Photo By 1st Lt. Marisa Lindsay | Alaska National Guardsman, Sgt. Brianna McMillen, a crew chief with 1st Battalion,...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — When not wrenching on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter for 40 hours a week, one Alaska Army National Guardsman trades in her flight suit for a pair of sneakers and the dance floor.
Sgt. Brianna McMillen is a crew chief with 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, and has served five years in the AKARNG. The crew chief seat however, takes a backseat to her true passion, breakdancing.
“I saw a couple kids breakdancing at my high school and I thought that the moves they were doing were really cool and crazy,” explained McMillen, an Anchorage native and 2010 graduate of South Anchorage High School.
McMillen began breakdancing eight years ago alone in her garage. Breakdancing or breaking is a musical art form that incorporates a style of street dance typically danced to certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns like hip hop and funk music.
“I was shy about it at first,” said McMillen. “I’ve always been athletic and liked music, but never really had any natural groove.”
There is depth, culture and thrill to the breakdancing scene which encompasses graffiti, djiing, rapping and dancing, explained McMillen. The terms b-boy, b-girl and breaker are used to describe the performers.
“I go by B-Girl Snap One,” said McMillen. “Snap because I’m actually double jointed and one was added because I am the only b-girl up in Alaska.”
The style of acrobatic dancing has been around since the mid-1970s, growing in worldwide popularity as it made its appearances in countries like the United Kingdom and Japan. However, McMillen explained that breakdancing is minimal in Alaska.
“The hip hop scene in Anchorage is very small. We are so very far away from the rest of the hip hop scene in the United States and in the world,” said McMillen, who hopes to one day represent the U.S. at an international competition.
McMillen believes anyone can do incredible things if they put enough time and passion into their craft.
“Some people do it on their own, but 90 percent of breakdancers have a group or crew that they’re with,” said McMillen, an only child who longed for sibling connection. “You train, travel, practice and ultimately, grow up with them. When it gets hard and you want to quit, you’re with all these people that you’ve been through so much with and you don’t want to leave.”
McMillen explained that the connection with her breakdancing crew is not the only thing that parallels with the Army.
“We are all athletes and need to treat our bodies right,” said McMillen, who credits her Army job with teaching her self-discipline.
“I think breakdancing helps with my [Army] physical training,” said McMillen, who often exceeds a perfect score on the Army physical fitness test. “A lot of females have difficulties lifting their own bodyweight and that’s all that I do when breakdancing is lift my own body weight.”
“The Army National Guard gives great opportunities for those who are seeking to better themselves in their own way,” said McMillen, who underlines self-discipline as the key to success both in breakdancing and the military.
McMillen joined the military with a deep admiration for family members that had gone before her. An added bonus was the help in paying for her education, which she puts into use as a part-time college student at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
“I am pursuing a degree in health and physical fitness to be a personal trainer and later a physical therapist,” McMillen said.
McMillen has continued to excel in life with an established path of accomplishments in her military career. She graduated with honors from basic combat and advanced individual training, and continued with success through her noncommissioned officer leadership development, graduating with honors from Warrior Leader Course.
Her physical and mental toughness were continually tested as she triumphed through the Army’s Basic Airborne School and the AKARNG’s Best Warrior Competition.
With her military and civilian worlds being predominantly male, McMillen has made it her goal to show women that they are both physically and mentally capable.
“Just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself. That doesn’t’ mean that you can’t become the best that you can be at something,” explained McMillen. “If that means that I’m not going to be a world champion then that’s fine. I just want to know that I’m the best that I can be at that one thing.”
“A person should always strive for something; if you’re not, then what are you living for?” McMillen added.
| Date Taken: | 04.07.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.07.2016 19:27 |
| Story ID: | 194752 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 136 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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