NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — An opera singer who loves to break dance.
It’s a combination not often thought of, but Jakub Józef Orliński is breaking ground with his unique style in both professions.
“I don’t think there are a lot of opera singers who are also break dancers,” Orliński said.
Orliński has been called the “Justin Timberlake of the opera” and with social media, he’s been able to reach an even larger audience.
“I have about 116,000 [followers],” he said. “It’s good – for a classical musician, it’s big.”
And it doesn’t hurt that critics have said he has a voice that the statue of David would have had – along with the looks.
But with moves that David would have never had, Orliński has been hopeful that his love of break dancing can give him an edge in the world of performing arts.
“Stage directors these days are using choreographers, and usually choreographers are wanting to bring something new, fresh, into the opera house, and there are already some really big productions that use street dance in general,” he said.
The 29-year-old, who was born in Poland, trained professionally at Julliard and has been on the road for years, singing and dancing professionally.
However, he was recently back in New York City to sing at the Met in the opera “Eurydice.”
But even there, he found a second to find time for break dancing.
“I do contact people from the local hip-hop scene to dance with them,” Orliński explained.
He also teaches every now and then, and even gave our Mike Sugerman some tips on how to break dance like the pros.
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