So here I am, bringing you the last post of the series about me – Bgirl Labyrinth.

Where do I begin?
I started breaking at my primary school (St. Joseph’s). There was a performance at our school disco and I was amazed! I had to learn. The school caretaker called Dre (Heavy Shock) was a Bboy and he held classes at the school. I started attending and just loved it. Unfortunately, Dre passed away. I tried to keep going after he passed but ended up taking a break until 2013.

I joined Clean North in 2014. The 5 years have flown by! Back then, I heard all the crew stories. They ranged from funny to quite crazy. Fox would say that I’d be in some of them eventually. She wasn’t kidding. A lot has happened in them 5 years. We have new members now and the stories will continue to grow. It feels like I’m right where I belong.

At last, I get to answer the questions!

Name: Himani Bhardwaj
Bgirl Name: Labyrinth
Age: 21 years old
Length in breaking: 7 years
Style: Abstract
Length of time in Clean North: 5 years

Who is your favourite Bboy/Bgirl?

I couldn’t give you one name, honestly. So I’m going to just give you a few. I love Thesis. How he puts his rounds together is incredible. There are all kinds of Bboys & Bgirls out there. Some like to just focus on the music and not so much about the moves. Some people focus more on the moves than anything else. Thesis is like the perfect marriage of the two. Everything makes sense in his rounds. He doesn’t seem to just throw moves in just to have them in. The attention to detail is crazy! I love Luigi too. Luigi’s shapes and concepts are so dope. It was so great to see him on the BC stage last year just representing his style. Kid David is one of my favourites too. He can make the most simple moves look the freshest. There are a lot of others I could name but I’ll stop here.

How did you get your Bgirl name?

Khayyam (Simba) actually gave me the name “Labyrinth”. He just saw me training one time and thought of the name as it relates to my style as I do a lot of threads. I was almost named “A-Maze”! It was funny then when the name was brought up and it’s still funny now – thanks Lloyd.

What’s your biggest motivation in breaking?

Alongside the obvious (my crew and my family), what motivates me is the future we could have in the city. I know I’m a piece in a large puzzle. I have to play my part. Breaking has already done so much for me but I don’t believe we live our lives for ourselves alone. I want to look back when I’m older and know that I’ve done good in my life. And through the role that I’ve played, the generations coming up after us can do more, be better and come to these points quicker than I did. I want to build something sustainable and something inherently good. I hope that all makes sense.

Who inspires you the most in breaking?

When I first started, it was my teacher Dre (Heavy Shock) at the time who inspired me the most. It was about why he was doing what he was doing that inspired me and stuck with me. Nowadays it’s my crew and others outside my circle of people. Venum, for example. What a beast. Every time I watch a video of his on Instagram, I’m inspired. He’s 42 years old now and is still just next level. Zeku is up there for me too. You can’t deny that worth ethic.
Inspiration is free (shout out to Nasty Ray). It really is. On a week to week basis, there’s something, some things or someone that inspires me.

What’s your best moment in breaking?

Tech Styles 5 sprung to mind right away for this question. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so tired in my whole life. I typically don’t drink energy drinks. The most caffeine I’ll have is a cup of tea but I was grabbing Red Bulls from the Sainsbury’s outside of Broadway Bradford regularly on the week of Tech Styles! With that being said though, without a doubt, I’d do it all over again. There were moments of the Tech Styles weekend where I remember sitting with 1K questioning if it was all real. So much work went into the event but it was so worth it just to see people having a great time. Not to mention that I faced my fear of public speaking! 😀

What’s your worst moment in breaking?

I don’t think I could pinpoint one moment. I’ve had 3 surgeries in the last 4 years. They weren’t anything major but they all took me out of breaking for a period of time. That sucked. I’ve missed out on things due to the hospital stays. But on the bright side, them moments forced me to really look at my overall health and research ways to help myself.

What do you find hardest in breaking?

My health is better than it was before but I still deal with pain most days. I know I’m going to feel it no matter what so I tend to not miss a training session for anything. Over time, I’ve developed my own ways of managing my health better so that everything else doesn’t fall behind. It’s knowing when to keep pushing and when to dial it back that I find difficult at times.

What is your favourite thing to eat?

I love sushi! And fried chicken. My favourite dessert though is crème brulee.

What don’t you like about breaking?

It’s just the politics in it all that I don’t like really. But I know that it comes with the territory. We’re a big community. Not everyone is going to see eye to eye on things. That has never been the way of the world so I’d be naïve to think that people in the breaking community would be any different. We can have different opinions without hating on one another though but I don’t always see this which is unfortunate.

Does Clean North have what it takes to be the best crew in the world?

Breaking isn’t like the NBA or Football. We don’t have a playoff race to determine who the champions are of that year. There is Undisputed but that’s for solo battles and not everyone views that as the pinnacle of breaking. Some may argue that whoever wins Battle of The Year is the best. Some would argue against this. I feel like there are always a number of crews in the vicinity of being considered the “best”. I think if we continue with what we are doing, there’s no reason why we can’t be up there.

I struggle with self-confidence and self-doubt from time to time. Growing up, I’ve never known it to be any other way. It’s empowering to have people around me week in and week out who believe in me. They believe in me more than I believe in myself sometimes – most times. Like I said in the first post of this series, I always wanted to be a part of something like this and now I am. I’m super blessed! Blessed beyond belief.

As I have written my thoughts, feelings and experiences about my crew, Fox and Tranquil wanted to share theirs on me:

Fox

‘’Labyrinth is one of a kind. She works very hard and does more for the crew than I think she knows. From a young age she has helped lead the younger breakers of Bradford and pushed them in many ways. She is one of the most organised people I know and always knows what events are happening and when, including booking our travel and event tickets. She has grown so much over years I have known her, not just in her breakin but as a person too. She is a very thoughtful person and I will never forget the things she has done for me. When Elijah was born, she came round with food for me and Lloyd to help with our new arrival. Every birthday she organises the best presents for me from the crew and makes me feel really special, it really does mean the world to me. When I am battling or cyphering, she is always there cheering me on and I feel she has my back no matter what. That is was what you want from a crew member, Clean North wouldn’t be the same without her. I just want to say, well done Labyrinth keep going and I can’t wait to see what your future will bring!’’

Tranquil

“I just had to write something about Himani. I am so grateful to God that I have her within our crew and also working for both Tech Styles and Tranquil Productions, Himani is amazing. She is not the kind of character you will find everyday, for me Labyrinth is gold. I have a lot of love for labyrinth, if she ever needs to improve in an area, she keeps moving forward, growing and becoming stronger, it’s an amazing part of who she is. She is vital to the Bradford scene and without her it wouldn’t be as it is today. I have relied on Himani to help me with some of my most trusted projects and she has not let me down. I want to publicly say thank you for this. I know her future will be bright if she continues to work hard, is strong and stays close to God.”

I hope you have enjoyed reading through this series. I’ve had a lot of fun writing it for you all. Trust me when I say that we have more to come this year!

Keep up to date with me via my IG: @bgirllabyrinth

Onwards and upwards!
-Labyrinth