the more common term, coined by the media, but within the community and our culture, we always refer to it as breaking.
It’ll be called breaking at the [2024] Paris Olympics, which is a big win for the [dance] culture to have the proper terminology used. I think there will still be an adjustment period for a lot of people because it’s very commonly referred to as breakdancing—sometimes even I slip up.
How much Asian representation is present in the breaking scene?
There’s a lot. Honestly, Asia has been on the map in terms of breaking for a very long time. Breaking started around the 1970s, but when it started to get competitive in the early 2000s, South Korea blew up as one of the powerhouses within the scene. Since then, it hasn’t stopped, and [it’s still popular across] Japan, China, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Did you ever expect breaking to make it to an Olympic level?
Honestly, no. The whole aspect of breaking being a sport is new for us too, as we always saw it as an art form. It’s a dance, a culture. We never saw ourselves as athletes, [even though] we’re athletic and everyone trains really hard.
How did you start breaking?
It all started in Vancouver; I had seen a few street performances outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery, which is a common busking spot. A local dance group, The Nile River Crew, was breaking, and when I saw them [dance], it just blew my mind. People were spinning on their heads, flipping, doing all these crazy movements.
At the time, I was 12 and didn’t have much [else] to do, so it was good timing. Honestly, I saw what they were doing and thought, “Oh, that would totally impress the girls” [laughs]. Luckily, one of the members [of the crew] came to my school to teach hip-hop choreography. I went up to him and asked if they taught breaking. He gave me his card, I started taking lessons and kept going with it.
How did you decide on the name Phil Wizard?
It happened naturally. My very first crew with my friends in Vancouver was called The Cookie Crisp Wizard Crew, which was based on a cereal that one of my friends enjoyed eating. It got shortened to The Wizards because everyone made fun of us. Then when I entered competitions, people would say “Phil from The Wizard group”, so I eventually became Phil Wizard.
Above Phil Wizard merges aesthetics with practicality in his choice of clothes (Photo: courtesy of Lululemon)
Phil Wizard merges aesthetics with practicality in his choice of clothes (Photo: courtesy of Lululemon)
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How do you do these physics-defying moves?
Like anything, you have to learn the foundations first, but hip-hop choreography and breaking are actually completely different. Breaking attracts a certain [kind of] individual—it takes someone who really loves it, because it’s very challenging in the beginning. Once you start developing the basic techniques, you learn as you go, and figure it out.
Breaking encompasses your entire body, and different people use different strengths. The beautiful thing about breaking is you learn more about your body. As you dance more, it teaches you about your awareness of your body. A lot of dancers move on to do other kinds of movement practices. For example, I know a lot of breakers who are MMA fighters.
On average I train 20 to 25 hours a week—usually five to six hours a day, five to six times a week. It encompasses most of my life, and I’ve been consistently doing that for a while now.
How important is the choice of music in breaking?
It’s extremely important—breaking is first and foremost a dance. With breaking being rooted in hip-hop culture, there’s a lot of influence from there. Unfortunately nowadays, there may be some copyright issues [regarding video sharing] for hip-hop music played in high-level competitions, so we can’t perform to some of the music that we would normally choose.
My [dance] style is influenced by the music I listen to, such as hip-hop, R&B and jazz. I like to mix it up.
If you could compare your dance style to a song or an artist, who would it be?
That is a very difficult question. I’m just going to say one of my favourite artists, [American rapper] D Smoke—I love his vibe.
Fashion is a big aspect of the breaking scene—but how do you merge aesthetics with practicality?
I try to find a balance in the middle. I think fashion is very important—it’s super integral to breaking. In a lot of other sports or cultures, people have “something”, like skateboarders and snowboarders have a board, in basketball, there is a basketball. The only thing we have is our clothing.
Growing up, I was influenced by the fashion of the people I looked up to, such as b-boy [dancer] Luigi. We would start copying what they wore, because we would see them dancing in a video and think “he looks so cool in that”.
I describe my fashion style as classic and minimal with a pop of colour, so you often see me wearing neutral colours with a pink beanie. I try to be as fashionable as possible, but comfort is really important for me because we’re doing things with our body. Our arms and legs need to have as much freedom as possible, and I never want to be restricted in my movements.
Everyone has their own silhouette too; the thing about fashion and breaking is that it accentuates the individual’s movement. Some people like tight-fitted clothing, personally I prefer baggy as you can see the details of my movements accentuated by the clothes.
Outside of breaking, there’s a lot of hip-hop figures that I think are super stylish. One that stands out for me is ASAP Rocky—he’s fashionable and fresh. If I feel fresh and comfortable with what I’m wearing, then I go into a competition with a lot more confidence.
How do you feel about your brand ambassadorship with Lululemon?
I feel great. I’m excited to announce this, because Lululemon is rooted in Vancouver, my hometown. So, I’m very excited to work with them. It’s been a good year so far and I’m looking forward to the rest of it. Life is good.
What are your top picks from Lululemon?
Right now I’m wearing the Metal Vent Tech Half Zip top, which is really comfortable. I wear this when I work out and dance. I also like the ABC Pants—it’s one of my favourite things to dance in.
I like their Lab line as well, as it’s quite experimental. I actually wear a lot of their women’s pieces—I’ll dabble in the women’s section and play around with different silhouettes. That’s the cool thing about Lululemon.
Above While remaining focused on competitions, Phil Wizard still wants to carve out time for fun and family (Photo: courtesy of Lululemon)
While remaining focused on competitions, Phil Wizard still wants to carve out time for fun and family (Photo: courtesy of Lululemon)
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How do you feel about coming to Hong Kong to perform in ‘Under the Lion’s Rock’ breaking competition?
I’ve only been to Hong Kong once before. but this event that should be super fun, and it’s run by one of my former students. I used to run an online course, kind of through Patreon [a membership platform for content creators], and she was a student of mine for a long time. I’ve made it a priority to go as a form of “thank you” for her support.
What else do you have planned for 2023?
This year, I’m focusing on getting into the Olympics, but at the same time, I want to make sure I’m not forgetting the community events around the world. I’ll be travelling a lot, but I also want to spend time at home, so it’s about finding that balance. Although this year is competition-focused, I want to continue to enjoy life and have fun.
When the conversation [about breaking being a category in the 2024 Olympics] came about and it did happen, I thought, “yeah, that makes sense”. What we do is very athletic and artistic. I’m finally starting to feel it. There has been a lot of build-up in the last few years and I initially thought I was just going along for the ride, but this year I’m realising that it’s actually happening. It’s kind of crazy and it's still slowly dawning on me, to be honest.
Amalissa Hall was the style writer at Tatler Hong Kong. Primarily focused on writing digital articles, she covers news, tracks trends and interviews experts from the fashion, beauty and wellness industries, as well as entertainment spheres. Interview highlights include Formula One driver Alex Albon, award-winning costume designer Jany Temime and prolific make-up artist Lisa Eldridge.
She has also produced print stories featuring make-up artists, perfumiers and other upcoming figures discussing Asian representation on social media, sharing industry insight and trends as well as explaining new approaches to wellness in Hong Kong.
