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Venezuelan breakdancer's helmeted 'head slides' stop traffic

Venezuelan professional breakdance athlete Kenyer Mendez, 27, who has gone viral by performing a head slide trick to make a living dancing at Colombia's traffic lights and dreams of joining Venezuela's first Olympic breakdance team in 2024, slides down a street headfirst at a traffic light, in Caracas, Venezuela June 22, 2022. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa

When the traffic light turns red on a busy Caracas street, Venezuelan dancer Kenyer Mendez seizes his chance -- sliding headfirst between waiting cars to show off his daredevil breakdance moves.

Videos of Mendez performing the so-called "head slide" with an oiled helmet on the streets of Venezuela's capital have gone viral, and the 27-year old dancer is dreaming big now: hoping to make the national breakdancing team for the Olympics as well as break the Guinness World Record for longest head slide.

"You need to be in good physical condition to perform each trick," said Mendez. "Even for the easiest trick, you need to be in good physical condition. It is why it (break dancing) has to be admired and respected like the other sports."

Venezuelan professional breakdance athlete Kenyer Mendez, 27, who has gone viral by performing a head slide trick to make a living dancing at Colombia's traffic lights and dreams of joining Venezuela's first Olympic breakdance team in 2024, performs at a traffic light, in Caracas, Venezuela June 22, 2022. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa

(Reporting by Johnny Carvajal, Editing by Deepa Babington)

Venezuelan professional breakdance athlete Kenyer Mendez, 27, who has gone viral by performing a head slide trick to make a living dancing at Colombia's traffic lights and dreams of joining Venezuela's first Olympic breakdance team in 2024, attends a training session at a gym, in Caracas, Venezuela July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa
Venezuelan professional breakdance athlete Kenyer Mendez, 27, who has gone viral by performing a head slide trick to make a living dancing at Colombia's traffic lights and dreams of joining Venezuela's first Olympic breakdance team in 2024, arranges a plastic pad with butter on the top of his helmet to slide better during a pause in his performance in Caracas, Venezuela June 23, 2022. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa
Venezuelan professional breakdance athlete Kenyer Mendez, 27, who has gone viral by performing a head slide trick to make a living dancing at Colombia's traffic lights and dreams of joining Venezuela's first Olympic breakdance team in 2024, walks along with his friends in Caracas, Venezuela July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa
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