Originally published in The Towerlight October 16, 2008. Photos by Kristofer Marsh, who won 3rd place for Region 2 in the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2009 Mark of Excellence Awards.

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is known for a lot of things. Crab cakes, boats, tourist traps… breakdancing?

Nestled between the National Aquarium’s ambient music and natural sounds on one side of the water and the occasional gospel choir performance on the other is a boom box blasting Daft Punk, Michael Jackson or whatever can be danced to.

Several Towson students, including senior electronic media and film major Sean Johnson, have gained recognition and earned hundreds of dollars in tips by breakdancing downtown.

Johnson, who performs under the nickname “Blak Majik,” has been breakdancing for four years. He said he started breaking when a friend, Danny “Atomic Goofball” Nguyen, introduced him to the culture.

“He told me where I could go to meet people to break and just pretty much he got me into the culture,” he said. “I learned the basics from him and took it from there.”

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