Breaking moves

AT the tender age of 24, Mohammad Faridh Mohd Yasin is already a veteran in the dancing scene. Going by his moniker Khenobu, he started b-boying (also known as breakdancing) eight years ago and has amassed many local and international dancing accolades under his belt.
"I was only 16 years old when I picked up dancing. You see, I come from a big family where I'm the third youngest among 15 siblings. And in our household, my sisters are into singing while my brothers are dancers. As a result of that, I was heavily influenced by my brothers," he said.
Nonetheless, Khenobu's first foray into dancing was by himself.
"I discovered that my brother has this old dancing video in the laptop, so I imitated the moves one by one until I can finally do it. Maybe it is also a God-given talent because after three months of dancing, I had won quite a few competitions. In fact, I defeated my own brother – who was an established b-boy at that point in time – to win my first ever competition."
From b-boying, he eventually ventured into other forms of dancing and has adopted a career as a professional dancer and choreographer.
"To me, dancing is a medication. Why? Because I realised that through dancing, I can touch other people's lives and even make them happy. If my dance performance can turn someone's bad day into a good one, I want to keep doing it," elaborated the Sabah-native.
What is usually the first thing on your mind when you wake up in the morning?
Every day, I wake up smiling and with the hope of making others happy; because I know that I can inspire people and make them happy with my dancing. I know that hip-hop has a bad reputation, but it actually teaches one to pursue what you love and to not give up. And I want to spread this spirit.
You said that you know almost every style of dancing. Which one do you particularly prefer?
The first is definitely breakdancing, then popping and, thirdly, contemporary. With these three, you can create a set of dancing choreography that can amaze the public. A lot of dancers focus only on one discipline, but I don't believe in that so I do everything.

Some of your dancing stunts look scary and dangerous. Aren't you afraid that you'll fall and hurt yourself?
I think this depends on the individual. When you love the thing you do, you'll keep doing it no matter what happens. Dancing is both my work and my dream, so the pain, if any, is worth it.
Do you think you'll ever get bored of dancing?
Never! Dancing is very much my identity, thus it'll always be a part of me. You know the wonderment that a child experiences when you bring him or her to Disneyland? That's how I feel whenever I dance.

If you are not a dancer, what do you think you might be doing?
In such scenario, I'd like to believe that I would have ended up as a production crew member. I love videography, hence I see myself producing videos professionally. All my dancing videos, which I posted on social media accounts, were either directed or shot by myself.