Andrezinho

Name: Andre Luiz Barbosa Martins
Nationality: Brazilian
Crew: Discipulos do Ritmo
Residence: Santo Andre, São Paulo, Brazil
Profession: Dancer
Website: www.discipulosdoritmo.com

Andre Luiz Barbosa Martins aka ANDREZINHO started dancing in 1988, at the age of fifteen. He first came in contact with the dance culture back in 1987, through the movies “Flashdance” and “Beat Street.” Seeing Rock Steady Crew B-Boys executing their mesmerizing moves inspired him and his friends from Santo Andre to start practicing by imitating moves they had seen in the films.

That same year, ANDREZINHO saw a magazine called “Crick” with Brazilian dancer Alan Beat on the cover doing his famous back-flip off a wall. From this article, he found out about the São Bento metro station in downtown São Paulo where crazy dancers met, and he went to check it out. At the time it was the meeting point for B-Boys and still is the place people refer to today when they talk about the birth of Hip Hop culture in Brazil.

From 1993 to 1996, ANDREZINHO danced with the Street Breakers, a crew that started in 1989. In 1996, a month after leaving the Street Breakers, he was invited by the Backspin Crew to perform with them. The Backspin Crew was one of the four original Brazilian breaking crews formed in 1985. In 1994, he started performing with famous Brazilian rapper Gabriel O Pensador. He recorded video clips and started judging competitions. From 1996 till 1997, he performed with the Backspin Crew and the legendary Thaíde, who was just starting his rapping career after being a B-Boy himself.

In 1999, ANDREZINHO left the Backspin Crew to start working with a new crew and a new concept: Discipulos do Ritmo. With this crew he performed abroad, in Paris, for the first time. “It’s still a very special memory for me”, he says, “a personal reference for victory!”

ANDREZINHO is well respected throughout Brazil for his work, from back in the days until now, at age 33, still performing with his crew Discipulos do Ritmo and participating in competitions due to his enduring talent. He is renowned as a national B-Boy hero who has struggled to gain respect for B-Boy culture. Especially between 1992 and 1996, when breaking was going through a period when most kids just cared about acrobatics, he was the one who stayed true to real B-Boying and kept the flame alive.

ANDREZINHO is grateful to be involved in the RED BULL BC ONE and expects the event to be an important step in the continuing evolution of the B-Boy scene in Brazil.