In the mainstream, it’s often referred to as breakdancing, but anyone in the know will simply call it breaking — and at Body Language Studios in Renton, there’s a bevy of B-boys, B-girls and B-kids who are well on their way to mastering this form of dance, some starting as young as 5 years old.

Owned, operated and directed by Lea and Jerome Aparis, Body Language recently celebrated three years in Renton, but the studio has actually been around for 15 years, after moving from Newcastle a year into the pandemic.

“We’ve lived in Renton for 12-plus years, and specifically with the Renton Highlands, we just saw how much growth was happening here, and we felt like there were a lot of opportunities for community here,” said Lea Aparis, executive director and owner of Body Language.

The Aparises have each been dancing since they were kids, with Lea doing everything from ballet at age 3 to tap to jazz to hip-hop choreography (among many others), and Jerome (aka, B-boy Jeromeskee) getting into breaking at age 13 and becoming part of the Seattle-based competitive breaking group Massive Monkees. The two met when she was on the Seattle SuperSonics Dance Team and he was on the SuperSonics Boom Squad, but didn’t start seeing each other until years later.

After 10 years of marriage and two B-kids of their own (Malaya, 8, and Keanu, 5), the two have built up Body Language to be one of the most prominent dance studios in Renton, with roughly 170 students and 12 instructors who are dedicated to the studio’s four values: education, joy, growth mindset and excellence. Body Language was even named one of America’s Top 70 Small Businesses by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2023.

“Movement and dance is a universal language. You can go all over the world, anywhere, and dance. It can be a common way of communicating and I think that’s no better embodied than in the breaking community,” said Lea.

Lea and Jerome Aparis of Body Language Studio are a dynamic duo of teaching dance. Photo by Bailey Jo Josie/Sound Publishing.

Olympic connections

Since it was announced that the 2024 Paris Olympics would showcase it as a qualifying sport, breaking has become even more popular. Lea said that close to a dozen students have signed up for breaking classes since the breaking competition aired on TV in mid-August, and for these students, they could not have a more qualified teacher than B-boy Jeromeskee.

“I was a judge for the pre-qualifiers. I was there at the Olympics as well, too,” said Jerome. “I know the majority of the competitors there, the staff, the judgment system. I was around that whole energy of leading up to the Olympics.”

Jerome, who learned breaking by watching others perform and eventually being coached by “the Michael Jordan of breaking in Seattle,” said that watching the Olympics live and getting to experience the “mind blowing, incredible, monumental energy” was like a celebration.

“I got to see everyone throughout the world I’ve known for years, for almost three decades. So it was like a reunion of some sort, but we’re there to celebrate other than just watch the breaking at the Olympics. It was about celebration for the breaking community,” he said.

Despite the incredible energy and athleticism of the B-boys and B-girls at the Olympics, negative attention was brought upon the sport after an underwhelming performance by Austrailian B-girl Raygun went viral — with countless memes, in-depth articles and “conspiracy theories” following suit.

While Jerome said that Raygun won “fair and square” when she became the female qualifier in Australia, he also said that people need to be empathetic toward her.

“The positive about that moment with Raygun is that the people who never would think about breaking in the Olympics, but then they saw it or would see it — all of a sudden now they become a little fascinated. And by default, they start to see other footage, other breaking footage in the past, other footage at the Olympics and they get to see how great it was,” said Jerome.

Breaking is not expected to be at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but Jerome said there is still a movement for breaking to return in the future. According to the couple, their 8-year-old daughter, who is a student at Body Language, wants to one day be a B-girl in the Olympics, an ambition that is undoubtedly shared by the studio’s other B-kids.

Nutcracker with breaking

Body Language also offers classes that teach ballet, tap, hip-hop, contemporary and lyrical, jazz, acrobatics (called acro) and tumbling, and musical theater.

“We’ve got kids that are in breaking, that are also in hip-hop and contemporary and maybe even ballet or tap. There’s a lot of cross pollination that way. Once they come in and try something, then they want to do all the other things,” said Lea.

Every holiday season, the studio puts on their own version of “The Nutcracker,” which incorporates classic ballet with other forms of dance.

“We have a December Nutcracker, full length production, which does have breaking in it,” said Lea. “[Jerome] has been our Nutcracker, and our other breaking teacher has been our Mouse King, so the battle scene is like a breaking battle.”

A major part of Body Language is its breaking program, which is one of the few studios in the Puget Sound that offers breaking classes for all ages.

“I can confidently say we run the biggest youth breaking program in the Pacific Northwest,” said Lea.

Body Language Studios is located at 3155 Sunset Boulevard Northeast in Renton.

For more information on classes and how to become a Body Language dancer, visit blsdance.com.