Dr. Rachael Louise “Raygun” Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University, Australia, who has extensively studied and participated in the Sydney breaking (more commonly known as break dancing) scene. Her work has primarily focused on studying social dynamics in the breaking scene from feminist and queer perspectives:
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=LLebtn8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra.
Gunn has also demonstrated outstanding ability in the breaking scene, having won numerous competitions across Oceania and garnering wide respect from other Australian breakers.
Gunn has also been widely reported as having a background in Jazz, Tap dancing, and Ballroom dancing.
I put it to you that Rachael Gunn is intimately familiar with breaking, to a much higher degree than most breakers, having both personal and academic experience with the scene. Her academic work breaking down elements of the scene indicate a detailed understanding of the moves, speech, social and cultural contexts, modes of dress, relationship with gender, and numerous other individual aspects. She also has a detailed understanding of her relationship to the scene, having written a paper titled The ethics of living a double life: rethinking ownership, authenticity, and identity in hip hop culture, and spoken in interviews of being white and middle class in a scene that grew from socially impressed minorities.
So how could someone with the demonstrated knowledge and ability of Raygun not score a single point at all, having reached the Olympics as the highest scoring competitive b-girl in Oceania? Indeed, Martin Gillian, head breaking judge at the Olympics, praised her performance, and she’s received extensive support from the breaking community in defence of her routine, so a score of zero seems impossibly unlikely.
The inclusion of breaking at the Olympic games was a controversial topic ahead of its debut, primarily due to concerns over the corporatization and dilution of breaking culture inclusion would bring, and was widely criticised by the breaking community. One person who studied the divide in opinions was Dr Rachael L Gunn, who in 2023 published The Australian breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification, which criticised the IOC and WDSF’s implementation and homogenisation of the scene. From the conclusion of the paper:
[…] the concerns are centred on the impact upon culture, and a potential loss of agency and self-determination. Isolated from neighbouring countries, and consisting of distinct, localized scenes guided by individual agents, top-down decision-making led by the WDSF already impacts the social organization, identities and hierarchies of respect within the Australian breaking scene.
While sport and the Olympics are framed as ‘great equalizers’, the exclusivity of Australia’s sporting institutions along gendered, class and racialized lines means that breaking’s sportification may in fact impact the accessibility of breaking. While the ABA aims to ensure that Australian breakers retain self-determination and agency through this Olympic process, there are many obstacles that come with the introduction of concepts like governance, transparency and accountability. Making global what is essentially a localized practice invariably requires standardization, homogeneity, professionalism and risks further moving breaking away from its African American and Latin cultural traditions and histories.
I put it to you that Raygun’s olympic performance was in fact carefully calculated to show off breaking without meeting a single olympic criteria, as a protest against the inclusion of the sport, choosing to show breaking off as an artistic medium rather than athletic one. Using movements that were specifically contextual to Australia’s presence in an international space, her performance was a criticism of the IOCs attempt to represent breaking as a gymnastic sport rather than artistic expression, and directly intended to sabotage the inclusion of breaking - and expected resulting gentrification of the scene - in the Olympics.
Currently it has been confirmed that the 2028 Olympic Games will not feature breaking, and there are currently no plans to include it in the 2032 Games.
Raygun wins.
OP is cooking up some delicious copypasta
Raygun meant 👀 to do 🤤 that 👉👉👉👉👉👉👉👉 Dr. 👨 Rachael Louise “Raygun” Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University, Australia, 🇦🇺 who 📷 has 👏 extensively 👀👣🦱👄🦱 studied and participated in 🔙📥 the Sydney breaking 😩 (more ➕ commonly known 💫 as break 💥 dancing) 👯♂️ scene. 🤝🌅 Her 👩 work 🏢 has 👍 primarily focused 😤 on 🔛 studying social 👥 dynamics in 😛 the breaking 😩 scene 🤝🌅 from 😮🐣 feminist 🙅 and queer 👭 perspectives: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=LLebtn8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra. Gunn has ♌ also ✅😒 demonstrated outstanding ability in 📥👇 the breaking 😩 scene, 🎬 having 🈶 won 😉😉 numerous 👎🏻🐆💯💯 competitions across 🤭 Oceania and garnering wide respect 😱 from 👉 other 💰 Australian breakers. 💔 Gunn has 👏 also 👨 been 🍯 widely 🌎 reported 😱 as having 👉 a background in 👈🔱 Jazz, Tap dancing, 👯♂️ and Ballroom dancing. 🕺 I 👈 put 😏 it to you 😱🤯😳 that 📝 Rachael Gunn is intimately familiar with breaking, 😩 to a much 🙀💘 higher 👆 degree than 👉👉 most 💯👥 breakers, 💔 having 😋 both 🌜 personal 💻 and academic experience 😋 with the scene. 🎬 Her 🏻 academic work 😠📝 breaking 😩 down ⬇️ elements of the scene 📰📞 indicate a detailed understanding 🌞 of the moves, 🕺💃🌟 speech, 🗨 social 👥 and cultural contexts, modes of dress, 👗 relationship with gender, 🚹 and numerous 👎🏻🐆💯💯 other 💰 individual 🥖 aspects. She 💁♀️ also ➕👨😛 has 🌳 a detailed understanding 🌞 of her 👸 relationship to the scene, 🎬 having 👉 written a paper 🧻 titled The ethics of living 😮😮 a double 👥 life: 😷 rethinking ownership, authenticity, and identity 🆔 in 👇 hip hop 👆 culture, 🏛️🎭🌎 and spoken 😣 in 🙌👏 interviews of being 😑🙄 white 👨🏻 and middle 🤬 class 🏫 in 👏 a scene 🕑 that 🥀 grew from 😂🙃 socially impressed 😳 minorities. 👶 So how 🤔 could 👈 someone 👤 with the demonstrated knowledge 🥖😷🤒 and ability of Raygun not ⛔ score 💯 a single 🚫👆 point 👉🏻 at all, 💯 having 👉 reached the Olympics as the highest scoring competitive b-girl in 🧚🏻 Oceania? Indeed, 👌 Martin Gillian, head 🗣 breaking 😩 judge 👩⚖️ at the Olympics, praised 👏🙏 her 👸 performance, and she’s 🏆💁♀️💁♀️💁♀️ received 💌 extensive support 👍 from 🤤 the breaking 📦 community 💰 in 💖 defence of her 💁♂️ routine, so a score 🎼 of zero 👆🏻 seems 👀 impossibly unlikely. The inclusion of breaking 📦 at the Olympic games 🎮 was a controversial topic 🧕🏽😷 ahead 🏻🏻 of its debut, primarily due 💢 to concerns 😟 over ↘️ the corporatization and dilution of breaking 📦 culture 🏛️🎭🌎 inclusion would 💀 bring, 😑 and was widely 🌎 criticised by 😈 the breaking 📦 community. 👩👩 One ☝️ person 👫 who 🤷 studied the divide ➗ in 1️⃣4️⃣9️⃣2️⃣ opinions 👏👏 was Dr 👨 Rachael L 💀 Gunn, who 🤷👫 in 👏 2023 published 🤓 The Australian breaking 😩 scene 📹🎬 and the Olympic Games: 🎮 The possibilities 💡 and politics of sportification, which 👏 criticised the IOC and WDSF’s implementation and homogenisation of the scene. 📰📞 From 🚥 the conclusion 🔚 of the paper: 📄 >[…] the concerns 😟 are centred on 🔛 the impact 💰 upon 💰 culture, 🏛️🎭🌎 and a potential 💪🏼🧠 loss ❌ of agency 🧑🏼💻 and self-determination. Isolated from 👉 neighbouring countries, 🇺🇸 and consisting of distinct, localized scenes 🎬 guided by 😆 individual 🥖 agents, top-down decision-making led by 😈 the WDSF already 👋 impacts the social 🤳👬 organization, ✊ identities and hierarchies of respect 💯 within 🎉 the Australian breaking 😩 scene. 🎬 >While 🐏 sport 🎣 and the Olympics are framed as ‘great 👍 equalizers’, the exclusivity of Australia’s sporting institutions along 🕺💃 gendered, class 😛 and racialized lines ➖ means 🙌🏻😮 that 💯 breaking’s sportification may 🤷📅 in 👊 fact 😽 impact 💰 the accessibility of breaking. 📦 While 💯 the ABA aims to ensure 🤗 that 👹 Australian breakers 💔 retain self-determination and agency 🧑🏼💻 through 💸 this Olympic process, 💻 there 💓💔💑 are many 👬 obstacles that ⏪👀 come 🕺 with the introduction 🎮 of concepts like 💋❤️ governance, transparency and accountability. Making 🏽 global 🌎 what 😦 is essentially 💯 a localized practice invariably requires 📣 standardization, homogeneity, professionalism and risks 😐 further 🌉 moving 🚚 breaking 📦 away 😂 from 🧚♀️ its African American 🇺🇸🦅 and Latin 🔠 cultural traditions and histories. I 🙋🏻♀️ put 🚮🚮🚮 it to you 😈 that 👊👉 Raygun’s olympic performance was in 🧚🏻 fact 📕 carefully 👌 calculated 🚜🚜 to show 📺 off 📴 breaking 😩 without ❌ meeting 🥩🥩 a single 🚫👆 olympic criteria, as a protest against 🚫 the inclusion of the sport, 🏁 choosing to show 🌵 breaking 😩 off 🎮 as an artistic 👨🎨🎨 medium 🔉 rather 👉 than 😻 athletic 👟 one. 😡 Using 🤳 movements 📦 that 😐 were 👥👥 specifically 🔵🔵 contextual to Australia’s presence 🏽 in 👍🏻 an international 🌎🌎 space, 🌎 her 👸 performance was a criticism of the IOCs attempt 🚫 to represent 🇺🇸 breaking 😩 as a gymnastic sport 🚴 rather 👉 than 😻 artistic 👨🎨🎨 expression, and directly intended to sabotage the inclusion of breaking 😩 - and expected 🤰🙄 resulting gentrification of the scene 🎬 - in 👏 the Olympics. Currently 😗 it has 👏 been 🍯 confirmed 🚤 that 🚪 the 2028 Olympic Games 🎱 will 🔥 not 🙅 feature breaking, 📦 and there 😌 are currently 😗 no ⛔ plans 👩👩👦👦 to include 📲 it in 🙈 the 2032 Games. 🎮 Raygun wins. 🏆
Not a single gun emoji after her last name smfh
Stop.