How Breaker Victor Montalvo Almost Ended Up In A Death Metal Band

Growing up, Victor Montalvo was pretty sure his career path was going to go one of two ways: playing in a death metal band, or as a breaker (previously known as a breakdancer). 

Thanks to his family — or the “group of characters” as he so affectionately calls them — the Orlando, Florida, native was exposed to both, due to his Mexican-born father actively participating in the two pastimes.

Introduced to breaking at the age of 6 by his dad and his uncle — who learned it growing up in Mexico — Montalvo remembered getting serious about it at 10 when his cousins joined in.

“For me, I just did it for fun,” he said. The thing he loved most about breaking was “it doesn’t care what color you are, who you are, where you’re from. It’s inclusive, so anyone can do it,” he said.

Breaking for more than two decades and competing for the last 12 years, the 30-year-old has won every major breaking event that can be won — sometimes more than once. 

Triumphant at last year’s World DanceSport Federation Breaking World Championship in Belgium, he became the first American to qualify in the sport of breaking for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 where 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls will compete head-to-head. The second Team USA spot went to Jeffrey Louis, who just secured a spot at the last Olympic Qualifying Series competition in Budapest this June.

With breaking only now making its Olympic debut, B-Boy Victor never imagined he’d get the chance to add Olympian to his already impressive resume. He hopes with the larger audience it will quell some of the stereotypes that have long been associated with his sport.

“I’m so grateful that it’s going to bring breaking to a different audience, a broader audience,” Montalvo said. “Not a lot of people know that breaking is in the Olympics.”

Breaking was first introduced to the Olympics in 2018 at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where it reached more than 1 million viewers, according to NBC Olympics. But despite the popularity, he said, “Many people still have all these stereotypes of what breaking is from back in the day: dancing on cardboard, doing butt spins, but it’s evolved. The dance is stronger, the moves are bigger, and it’s more defined and structured.”

Despite the big moves, he said the venue in France’s capital city will be just the opposite.

Taking place in the La Concorde Urban Park, an open-air temporary facility that will be shared with BMX freestyle, skateboarding and 3x3 basketball, the stage will feel intimate, as if “the crowd is going to be on the dance floor,” he said. “That’s something we thrive off of — the energy and the vibe.”

While that has never changed, one thing that is different about the sport now is the way breakers train. 

Back in the day, he said, “Our OGs, if you were caught stretching or doing any kind of exercise for breaking, they would look down on you. They’re like, what are you doing right now? Why are you stretching?” he laughed. “But now they’re having problems with their hips, their knees, their backs; because they didn’t take care of their body.”

The newer generation took that as a warning.

“We learned from them,” Montalvo said, “and now that we’re in the Olympics we’re treating ourselves more like athletes rather than dancers. It’s awesome to see breakers have a nutrition, strength and conditioning coach. It’s cool how it’s evolved.”

Now living in Los Angeles, he said he is “active almost every day. Breaking is all about core so I do a lot of calisthenics, biking and running. I recently got into combat sports and do a bit of Muay Thai. Working out is my lifestyle.”

His ability to move — and into any position — is what sets Montalvo apart. Fellow Team USA breaker, Louis described it like this: “You could just throw him and he would land on one hand and he figures a way out. He has total body awareness and is so well-rounded as a breaker.”

Even though breaking has been his whole life, Montalvo plans to try something new after Paris.

“I’m not going to be able to dance for the rest of my life. I don’t want to be 40 years old, competing, trying to win an event just to make rent, or make ends meet,” the husband to fellow breaker, Kateryna Pavlenko (also known as B-Girl Kate) said. 

“I want to get into real estate,” he revealed. “I bought a home for my parents, so that’s a start. And now I’m trying to buy another home and make it into a duplex.”

Thanks to the Team USA Tuition Grants, which helps athletes with a portion of their tuition costs, Montalvo is going back to school. 

“I dropped out at age 17 to pursue my breaking career,” he said about stopping in the 11^th grade before getting his GED. “It’s cool to get that opportunity to go back to school.” 

But before he can do that, he’s got to go back to Paris — a city he spent a lot of time in when he was living in London while pursuing his breaking career.

“I love going to France in the summer,” he said. “The architecture, the food, you walk around and get lost and find a little wine shop here, a little bakery there. It’s pretty cool.”  

Almost as cool as his sport, which he said he’d like to expose the younger generation to more. “It’s a beautiful art form. You don’t need much to do it — just you, the dance floor and music.”

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.