Yami Löfvenberg aka Rowdy. In battles and in life I always got "you are too Rowdy girl! You scare people and you make sure you’re always seen and heard". So I thought yeah that’s right! I’m Rowdy, so there you go.
2. Crew? And crew members? Who do dance with?
I am part of an all female crew called Flowzaic and we are five bgirls all together. And I’m also a pert of USA/UK based Hip Hop Collective.
3. When did you start dancing? What is your style?
I started dancing in 1995. My style is hard to define as I like doing everything, but I would say that my main style is locking. But I also do popin, breaking, new style, hip hop and house.
4. Who inspire you?
One of my guiding light is Damon Frost. He taught me everything about the art of funk and I look up to him as a mayor inspiration. Marcus Tucker my colleague in Hip hop collective has been an amazing inspiration as well, who is a very talented dancer and choreographer.
5. How come you moved to London? How long have you been there?
I moved because I felt I was in a stage of my life when I wanted more. I also felt that I really wanted to become good but there was a lot of bullshit going on in the scene in Sweden. Many girls where afraid to step up and show that they could dance too. And there weren’t a scene if you weren’t a known dancer or friends with the right people. So one day I had enough of that and said if I wanted to change this I need to get out of here. So I moved to UK. I’ve been in London for more than three years now and I will probably stay for a little bit longer.
6. What do you think of Sweden and your relation to it?
Sweden is where I grew up and I love it to bits. It’s a great place to grow up in and a great place to get old...now in between it’s not a lot happening there. I was born in Colombia and Colombia will always be in my heart but Sweden is so beautiful and people are well taken care.
7. What do you think of the dancer/dance scene in Sweden?
Well this is the reason why I moved. I mean Scandinavia is definitely coming up no doubts about that, I seen some really cool stuff. But back to the time when I was living at home, I felt the scene was terrible, cuz people didn’t get along and it was all about whom you know and not what you could do.
A lot of people had their friends teaching and getting dance jobs without even thinking that there were a lot of other talented people out there. And there were no auditions or any jobs to go around and the few jobs out there went to the same people...no agencies, nothing to keep it up for the less known dancers. I felt it wasn’t big enough for everyone.
8. Which is the best battle you have done?
Well the best battle...hmm..it has to be two so far. The first battle I did with my Swedish crew, Chutzpah Crew. It was a 3 on 3 freestyle battle and I travelled from London to be able to do it with them and we came out so hard. I was so determinate to win cuz I wanted to show a girl crew could win and so we did! And I was so happy.
My first international Battle in IBE 2004, I didn’t expect to get very far...but after a long heat I came through. Then I had the next heat in which you had to dance to whatever song came up and I was so lucky I had Ludacris "Stand up" and I just felt the song! Then I came thru to semifinal and I felt ok I came this far and I really want to win this, so time to get ROWDY! hahahaha...
When I thought it was over and started pack my bag to leave the room for another battle, they announced that I was in the final! I couldn’t believe it! I was so nervous and I still didn’t believe I done it because there were 70 contestants and I was in the final?! Then I did my best at the time because I was so nervous I couldn’t even think straight and I think I came 2nd or 3rd. But apparently the crowd booed and shouted my name. And as they told us in the beginning it’s a stand up and dance battle and we where not aloud to go down on the floor and both of the other guys did and I didn’t think it was really a fair play. But people still remembers me from the battle and telling me I should have won which feels great...hahaha but I will go back and try again.
9. Which do you like most? Battles or Shows?
I like battles more because I feel people best bits comes out and the adrenaline is so high and when people hear a good song they will just go crazy a dance, I love it!
10. What are your plans in England and your personal future plans?
Well my plans are for my group to become big and travel to do shows and battles, to teach and to be big inspiration for minority groups and for young girls. So we try to go as far as we can here and then we will try to go outside Europe.
My personal plans?..well I have a lot of plans ..I want to travel with my dancing and keep on doing battles and shows, so I could get my name out there because, I want to choreograph shows and I want to do my own company. There’s a lot I want to do before I’m done.
12. Which bgirl crew do ou think is the best? Or bgirl?
The best bgirlcrew is Flowzaic, Bgirl...hmm...when I see one who could do everything: dance, footwork, toprock, power, freezes and look good doing it.
Keep it funky!
Rowdy/Flowzaic Uk