"Life is a battle"Aloun
From the street.
He is the man with the hat. And he is not alone. His crew is called “Step2Diz”, and it has been causing a stir with breakdance for more than 30 years. Right in the middle of it: the man with the hat. His name: Aloun Phetnoi Ferzandi, now 46 years old and a father of three. He already wore the hat as a teenager at breakdance battles in youth centres. That has not changed to this day. He just no longer tours Europe with his boys, no longer sleeps in luggage lockers, and cold chips or soggy leftover burgers no longer have to satisfy his hunger. “Those days are long gone,” says Aloun.
“But those days were good, they taught me a lot.”
Today Aloun is a dance teacher, teaching children, teenagers and adults at the “Step2Diz” studio in Munich. The studio is at Sedanstraße 29 in Haidhausen. When Aloun started out as a breakdancer, there were no studios for him. Back then he picked up his breakdance skills on the street.
Aloun Phetnoi Ferzandi grew up in Hasenbergl. Not much there revolved around dancing, let alone breakdance. But at the age of eleven, Aloun came into contact with HipHop in Berlin. A youth culture made up of four elements: rapping, phat beats (DJ), breakdance and graffiti. He really liked the music – without the overblown gangster shit and the heavy gold chains. The bands of the Zulu Nation such as A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul or DJ Afrika Bambaataa spoke straight to his heart. One piece of life wisdom became clear to him:
Life is a battle you can only win.Aloun
Into the studio.
Hip Hop pulls Aloun out of the big-city swamp. At the Zeugnerhof, a youth centre, he finds Hip Hop in Munich too – and his second home. There he meets Astrid Weindl, the youth leader at the time. She introduces him to a group of B-Boys who rehearsed regularly. It did not take long before he could not get enough of it. He spun across the floor and thrilled the crowds on Marienplatz with his crew. Step2Diz was born.
Alongside the street shows, the crew organises numerous jams in Munich and travels all over Germany and Europe, from battle to battle. Aloun and his crew visit youth centres and schools. “Outreach from the street, for the street,” he calls it. “We still do it that way today.”
In 2007 came the step from the street into the studio. Step2Diz opened its first dance studio in Giesing. “We wanted a permanent space for ourselves and our friends,” says Aloun. But more and more children and teenagers joined – and so it all took off. “Breakdance brings together the most diverse people, foreign cultures and nations.”
For me, breakdance is full of respect, tolerance and love.Aloun
Keep moving.
At the Step2Diz studio, everything revolves around acrobatic street dance. With courses for children aged five and over. What do you need for it? “Not much. Just a pair of comfortable trainers and good music, your body takes care of the rest.”
Breakdance is for everyone and knows no limits!