Page 28 - TORONTO NORTH Lifestyle May 2023

Spreading Breakdancing acroSS The gTa – digiTally!
Interview with Teddy “RockSpin” Lubimzev, breakdancer/bboy, owner of Simcha Dance Academy
Teddy "RockSpin" Lubimzev
www.simchadanceacademy.com info@simchadanceacademy.com mobile: 647-778-1905
Photo: Sooters Studio, 2018
Teddy, tell us a little about yourself and how you got into breakdancing: My name is Teddy and I grew up in Scarborough, Ontario. I started attending the breakdancing drop-in sessions at Scarborough Town Centre’s Youth Resource Centre, also known back then as The Rec (it shut down permanently back in 2015). I first came around in the summer of the year 2000. The Supernaturalz BBoy Crew were regular dancers there and they were coaching other younger dancers and youth so I joined in. This is when I first started. I came around with my friend Paul “Kaze” Thurton, who is now the founder and owner of Simply Swagg Dance Studio (Canada’s largest Street Dance studio).
When did things get much more serious for you in terms of breakdancing? At The Rec, I was approached by one of the older breakdancers from the Supernaturalz named Joseph Hersco, who now goes by the name J-Rebel. He offered me to start training with him at a new practice spot near Dufferin Mall. It was a bit of a long commute for me, but I figured I would get more individual attention, so I said yes. Over time, I ended up attending more practice spots that he ran, including Parkdale (Masaryk), Jane & Finch (Driftwood) and at Lawrence Heights Community Centre.
In 2003, I traveled with the Supernaturalz Crew to Rochester, NY for a competition called Ultimate Breakdown. I was really going just to watch, but at the competition the crew was missing two more dancers, so they asked me and Kaze to enter with them. We ended up doing very well during the competition and it was 28 TORONTO NORTH Lifestyle MAY 2023
our official initiation into the crew. I was now a Supernaturalz member. From there, we went down to NY a few times to compete, and I started performing in some shows and music videos on the side. I also got my own spot teaching breakdancing at West Scarborough Boys & Girls Club. In 2005, we were asked to represent Canada at a competition called Red Bull Beat Battle in the UK. They later aired the competition on MTV Europe and I got a call from a friend oversees, who told me that he was watching us on MTV. Up until I graduated from York University in 2007, I was doing shows and competing on the side constantly.
What did you do when you graduated?
In the fall of 2007, I moved to NY to pursue another undergraduate degree and started to shift my focus to teaching breakdancing. I still did a few small-time performances, but I felt teaching was more rewarding and less intense on my schedule and my body. I also needed more pocket money, so I put up signs and networked to get more students. At one point, I was teaching almost every other night. I came back to Toronto in 2011 and simply continued what I was doing in NY. In 6 months’ time, I was back to teaching almost every other night.
How did you come up with your breakdancing tutorial DVDs and your online tutorial packages? In 2016, I got a call from a friend from Chicago who asked me if I could put together a few video tutorials for his son to learn some moves. I first referred him to YouTube, but he insisted he wanted me to put it together and that he
Continued on Page 29