When did you first start breaking?
I was introduced to breaking 98-99 at John Bowne HS in Flushing, Queens. There was a school fair in the cafeteria where kids could sign up for school clubs and Elvis (Elastic fantastic), one of our friends was like “yo! lets make this breakdancing club” so we got an adviser and started meeting in the school cafeteria twice a week and started practicing. One of the members went through some old year books of our school and there was a breakdance club formed called “Bowne to Break” dating back to the 80's so we took that name and that was the first squad of all the kids in high school from our generation.
Who were your teachers and influences?
The original members of “Bowne to Break” like Jiggz, Elastic Fantastic and Josh who already had a little bit of knowledge and taught me my foundation. In 2003 “Step Fenz” put me down and I learned a lot from Wild Child and Cyclone. Rokafella, ABgirl, Honey Rockwell, Ms.Twist, Asia One, Jules and Beta influenced me to continue to Bgirl while Bboys from my crew kept me motivated, inspired and on my toes. Ken Swift, Alien-Ness, Fever One, Storm, Easy Rock, Swift Rock, Crazy Legs always had the freshest footwork and finesse that I admired.
How did you get your name?
So back in the day your girl used to be Feeniks. I loved that name, It was just dope because I was inspired by the marvel comic and how she resurrected. After being on a hiatus from my first daughter I felt like I was coming back from the fire and I was like “this name is dope! its me!” but when we started learning the names to the tracks we liked to break to, “Bongo Rock” by Incredible Bongo Band was on heavy rotation and my crew, they would always call me Bongo which then led to Bongo Roc, So I was like "fuck it, it's Bongo Roc." I gotta give it to Rocism, he’s’ the one who started that bongo shit. To this day people are like “yo! that name is so ill” because Bon is short for Bonnie so if you break it down its like “Bon! Go Rock!” which is pretty cool, so Bongo Roc was blessed to me by my crew.
"myself and my crew try to keep it authentic and innovative. It definitely tells a story of the time when we started."
Did you start with any other styles of dance before breaking?
I grew up around a lot of house and hiphop music. I think breaking was the first dance that I started doing and it opened up the doors to other styles. From there I started house dancing and messing with popping and locking a little but I love house music. A lot of my top rock comes from me, Jiggz and Wild Child just spending nights sessioning, free styling and making up routines. Breaking also taught me about being more physically fit and conscious of that, which I never was before.
How would you describe your breaking style?
In the beginning I was so aggressive and so competitive and I had a mean mug, it was just the time. If there was another girl in the gym at practice the guys would be like “yo she's got your moves” and I would be in everybody's face being an aggressive little puppy but I learned to calm down. After I took a year off and had my first kid and came back, I missed it more and it wasn’t so much about the competition but just being able to dance and enjoy it. I think my style now is more about foundation and fundamentals. I try to be clean, original and to bring the flava and I definitely think theres a style from queens or at least Supreme Beingz. It’s raw, it's not a lot of whats popular but myself and my crew try to keep it authentic and innovative. It definitely tells a story of the time when we started.
What are some Highlights for you or biggest accomplishments as a Bgirl?
Dancing on the apollo stage with Mega and Rokafella. We made it to the finals in a 5v5. We came in with last minute commandos and just killed it! the three of us against crews of 5 and made it to the finals. We got to rub the little good luck log on the Apollo stage, that was definitely memorable. The ESPN battle was pretty crazy, that was another 5v5. Being able to travel all over to these jams and be sponsored was dope otherwise I don’t know how many of those trips I would have been able to make financially. Being flown out to Bboy Summit, a jam in Denver where we were able to dance on stage with Wu Tang and even to Virginia where we went down to battle Beta and Candy. Just being able to travel and do what I did with my crew. I just see where we came from and where we are now winning Kings of New York and its a dope feeling.
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