When I was 14 years old I started making little things to get my own money, and I was also introduced to the hip hop culture – then I started a stronger bond with sneakers. So I would always look, and admire them, but I didn’t own any.

I started having a bit of contact with sneakers, but would only buy really cheap ones because we never had a lot of money. We bought this one at a multi brand outlet in Brás, it was my first sneaker that I bought with my own money, I paid 70 reais! It was on sale because no one would buy them, but when I saw them, I wanted them. My mom even said “are you sure you want these? Are you sure you are going to wear them?” and I said “yes I’m going to wear them!”. So I bought them, and they were my little companions when I started dancing and breakdancing.

We use to have dance battles on Roosevelt square every friday night,- they would bring Boomboxes- and we would all night long dancing, drinking and photographing. But we started disturbing the neighbourhood, and we had problems with the metropolitan police, and lawyers from the neighbourhood community got involved, so we had to stop. Right when it was starting to get a good crowd.

It was with this nike that I did my first freeze – till then I had only mastered the footwork and stuff but I had never landed a standing freeze.