The Paris Olympics rolled out the red carpet for breakdancing, much to the delight of the younger crowd who had been clamoring for this funky dance form to take its rightful place as a sport. Enter Rachael Gunn, aka Raygun—a 37-year-old Australian who didn’t just come to the French capital to bust a move; she brought along a research paper on the evolution of breakdancing! With her impressive qualification back home, expectations were sky-high for Raygun to light up the Olympic stage. But, oh boy, did she flip the script.

In her three battles, Raygun didn’t just lose; she scored a big fat zero every time. That’s right—judges didn’t see anything extraordinary in her performances compared to the fierce competition. To top it all off, her green tracksuit, the “kangaroo hop,” and offbeat dance style led some to label her as ‘unserious’ on a grand stage like the Olympics. Fast forward nearly 60 days, and Raygun is still the talk of the town, but this time she’s taking center stage as part of a spooky holiday theme in Dallas’ Lakewood area!

The grim breakdancing show from the Paris Olympics is a neighborhood’s Halloween hit

According to NBFCDFW, something unique is brewing in a Dallas neighborhood as Halloween approaches! Residents are decking out their homes with pumpkins, witches, and all things spooky, but Jessica Maclin is taking it to a whole new level. Instead of the usual décor, she’s filled her backyard with fake skeletons of Olympic sports characters, including a gymnast and pole vaulter.

But the standout? A skeleton striking Raygun’s viral ‘Kangaroo hop’ from the Paris Olympics! When NBFCDFW caught up with Maclin, a former horse rider, she explained her approach: “We have a lot of young children on the block, so I can’t make it scary. If I do, they’ll let me know. So will the dogs on our block. They don’t love Raygun. The dogs bark at her.” But that’s not all. It seems the disappointment in the Australian breaker is a neighborhood sentiment!

In Dallas’ Lakewood neighborhood, several other residents have found Raygun’s dance style hilarious and spooky. Maclin herself narrated the story of one such individual. “We had one runner who started running backward trying to figure out the scene,” she shared. She further added, “Once he saw Raygun, he just slapped hands on his knees, cracking up!”

That pretty much sums up the mixed reactions Rachael Gunn faced after her much-debated performance on the grand Olympic stage. In an attempt to heal those wounds during the closing ceremony, Gunn showcased a much-improved routine. But alas, the recovery remains a work in progress. Now, she’s even earned herself a new tag for her dance style!

Raygun still finds a way to make it to the top 

Just a few days ago, Rachael Gunn snagged the top spot in the world ranking for breakdancing, and let’s just say, that stirred up quite the hornet’s nest for the sport’s governing body! After all, her unorthodox dance moves at the Olympics didn’t exactly win over the community, so how did she climb to such dizzying heights?

The World Dance Sport Federation had a ready explanation: the rankings were based on the top four performances from the last 12 months, conveniently excluding the Olympic qualifying events and the main competition in Paris. Talk about a loophole! Between December 2023 and the Olympics, no ranking events took place, so Gunn’s 1,000-point score at the Oceania Continental Championships became the golden ticket. That single performance propelled her ahead of the competition. Now, with her newfound ranking and those quirky Halloween decorations, Raygun is back in the spotlight, still managing to have a lighthearted silver lining to her wild ‘spin’!