Rachael Gunn shocked the world with her memorable performance at the Olympic Games in Paris, with fans stunned by the Australian’s unconventional breakdancing moves.
But the 36-year-old, better known as Raygun, had forecast her disastrous routine seven years before hitting the stage in France.
University lecturer Gunn has gone viral after her performance, which consisted of her mimicking a kangaroo and a snake among other bizarre moves, scored zero points in the inaugural women’s breakdancing competition.
It has since emerged that Gunn is fully immersed in all things ‘breaking’, after picking up the sport in 2008 and enrolling in a PhD in 2011.
And now, fans have unearthed the 36-year-old’s thesis on breaking, titled: Deterritorializing gender in Sydney’s breakdancing scene: a B-girl’s experience of B-boying.
The abstract of the PhD, published in February 2017, forecast Raygun’s iconic routine in Paris.
‘I use analytic autoetthnography and interviews with scene members in collaboration with theoretical frameworks offered by Deleuze and Guttari, Butler, Bourdieu and other feminist and post-structuralist philosophers, to critically examine how the capacities of bodies are constituted and shaped in Sydney’s breakdancing scene, and to also locate the potentiality for moments of transgression,’ she writes.
‘In other words, I conceptualize the breaking body as not a ‘body’ constituted through regulations and assumptions, but as an assemblage open to new rhizomatic connections.’
Raygun’s PhD forecast her memorable performance at the Olympic Games in Paris
The Aussie breakdancer scored zero points from her three performances last week
In simple terms, Gunn challenges the dancing norms and believes that breaking should be used as a vehicle for elaborate, unusual dancing.
Fans certainly saw that in France, where Raygun writhed on the floor and performed the sprinkler, much to the bemusement of viewers watching at home.
Leading judge MGbility, revealed why Gunn scored a pitiful zero points across her three dances.
‘I feel personally very sorry,’ MGbility told News Corp.
‘The breaking and hip hop community definitely stands behind her. She was just trying to bring something new, something original and something that represents her country.
‘Breaking is all about originality and bringing something new to the table from your country or region and this is exactly what Raygun was doing.
‘She got inspired by her surroundings, which in this case, for example, was you know – kangaroo. The animal.
‘For breaking, when you look for innovations or originality, you always search outside of dancing. Martial arts, how the animals move, anything.’
But that has not stopped her from becoming an internet meme, with superstar musician Adele sharing her take on Raygun during her concert in Munich.
The university lecturer’s thesis predicted that she would perform an unconventional routine
‘I am not saying anything, but I think it’s the best thing that has happened at the Olympics for the entire time,’ Adele told her fans.
‘Did anyone see the breakdancing lady?
‘Now I didn’t even know breakdancing was an Olympic sport these days. That is f***ing fantastic. I really really do.
‘Aaron my percussionist is p***ing himself laughing just thinking about it.’
Adele went on to reveal she is unsure whether Raygun was a serious entrant into the competition, with many fans comparing her moves to that of Mr Gee from Aussie comedy Summer Heights High.
‘I can’t work out if it was a joke but either way it has made me very very happy and me and my friends have been s***ing ourselves laughing for nearly 24 hours.
‘I just wanted to know if you have seen it. If you haven’t seen it please leave the show and google it because it is LOLZ.
‘It is so f***ing funny and is my favourite thing that has happened in the Olympics this whole whole time.’
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