BGIRL SNAP1

Bgirl Snap1 (AKA Bri Pritchard) originally hails from Anchorage, Alaska. Self described as “The People’s Champ”, Bri Pritchard is a member of the official Olympic Team USA and currently ranks as a top 5 Bgirl in the United States. BR3AKERS sat down with Snap in January 2023 to learn more about her unique and inspiring story.

Bri’s journey with breakdance began when she was 17. She was a collegiate bound athlete interested in hockey and softball with Olympic dreams.

“My eyes have always been on the Olympics because to me, it’s like, the highest honor. I used to watch the movie Miracle all the time about the 1980’s hockey team. It really spoke volumes to me about what the Olympics can do.”

Bri’s father used to breakdance for recreation in the 80’s. She remembers watching him do things like back spins and liking the music a lot. Her friends were breakdancers, but she had no training or natural groove, so she sought out videos on YouTube to learn from and practice to in her garage. Bri eventually went to the local rec center with her best friend where she would join her first dance crew.

“I very soon after gave up my sports which meant I gave up the Olympic dream forever.” She uses air quotes around ‘forever’. “Because I love breaking so much.”

Breaking came easily for Bri, because she was already athletic and stronger than the average girl. Standing 5 feet tall and 113 pounds, Bri was all muscle. Her strength gave her the ability to do tricks other Bgirls didn’t do.

“There were only one or two other bgirls and they quit soon after I started, so I’m really the first Bgirl from Alaska.”

To keep up with her all male dance crew, Bri developed an explosive dance style that was strength oriented. Her name “Snap” comes from one of her signature moves where she pulls her clasped hands from behind her back to over her head and then transitions into a freeze balancing her whole body on her elbow with hands still clasped.

“I’m basically what you would refer to as a Blow Up Head… a Blow Up Head requires a lot of strength so you’re doing a lot of ground to air transitions.”

Anchorage, Alaska didn’t have a hip hop scene that satisfied Bri and her crew, so they traveled abroad to get immersed in hip hop culture. Her first international breaking competition was in Slovakia. Thousands of dancers attended representing many different Hip Hop styles of dance such as house and popping. She didn’t make it through the prelims, but she was hooked.

“I think that's why some of us cherish it (hip hop) a little bit more because it wasn't just there, we had to go find it. And then I fell in love with not just breaking but the culture. I love love love meeting cultures throughout the entire world. There’s so much more out there and meeting other people really showed me that.”

Bri’s parents did not always supported her passion for breakdancing.

“They were just so afraid that I was gonna go down the wrong path and like throw away all my accolades and stuff… but I graduated Magna Cum Laude and had three Varsity letters.

By the time Bri was 22, her parents realized and accepted that Bri was not only committed to breaking but also reaching great heights as a breakdancer. Bri was traveling the world winning big competitions and makes the news.

My Dad is the reason why I’m an athlete. He just absolutely loves anything I do that has to do with physical fitness and athletics. He loves it (breaking) now.”

When Bri isn’t breakdancing, she’s serving in the military as a Black Hawk helicopter mechanic and crew chief.

“I wanted to do the combat arms, but at the time they weren’t letting females do the combat arms. So I was like, ‘Oh I can be a mechanic. That seems pretty badass.’”

She enlisted in the army at 19.

“My parents didn’t like it. They thought it was the end of the world… but they love me very much and they do support me. And with all my successes in the military, they are very proud.”

Bri has a pattern of achieving in male dominated fields. She graduated at the top of her class to become crew chief making her the first female crew chief in Alaska.

Bri’s first competition for the Olympic series was in Montpelier, France where she danced through 9 rounds and ultimately placed in the Top 16. She went to Korea next but didn’t perform as well.

“I was really burned out from the qualifying season to get on to Team USA. I had to do seven competitions.”

Her next international qualifier was in Japan where she again placed in the Top 16.

Now she continues to attend qualifiers and train on her own and at intermittent camps with the other members of the US Olympic team. She is focused and disciplined, but doesn’t place undue pressure on herself.

“I already have done an amazing thing which was to become one of the first breakers on the first breaking team USA.”

With all she has achieved and continues to prove, Bri remains humble and supportive of her peers and the greater breaking community.

 "Society always focuses on the winners winnings… But it's always the same story over and over. You sacrifice a lot. You have the talent and you win and stuff. But there's a lot of other people who work just as hard, especially in the breaking community, who are really dope and really good. Because they don't win, the focus is not on them. 99% of the people are not the best but they are still dope in their own way. There's way more losers than winners, but these losers, they're not really losers; they just don't have like a metal or whatever. So, that's why I call myself The People’s Champ.”