Pictures of the week: Twin Peaks, by Linda Brownlee

Jay and Perry Howell, teenage twins from east London, have been breakdancing for as long as they can remember. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

They are breath­takingly athletic and, like a pair of underage yogis, can balance on their heads without using their hands. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Another surreal move involves one of them lying on the floor, the other free-headstanding on his brother’s stomach at what looks like a gravity-defying, 60-degree angle. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Here, they are mid-swan dive, photographed against a concrete urban backdrop on their home turf, Plaistow. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

“They are addicted to breakdancing,” says photographer Linda Brownlee, who came across the pair performing with their crew, Rain. “And completely committed, practising 20 hours a week. They want to make careers of it and travel the world.” Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Brownlee decided to shoot them in a clean, architectural space, rather than a more common streetscape filled with crowds, ghetto-blasters and blinking neon signs. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Cities often have dedicated spots for performers such as Jay and Perry; by removing them from these natural dancing locations to a quieter area, Brownlee shows their extraordinary physicality in a new light – they more resemble contemporary dancers on a stage set (indeed, the brothers have performed at Sadler’s Wells). Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Yet some of these iconic urban spots are under threat. The concrete skatepark at London’s Southbank Centre, for decades home to boarders, BMX bikers and graffiti artists, is facing the possibility of being turned into shops as part of the refurbishment of the arts complex. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Jay and Perry, their crews and their skateboarding brothers inject these often neglected, underused spaces with energy and life. City planners should welcome them, not bulldoze them off the premises. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Jay and Perry Howell, teenage twins from east London, have been breakdancing for as long as they can remember. Photograph: Linda Brownlee

Jay and Perry Howell, teenage twins from east London, have been breakdancing for as long as they can remember. Photograph: Linda Brownlee