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For Ukraine’s Olympic breakdancers, ‘shining’ is more important than winning

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For Ukraine’s Olympic breakdancers, ‘shining’ is more important than winning

Oleh Kuznetsov, who goes by B-boy Kuzya, performs the freeze element, freezing for a few seconds in unusual and extremely difficult positions.

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NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. For more of our coverage from the Games, head to our latest updates.

WARSAW, Poland — A rocking beat of energetic music fills every corner of a spacious, sun-drenched sports complex in the Polish capital. After some stretching and warming up, three breakers and their trainer are practicing complex dance and acrobatic moves.

Breaking, also known as breakdancing, is making its Olympic debut as a sport this week in Paris. A team of female and male Ukrainian athletes, called “B-girls” and “B-boys,” have gone through a three-year selection process on their way to the Summer Games and finally got together in a training camp here last month.

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Kateryna Pavlenko, 29, or B-girl Kate, looked at herself in the mirror as she danced, a look of growing confidence on her face. “When we just knew that breaking is going to be in the Olympics, I had no doubt I’m going to do everything to end up there,” she said.

Kateryna Pavlenko, B-girl Kate, prepares to compete in the debut breakdancing competition in the Paris Olympics.

Kateryna Pavlenko, 29, aka B-girl Kate, was born in Kharkiv and moved to the U.S. in 2021. As soon as she found out that breaking would be in the Olympics, she knew she would be there.

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Pavlenko, another Ukrainian b-girl, Anna Ponomarenko, and two B-boys came here to train for the Games. In a one-on-one breaking competition, two dancers take turns showcasing their skills, moves, character, style and musicality, each trying to outshine the other. After all the rounds are completed, judges determine the winner.

Ukrainians have known breaking since Soviet times, when authorities disapproved of it, which gave it a special appeal as a kind of cultural forbidden fruit. They usually first discovered it thanks to video cassettes of movies such as Breakin’ (1984) that were brought home by citizens, often diplomats, who had the right to travel abroad.

After the Cold War ended, many teenagers watched battles — or competitions — of American B-boys and B-girls on pirated hip-hop music videos, pausing them to learn the moves and style.

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Georgii Matiukhin, the team manager, was one of those teens.

“We were a generation without any school,” Matiukhin said. “We found VHS tapes, watched them, and tried to repeat. The first tapes we watched were American breakers Rock Steady Crew, from New York, and style elements from the West Coast.”

Breaker Kateryna Pavlenko (from left), team manager Georgii Matiukhin and coach Denys Semenikhin show their pride in representing Ukraine at the Olympics.

Breaker Kateryna Pavlenko (from left), team manager Georgii Matiukhin and coach Denys Semenikhin show their pride in representing Ukraine at the Olympics.

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In the early 2000s, Ukrainian breaking made its way to international battles and championships, where Ukrainians showed good results.

Matiukhin said he believes breaking has gained such popularity and development in his country because dance “has always been in the blood of Ukrainians.”

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Breaking, which was born in the Bronx, now shows many cultural influences, notably from South Africa and Brazil. Ukrainian folk dances, such as the arms-crossed, foot-kicking hopak, are also an inspiration to many — especially the three athletes training here.

Denys Semenikhin, B-boy Gimnast, is the coach of the Ukrainian Olympic breaking team. He started breaking in 2001 and was born and lives in Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine. He says the psychological state of athletes is no less important than the physical. The opportunity to represent Ukraine during the war is a great honor but also a challenge for the athletes.

Denys Semenikhin, B-boy Gimnast, is the coach of the Ukrainian Olympic breaking team. He started breaking in 2001 and was born and lives in Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine. He says the psychological state of athletes is no less important than the physical. The opportunity to represent Ukraine during the war is a great honor but also a challenge for the athletes, he says.

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Oleh Kuznetsov, or B-boy Kuzya, age 34, says his footwork demonstrates how classical elements from Ukrainian folk dances can be interpreted in modern breaking. For him, representing Ukraine is a great honor.

“I want to show that we have nice big and shiny souls and that I am representing my country and my culture,” he said.

At the Olympics, Ukrainian breakers will compete in groups of athletes in a battle format. Nine judges will evaluate the athletes according to criteria including originality, technique and “vocabulary,” or the variety of dance moves deployed.

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Unlike in figure skating, where athletes practice the same choreography for months, even years, in breaking, the athletes do not know the music in advance, so the ability to adapt and improvise is key.

Oleksandr Gatyn-Lozynskyi, B-boy Lussysky, the team reserve (left), and Oleh Kuznetsov, B-boy Kuzya, work out and stretch as part of their preparation for the Olympics.

Oleksandr Gatyn-Lozynskyi, B-boy Lussysky, the team reserve (left), and Oleh Kuznetsov, B-boy Kuzya, work out and stretch as part of their preparation for the Olympics.

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Denys Seminikhin, the team’s coach, says the breakers’ psychological state is no less important than their physical fitness, emphasizing that representing the country during the war is a great challenge for the athletes.

“Shining is more important than winning,” Pavlenko said. With her performance, she says she wants to return the world’s attention to Ukraine.

“Of course, I want to win a medal,” she adds. “I feel proud to represent my country and I want to make my people proud, as well.”

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Oleh Kuznetsov, B-boy Kuzya, trains for the Paris Games.

Oleh Kuznetsov, B-boy Kuzya, trains for the Paris Games. “I want to show that we have nice big and shiny souls and that I am representing my country and my culture,” he says.

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Neil Gaiman has responded to sexual misconduct allegations

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Neil Gaiman has responded to sexual misconduct allegations

Neil Gaiman attends the 73rd National Book Awards in November 2022 in New York City.

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Neil Gaiman, one of today’s most influential and commercially successful novelists, has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. The author has denied the allegations. This is what you should know.

  • Gaiman’s books include the graphic novel The Sandman, the children’s novella Coraline and a novel he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. The British author has won prestigious literary honors, including multiple Hugo, Locus and Nebula awards and the John Newbery Medal. His works have inspired movie and TV adaptations. Time magazine included him in its list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
  • The sexual misconduct accusations, stretching back decades, first became public in the summer of 2024 in a six-episode series from Tortoise Media called The Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. In the podcast, five women accused the writer of unwanted sexual behavior, some of it alleged to be violent in nature. Gaiman denied the accusations. No charges have been filed. The podcast included interviews with the women, plus what it said were WhatsApp messages and phone call recordings between Gaiman and two of his accusers. In one conversation, Gaiman allegedly says he “obviously f*** up” and offers to pay an accuser, who goes by the name “Claire,” $60,000 to cover the cost of her therapy. NPR has not been able to independently verify the recordings because “Claire’s” identity is not public.
  • More women have now accused Gaiman of sexual misconduct in a New York Magazine cover story published Monday. Some of the alleged behaviors include violent sexual assault and sexual misconduct that occurred while his young son was in the room. Gaiman has denied this. Gaiman’s accusers are adults, but much younger than the author, 64, including one who is nearly 40 years his junior.
  • Gaiman responded to the allegations on Tuesday in a lengthy post on his website. Gaiman wrote that he watched the news of the allegations “with horror and dismay”: “As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.” He also denied “there was any abuse.”
  • Recent fallout has included the suspension of screen adaptations of Gaiman’s works. Deadline reported that Amazon will end production of Good Omens with a 90-minute final episode to be produced this year, instead of a full third season. “Gaiman contributed to the writing of the series finale but will not be working on the production and his production company the Blank Corporation is no longer involved,” Deadline said. Disney paused an adaptation of The Graveyard Book.
  • Trade magazine The Bookseller reported that Gaiman hired the crisis management firm Edendale Strategies and lawyer Andrew Brettler, who has represented Danny Masterson and Prince Andrew. Neither party has responded to NPR’s request for comment.

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story. Beth Novey produced the web build.

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Upcoming Benefit Concert For L.A. Wildfires Gets Overwhelming Response From Artists, Bands

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A Couple Kisses That Sealed the Deal

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A Couple Kisses That Sealed the Deal

When Olivia Christine Snyder-Spak matched with Elias Jeremy Stein on Hinge in September 2021, she was a decade into online dating but had never found an ideal partner. “I had probably gone on at least a few hundred first dates, sometimes even doing two in a day,” she said.

Mr. Stein was less versed in internet matchmaking and had been on only a handful of dates over the previous year. “I wanted a serious relationship and decided to try the online route since meeting people in person during Covid was harder,” he said.

At the time, Mr. Stein, 35, was renting an apartment in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn; Ms. Snyder-Spak, 36, lived on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The two exchanged messages for a week about their shared love for cooking classes and art projects and exchanging funny stories. Then, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak on a mini-golfing date.

When they met, in mid-September, at the Putting Green mini-golf course in Brooklyn, Mr. Stein was struck by Ms. Snyder-Spak’s energy. “She was super cute and seemed bubbly,” he said.

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They played golf for an hour, chatting about their backgrounds and professions as they navigated the course. “We laughed a lot because Olivia kept hitting the ball far away from the hole,” Mr. Stein said. “The conversation was so good that I asked her for drinks afterward.”

They walked to the nearby Other Half Brewing, sat outside and continued talking over beers for the next several hours. “We were easy with each other, and it was clear we had clicked,” Mr. Stein said.

Eventually, it started to rain heavily. As they waited for their Uber rides, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak if he could kiss her. “I said yes, and when he smooched me, it felt like a movie kiss,” she said, describing it as “very romantic.”

They settled into a dating cadence almost immediately, seeing each other several times a week for activities like sushi-making, comedy shows and museums. On Halloween, they went to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. “The spookiness of a cemetery seemed fitting, and the fact that Eli felt the same way was a big sign that he was going to be a great teammate, down for whatever,” Ms. Snyder-Spak said.

A vacation to Turks and Caicos Islands in January 2022 solidified their commitment. “Our flight back got canceled because of bad weather and a staffing shortage, and the two we booked after that also got canceled,” Mr. Stein said. “We eventually ended up in Miami and got bumped on our flight home.”

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Nevertheless, they had fun. “That’s when I knew that Olivia was the one.”

The experience made Ms. Snyder-Spak “realize that I wanted to do hard things together with Eli forever,” she said.

Mr. Stein grew up in Durham, N.C. He is a product manager on the software development team at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York and the founder of Admissions Intelligence, a college admissions platform that uses artificial intelligence. He has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Vassar College.

Ms. Snyder-Spak is from Woodbridge, Conn., and works as the director of nonfiction at the entertainment production company Topic Studios, in New York. She has a bachelor’s degree in film from Dartmouth.

After their Turks and Caicos trip, the couple began spending several nights a week at one of their two apartments. In July 2022, they began renting a place, which they’ve since bought, in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

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Their bond grew as they decorated their home and traveled to places like Brazil, Portugal and Costa Rica. “My love for Olivia was getting stronger, and it was the right time to propose,” Mr. Stein said.

[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]

On Dec. 13, 2023, during a nighttime picnic in Prospect Park, Mr. Stein asked Ms. Snyder-Spak to marry him as the Geminids meteor shower brightened the skies. As they kissed after she said yes, they caught a glimpse of a shooting star.

More than a year later, on Dec. 29, they wed on the front stoop of a Park Slope brownstone owned by Rabbi Yael Werber, a friend of the couple and the ceremony’s officiant. Rabbi Werber is affiliated with Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Afterward, they walked to Mille-Feuille Bakery Cafe in Prospect Heights and indulged in three desserts.

In September, Mr. Stein and Ms. Snyder-Spak had hosted a six-day, pre-wedding celebration in Asheville, N.C., for 140 guests; it included activities such as solving a murder mystery, visiting local breweries and tubing down the French Broad River. The festivities culminated in a symbolic wedding ceremony on Sept. 1 at Yesterday Spaces, an event venue in Leicester, N.C.

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“All my online dating before Eli was worth it because I found the guy I was looking for all along,” Ms. Snyder-Spak said. “I remember the hard work, but now everything feels like magic.”

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