Viral Olympian Raygun Joins Tones And I Onstage for Melbourne Concert
The controversial Olympian was welcomed to the stage by Tones And I who labeled her “the most iconic break dancer there is”.
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Following claims of retirement from Australian breaker Rachael Gunn, or “b-girl Raygun,” the viral Olympic hopeful has made a surprise appearance onstage with fellow Aussie Tones And I at the latter’s Melbourne performance on Saturday (Nov. 9).
Performing at Rod Laver Arena, the penultimate song of Tones And I’s headline set was “Dance With Me”, the fourth single from her 2024 album, Beautifully Ordinary.
While the album charted atop the ARIA chart in Australia, Tones And I has not had a charting hit in the US apart from her breakthrough single “Dance Monkey”, which peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 i 2019.
Hyping up the crowd, Tones And I urged the audience to “please give it up for an Australian icon, the most iconic break dancer there is, Raygun!”
The controversial Olympian took to the stage to share her breaking skills throughout the performance, with memories of her viral appearance at the Paris Olympics flooding back for all in attendance.
Taking to social media following Raygun’s appearance, Tones And I shared a video of the encounter and expressed her gratitude for the breaker, referring to her as the “most beautiful kindest full of life human I have met”
“It was an honour to celebrate you last night,” she added. “Thank you for sharing the stage with me and bringing smiles to so many faces. You always have a friend in me.”
Raygun, a 37-year-old university lecturer from Sydney, shot to fame in August when failed to score any points at the Paris Olympics in routines that included a “kangaroo” dance. The following month, the World DanceSport Federation issued a statement to “provide clarity” on why Raygun had managed to top the sport’s latest world rankings.
Their explanation revealed that the methodology for the rankings were based on each athlete’s top four performances within the past 12 months — but excludes Olympic events including the Paris Games and Olympic qualifier series events in Shanghai and Budapest.
Earlier this month, the breaker made headlines once again when reports emerged that she had announced her retirement from the sport.
She later went on the record to clarify that she would no longer be competing, though not retiring from breaking entirely.
