Playing video games helped inspired Joshua (Fale) Faleatua's love of dance.
He's one of the world's best hip-hop dancers, a part-time tutor with the University of Auckland's Dance Studies programme and now one of Footnote New Zealand's newest dancers, but without video games, Joshua (Fale) Faleatua (pictured) might not be dancing.
One of 10 children, Faleatua was raised in Papakura where
his family was heavily involved in the church. For the Faleatua siblings, that meant singing in front of the congregation as well as at places like rest homes and schools.
But when he was home, Faleatua, 23, liked to play videogames and there was one where players could breakdance to fight their opponents. He was intrigued by the physicality of the characters he played and wanted to learn more about movement.
"I loved it [the breakdancing] and I would always choose that option," he recalls, "I ended up going to a dance studio in Pukekohe when my older sister became convinced that I really could dance."
Eventually, Faleatua found his way into Identity Dance Company and its adult hip-hop crew, The Bradas. He travelled with them to the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in Las Vegas last year, becoming part of the first New Zealand adult crew to win a gold medal.
