Known and renowned in the world of breaking simply as Neguin, the Brazilian dancer born Fabiano Carvalho Lopes has proven a formidable force in the competitive arena. The Paran native brought immense talent, a broad skill set, and jaw-dropping moves to both RedBull BC One and RedBull Dance Your Style, winning the USA honour in 2019.

Though he grew up immersed in capoeira, discovering hip-hop culture in his teens introduced him to the style he would become known for. Breaking is the most complete art form, dancing-wise, Neguin says, embracing the technical and cultural aspects of the streetwise style.

Today, the world-traveled pro synthesizes his myriad of influences, the physical and the spiritual, with a new video clip. In it, Neguin expresses himself, his Blackness, and his devotion to nature in time with a poem that speaks to our current cultural moment amid global protests against racial bias and inequity. The reflective selection allows him to showcase what hes known for with grace, power and profound beauty.

People need to feel and understand what I go through, he says, so they can relate to the message that I'm passing along and also understand how to take responsibility to make sure we make the world a better place. We got the chance to speak with Neguin about his life, career and this point in his journey.

How was dance introduced to you in your youth?

I was lucky enough to start with my Brazilian culture. Capoeira, which is a Brazilian martial art, is a holistic approach it's dance, it's music, it's self-defense. There's so many elements together. I started at three years old. 10 years later, I wanted to know what other cultures had the same powerful meaning. So, I got into hip-hop culture. Of course there was nobody at the time in my hometown that they could dance hip-hop or anything, so I kind of mixed it up with the knowledge that I was getting from capoeira. That actually became my signature. I was learning about hip-hop culture, specifically breaking. I wanted to bring something new to the table when it comes to the dance. Other than that, Brazil has a variety of these elements, samba, frevo, even like the rave scene.

Was it difficult to learn breaking given that you didn't have a community of breakers around you in the beginning?

The similarities to capoeira in breaking are amazing. Theyre so complete in every way you look at it, moving wise, for example. If a person is spinning on their head for 25 to 50 rounds, it's like the same gravitational force as a hurricane or a tornado. Science cannot really explain it, but for us breakers, we're deciphering how complex we are with it and how we feel. Your brain senses that you respect everything that you are doing. It's healing, in a way. So, to talk about breaking, you dance so many different ways upside down, back on the ground. You can dance anywhere, anytime. It's really the freedom that this art form has.

This video of you dancing contains a really beautiful poem. What does it mean to you and how does this speak for you?

This, for me, was about the experience that I have dealing with so much racism and prejudice throughout my whole life. Here in Brazil, where I come from, it's predominantly white. I was probably the only black kid in school. I felt racism from an early age and I knew how to deal with that. Putting that in a film in this particular moment, it was necessary. We know there's a problem over there that's bigger than us and we all have to be accountable for it. But we have to be together in this. The poem, it was about delivering a little bit of the message, expressing who am I, what is to be Neguin, what is to be someone like me. I put together the text and I spoke to a friend of mine. We put the words together in the poem and decided that it was OK for him to actually have his voice on it. Because I can express myself through the dance, with my friend Juliana. It was a collective idea.

Neguin poses for a portrait in Boston at the RedBull BC One All Star Tour

Kien Quan/RedBull Content Pool

How did it feel for you to match the ideas and sentiments of this poem with dance?

Lets say I'm angry about something. So I might just flip, and that flip represents a lot of energy that Im holding. I kind of explode and release it at the same time. When you see me running, it's the freedom of running in nature and being able to chase after something joyful in your life. So I took every piece that was like, OK, this is how I would express that. And we're together in this, myself as a black person, Juliana as a white female, a person that's in front of me. How can we connect? I grabbed her hand with my hand and were together, holding each other.

Over the years, have other cultures influenced your dance style?

Absolutely. For the past 15 years, I've been traveling the world, over a hundred countries by now. Everywhere I go has different dance styles. I'm so fascinated about getting to learn different cultures and translate to today's. I went to Turkey and found traditional zeybek dancers. I learned and absorbed that into my style. Ive gone to Bali and seen the Balinese dancers there, the ladies. I learned something from their culture. Everywhere I go, I get a lot of influence from this collective global culture that I blend into my style.

Neguin conducts a workshop at the RedBull BC One Camp in Mumbai, India

Ali Bharmal/RedBull Content Pool

Given that global influence, how do you maintain sort of your own cultural identity and connection to Brazil in your approach to dance?

Actually, that's what you call ginga [the fundamentals of capoeira]. Once you experience Brazilian culture, you see that as like it's a very holistic way. Everything is connected to the lifestyle of Brazil. For instance, if you go into nature, youre going to be flipping on the grass. But it's not just flipping for us. We're going to the grass to celebrate life and enjoy the weather. Your body receives the energy from the ground by you flipping the grass.

In what ways has your personal spiritual journey grown with you in your career in dance?

When I was a kid, I used to go a lot to the Amazon. I was always fascinated by the native Brazilians. I wanted to understand their culture and their spirituality. What I learned throughout the years is that everything is nature. So, if you get sick, you have medicine in nature, passed down as tradition for so many years. In a sense, it's bigger than religion in a way. As long as you connect with and respect nature, youre aligned with the universe.

Neguin teaches his workshop at the RedBull BC One 2019 Camp in Sao Paulo

Marcelo Maragni/RedBull Content Pool

How do you manage when a piece of choreography challenges you or takes you outside of your comfort zone?

As a breaker, as a B-boy, you have to be creative. That's the inner creation. Somebody can help you, somebody can direct you, but the free form of expression is something so powerful. Ive never found this hard, as a choreography to learn, because I understood how to take time and appreciate it. Airflare is very difficult to learn. So many amazing B-boys still cannot do airflare. So that can translate into a frustration. At the same time, Im like, You know what? The time is going to come. You have to have the discipline, to understand how your body is going to work, but you have to enjoy everything. At the end of the day, everything's about having a good time and experience.

What sort of mindset do you bring to breakdancing competitively?

First of all, while I might be competing with somebody against me, truly I'm competing with myself. You can be a winner, you can be a loser. You can win a competition, or you can lose in the first round. Things can go wrong, but at the end of the day, it self-reflects on who you are. Then you might face yourself. Am I truly a champion? Am I a loser, somebody that trains hard a lot but when it comes to the moment, I get scared? Its knowledge of self. So when I go to a competition, I go with the mindset that I know myself. I know what I'm going to do and how am I going to do it regardless how people think or how they're going to feel. I'm going to do me and with the positive energy that I have, it's going to bring something to something to the experience.

Neguin makes a stop in Chicago for the RedBull BC One All Star Tour

Kien Quan / RedBull Content Pool

Are there things that people might be surprised to learn about you unrelated to your dancing?

When people look at me competing, it's like Im a scary guy. They see powerful energy, so much you must be an angry person during the day. I'm actually the opposite. I'm super happy, very friendly. I'm down to earth basically. How I am in my everyday life, on a regular daily basis, Im just a very simple person. I talk to the homeless, I talk to fans, I respond to everybody on social media. I like to connect with people.

You toured with Madonna during her MDNA tour, which is different from a lot of your other experiences. What was it like dancing in front of those large concert audiences?

I love to show off, but in a very positive sense. I have to show the world the light that I have. Some people are shy to express themselves, like it's not a comfortable thing for them. If I'm the so-called dancer/artist and I have the opportunity to highlight my talents, my gifts with thousands of people, I'm going to see that with so much joy. A lot of people say, I'm going to go on stage, there's so many people watching me, I'm going to get nervous. For myself it was the opposite. I want to reach as many people as I can with my art, because what I represent is very powerful. It's civilization. I enjoyed touring with her because it was, she was cool with this type of format. Because I'm not competing, but I'm simply performing shows.

What is it that continues to drive you as a dancer? What gives you that rush and keeps you so satisfied doing what you're doing?

I'm so grateful to be able. I'm healthy and, let's say, God gave me this gift, this opportunity to do what I do and inspire people. So for me, it's to be able to inspire as many people as I can. It is the most amazing thing when you bring something that can have an impact on somebody else's life in a positive way. Sometimes its not about just the dance, but as a voice, as a peer or leader. I might teach a workshop somewhere in Russia, where teenagers are smoking or drinking, a poison in their body. So I tell them like, if you want to be a champion, you have to have a healthy lifestyle. So I think that's what keeps me going, just as a messenger to bring something more positive to this world.

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How B-Boy Neguin uses the immense power of breaking - Red Bull