- By Jenna Edwards
Two east Auckland brothers have earned their spot to compete in this year’s Hip Hop Unite World Championships.
Pakuranga College pupils Raūl and Riān Gounder are scheduled to compete in the high profile event in Portugal in October.
The chance to compete is the end result of hours of dedicated practise, which paid off when they gained first place at the recent Hip Hop Unite New Zealand competition staged in Wellington in May.
The gold medal they earned represents a major improvement for the brothers, who last year placed third in the competition’s Duo category.
The dynamic due spend up to six hours a week rehearsing their moves and choreographing thier dances in their mirrored garage at home.
“As brothers, we debate ideas and then finally agree on the ones that will work with the competition guidelines,” Raūl says.
“There’s a lot of compromise as sometimes we get too creative. We naturally have creative minds.
“When we started our dance journey we trained in freestyle dance where we were encouraged to develop our own execution through different music styles and using different parts of our bodies to create shapes.
“That’s helped us a lot. Our dad also coaches us and often challenges our ideas to get us to think bigger and grow the idea further.”
Riān says he and Raūl will be working hard in the lead-up to the challenge in Portugal to ensure they’re ready for their first ever Hip Hop Unite World Championships.
“We’re going to be putting 200 per cent effort into our performance because we’re representing New Zealand!”
Raūl says he’s confident he and his brother will have a lot of support from their relatives when they take on the dance world.
“Our family always shows up together for anything dance-related because we share the same passion, so we’ll be well supported by our parents and sister.
“We’re feeling nervous, excited, proud, and grateful. So many mixed emotions!”
But one of the biggest emotions they’re feeling is appreciation for the opportunity to compete as brothers.
“The best thing about dancing with Riān is our strong dance chemistry, and being able to support each other’s strengths in our choreography,” Raūl says.
“Sometimes we’re passionate about different ideas, but we’ve learned to compromise.
“We always have the other’s back.”
Looking to the future the brothers are aiming to compete in more international events.
So far they’ve been to Australia, India, the United States, and Japan.
Their younger sister Rani is also developing her dance skills and she clearly couldn’t have better mentors in her brothers.
