Meet Courtnaé Paul, a South African b-girl with Olympic dreams

For the longest time, Rap music and Hip Hop were considered quite a niche in South Africa. The music genre and the culture that came with it somehow managed to persist and it blossomed around 2003 to 2004. 

While rappers were growing mainstream careers and dancers were competing in events across Gauteng, one young woman named Courtnaé Paul was discovering breakdancing in KwaZulu-Natal away from the fray in Johannesburg. 

The fray involved attending dance events like Strictly Hip-Hop and Masters of Rhythm on a regular basis, in addition to belonging to a crew.

But, for a young Courtnaé Paul, living in a small community in Durban, dancing was initially more of a solo activity. 

Discovering dance through church

In a recent interview with The Citizen, the Olympic hopeful spoke about how she got her official start as part of a dance crew at her friend’s church and later noticed her aptitude for dancing through her ability to mimic the moves she saw in her favourite music videos with ease. 

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With no formal training whatsoever, she honed her skills as a dancer and coupled that with her skills as a hustler carve out a career path for herself that later saw her being booked to perform at almost every event on the Durban social calendar. 

“I felt I achieved everything I possibly could. I had worked up and down Durban, from Maritzburg to Richards Bay and I needed something more,” she said.  

In her late teens came an opportunity to meet and later dance for musician Toya Delazy before a big move to Johannesburg in order to further her career.

At the time, her mother and two sisters remained in Durban continuing their female-headed household after her father passed on.

Moving to Joburg

“Moving to Joburg definitely wasn’t under the best or easiest circumstances. I had just turned 21, I didn’t have a stable income nor did I have a family that could just support me chasing my dreams… So, when I moved, I must have had about 600 bucks to my name and I left with one big bag.

“There was quite a fight in my family because any parent would be scared for you to move to a city that you have no idea about [and] you have no support system, nobody you can depend on, and you’re chasing a dream that nobody has seen a massive success story in either.”  

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She fiercely pursued her career while studying towards a BCom Accounting degree and later used her proximity to the industry and the strong connections she made over the years to build herself an entertainment company.

Taking a break from dancing

Sometime before the pandemic, she took a brief break from break dancing fuelled by the fact that there weren’t many spaces for break dancers to thrive at the time as well as the fact that she was one of a few female break dancers.

“Being one of the only B-Girls in the space at the time, I almost felt as though it was going nowhere very slowly.”

She also took an interest in music, DJ’ing and media as well as choreography which helped her build her company and brand even further and also provided her with a source of income outside of dancing during her break. 

Qualifying for the Olympics

Courtnaé recently returned to dancing and is working towards the goal of qualifying for the Olympics with the support of Red Bull South Africa among other brands. 

On Saturday, 22 April 2023, the best of the best from across Johannesburg, East London, Cape Town, and Oudtshoorn will compete at the Red Bull BC One National final to crown South Africa’s best b-boy and b-girl. 

The winners will represent Mzansi at the Red Bull BC One World Finals taking place in Paris’ Stade Roland-Garros on 21 October 2023. 

According to Red Bull, the upcoming world finals are a fitting way to celebrate the official inclusion of breaking as part of the Olympic Games in 2024.

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“This breakthrough validates Red Bull’s continued commitment to the sport, with the upcoming instalment marking the 20th BC One World Final since 2004. After 60 cyphers and camps were held in 30 locations around the world, South Africa’s top breakers will have the opportunity to showcase their skills alongside their international peers.” 

Red Bull BC One

Seeing Red Bull launch the BC One series of events in South Africa in 2019 sparked something in her that saw her want to return to break dancing and top the competition ranks given her history as one of the only women to ever do it.

Although she was out of the country on work at the time the first event was launched, she found herself fueled by a reignited passion for dance. Sadly, the pandemic hit a week before the second event but she used the downtime of lockdown to get back into studio and work on her craft. 

She was in fighting shape just in time for the 2021 Red Bull BC One, which she won, and she has been competing ever since. 

This coming Saturday, she will be one of four b-girls competing alongside 16 b-boys. 

Speaking about the support she receives from the brand, Courtnaé also notes the disparity between her reality and the reality of other South African break dancers versus that of dancers based overseas. 

With support like the support mentioned above, not only are international dancers able to participate in as many of the qualifying events as possible due to the fact that they’re closer to the action (most qualifying events are currently held in Europe), they are able to dedicate more of their time to just dancing. 

Local dancers, on the other hand, have to fill some of their time with finding other means to make a living and they also have to fight tooth and nail for the funding to make it to some qualifying events. 

“To have support from a global powerhouse like Red Bull is literally a dream come true. I wish I could show you pictures of me dancing at a 2014 BC One cypher as the only female in the room… You know, I’ve been chasing this partnership for a very long time and timing is everything.”

Courtnaé also felt as though the world needed to be ready for B-Girls to enter the space, South Africa needed to be ready for females to enter the space and I needed to be ready to push myself and challenge myself to compete at this level.

Even though the support is amazing, she adds that it is also a scary thing to carry the weight of not only her own expectations but those of her supporters. 

“Because, as you know, Red Bull doesn’t just support anybody, they generally have the best and that’s what I intend to do, I intend to do my absolute best. Because for them to take a chance on me, on such a fairly new, especially in our country is just insane.” 

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Despite this, she has managed to build herself a life that allows her to pursue her passion while having a team that supports her in keeping her body in competing shape all while having a laser focus set solely on qualifying to represent the country in the break dancing category at the upcoming Olympics. 

Staying in competing shape

“Being mentally and physically prepared to compete at this level is still a fairly new concept to me. When I got into this space, when I started learning how to break and as I graduated through my career, you know, it’s always trial and error. 

“Right now, it’s a lot of self-sacrifices. Self-sacrifice in terms of funding, and going out to as many gigs so that I can make sure I’m home and resting, spending my own money so that I can make sure I’m seeing the right physios, the right biokineticist, the right chiropractors to make sure that my body is in the right space.”

Courtnaé also consults a high-performance sports psychologist whom she says helps with her mental fitness, not just ahead of competitions but through the disappointments that come with her field.

“All of these things put together, as much as it is costly and it is a sacrifice, it plays a vital role in what I do and it’s all coming together. 

“It’s never going to be perfect, I’m never going to have the best circumstances but, it’s all about the journey and I have to be physically and mentally ready to just pick up and keep it moving, irrespective of a win or a loss.” 

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