A five-year-old girl is breaking in the living room of her family home.
Fast forward 10 years and the same girl is standing on top of the podiums at the 2023 WDSF World and European Breaking Championships, still one of the youngest in the field – not that her age fazes Dominika Benevic, better known as B-Girl Nicka.
“In breaking, it doesn't matter how old are you because you can be 15, you can be 20 or 30. What really matters is your level of breaking, how you dance," the Lithuanian B-Girl, now 16, told Olympics.com.
“The age doesn't matter in breaking. Some people think that it's hard to battle athletes that are much more experienced than you, but when you battle, you don't think that that dancer [has danced for] 20 years and you seven years. You're in the present moment and it's just you and your opponent.”
Staying in the present moment is a motto that B-Girl Nicka lives - and wins - by. Olympics.com spoke to the 16-year-old before she won gold at the 2023 WDSF World Breaking Championships in Leuven, Belgium on 24 September to discover more about what makes her tick, how she makes her dance style unique and why working with a sports psychologist has elevated her battle game.
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B-Girl Nicka: Breaking 24/7
Dominika Benevic was five years old when she first saw a video of breaking. And what she saw left her spellbound.
“It was some kind of show," she recalled. "It really made a big impact on me because as a five-year-old child, I was so shocked that there is something like breaking and I fell in love. I said to my mum that I want to break and when I [turned] eight years old, she led me to the studio to my first training.”
Before showing off her moves in the studio, B-Girl Nicka was already trying them out at home. Once in the gym, however, breaking became much more than a hobby.
“[I'm a] B-Girl 24/7, and that says everything about me because that's who I am," Nicka said. "People ask me, 'What do you like doing besides breaking?', but breaking is everything that I'm doing."
Nicka trains six hours every day, on top of the lessons she does as part of her last year of school.
Even her time off is packed with thoughts about her beloved sport.
“Breaking is my life because all my thoughts and everything is connected to breaking. My friends, everything comes from breaking," she said. "I sacrificed everything for breaking so that's why I always say that it's my life. For example, when I'm recovering, I'm also doing something that is connected to breaking like watching battles, analysing to get better as an athlete.”
Nicka might spend the time outside of training sessions searching information about nutrition. Another way that the young athlete tries to elevate her game outside the studio is by working with a sports psychologist.
“You can be prepared physically, but not mentally," Nicka said. "You're stressing and you're nervous, so it's important to control yourself and the sports psychologist really helps me with that. We're having discussions how to overcome overthinking and stress. And the key is to be in the present moment. It's easy to say it, but we are practising that. I'm just trying not to overthink and be in the present moment, and that's what keeps me here and now.”
Here and now: Why B-Girl is not putting any dreams on hold
When B-Girl Nicka steps out onto the stage, she is often battling athletes who are almost twice her age and have long established a name for themselves in the sport.
Confronted with curious looks, the teen's first objective then becomes to introduce herself.
“The one thing that I want to show the most is who I am, that I'm Nicka and who is Nicka?" she said. "I'm not trying to be someone else and I want to show everybody my unique style.”
What sets her apart from the others, Nicka said, is the combination of complex moves and deep understanding of music that she brings to the battles.
“Nicka is someone who has a diversity in breaking because what I'm trying to do is to have musicality and power moves and footwork," she explained. "I'm trying to be an all-around breaker because there are some breakers who have strong moves, but they don't have musicality and also the opposite, but I'm practising everything and that's what makes me unique.
“I think the most important thing in dancing is that you can express yourself and when you're dancing on the stage you are who you are and you show that. You express yourself. That's the most important thing that you can do is through the dance, not through language.”
Nicka's big goal is to go to Paris 2024, where breaking will make its Olympic debut, and win a medal there. At 16, with most of her career still ahead, is the new world champion willing to wait a few more years to make that Olympic medal dream come true?
Definitely not, said the teen B-Girl who stays true to the "here and now" motto regardless of how big the task ahead is.
“I don't think about what it will be like after some years. I think [about] what is here and now," Nicka said. "I want to make it to the 2024 Olympics, not 2028. I think what is now, so I'm focusing on Paris 2024 and that's the most important thing for me. I'm doing everything and sacrificing everything, and I love breaking so much.”
