Courtnae Paul’s guide on saying ‘no’ to hot shorts and knowing your worth as a B-Girl
Paul still remembers her first breaking competition in Johannesburg. Having recovered from the shock of seeing ultra-competitive dancers in the backroom, she stood just off the stage waiting to be announced.
“And then just before I’m going out to stage, the MC goes. ‘And up next, we have B-Boy…’, and I step out and she goes, ‘Oh. It’s a girl!‘ And the whole place erupts,” she recalled. “The reaction was incredible.”
While seeing B-Girls in competition is not such a rarity in Johannesburg anymore, they are still very much the minority.
“Nine out of 10 times, I’m the only female in the room or on the stage,” said Paul who often competes against male breakers. “You look across the stage, the DJ, the videographer, the sound guy, the lighting guy, the person on comms – nine out of 10 times, all men. And in this day and age, it’s still very much that way.”
The lack of females in breaking also made it extra challenging for Paul to find jobs.
“I moved here and the industry standard for a female dancer was very much like fishnets and that kind of vibe,” she said. “And then I’m like, ‘Cool, but can I do a handstand for you?’ And they’re like, ‘No, I don’t want that at all!'”
Paul finally got her lucky break by clinching a breaking solo. It was a moment of triumph – up until she was given a pair of hot shorts and a crop top to wear like the other nine female dancers.
“For them, it was like another day at work. For me, I was like, ‘I’m about to die. Surely, this is where my life ends’, because besides my dance style, it’s just not who I am,” Paul said.
“We’re at the venue, it was a stadium, and I go, ‘I’m not wearing this’,” she continued. “And she goes, ‘Well, if you’re not going to wear this, you’ve got to leave’. So I go, ‘OK, cool’. And I leave, crying! Well, not in front of people, but I was distraught because it was a big job.”
Two hours later Paul got a call that she can rejoin the troupe, wearing her tracksuit pants.
“I’ve still got a picture of me standing with all the girls and me in my drop crotch pants for that gig,” she said. “And I think that was one of the moments where I realised I also have something to offer and I might not be for everybody, but I’ve got my place and I need to be comfortable with that. I need to be comfortable saying ‘no’ to things and going in the direction that I want to go to.”
