If, in June, you watched a TV show called “Little Big Shots” on NBC, you may have caught an act where a 4-foot-tall powerhouse of a boys breaks through a brick wall tagged with the letters “LBS” and into an acrobatic B-boy dance while working the crowd and tossing his hat into the cheering audience.
Some 10 year olds dance ballet, tap or hip-hop. Mateo Nacu, of Oak Park, break dances. And, he break dances so well, he scored an appearance on NBC’s “Little Big Shots” season finale this summer with Quest Crew.
While some 10 year olds play basketball or may watch a Chicago Bulls game, Mateo performs with Bulls Kidz at the Chicago Bulls games, incorporating his break dancing skills along with hip-hop dancing to entertain crowds of more than 20,000 on average.
And, some 10 year olds take karate lessons. Mateo competes as a black belt at national and world championships and has medaled multiple times, ranking among the top in his age group in the world.
According to Mateo’s dad, Jay Nacu, his son’s interest in break dancing started when he was 2 years old and he saw street performers on a trip to San Francisco. By 4, he was enrolled in classes in Chicago and he started to compete soon after.
“When Mateo started competing at 5, he was one of the better in his age group, 17 and under,” said Jay Nacu. “He won a couple of firsts and competed in Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana and Florida.”
He also earned the named “Mighty Mateo” his b-boy, or break dancing name.
“My break dance teacher called me that, so it stuck,” Mateo said.
His dad said the name was fitting because he was “so powerful and strong.”
At the same time, Mateo was also doing gymnastics, from ages 4 to 9 at the Oak Park Gymnastics Center.
“It’s helped with his upper body strength and with his flips,” Jay Nacu said.
Trying out for Bulls Kidz was a natural progression.
“Most kids his age don’t have his confidence,” Jay said. “He was very competitive.”
Mateo, a rising fifth-grader, has completed two seasons with Bulls Kidz. The dance group, made up of 7 to 12 year olds, performs at 10 to 15 home games each season. Tryouts for next season are later this month and Mateo hopes to continue for a third season.
Being part of Bulls Kidz led down the winding road for his “Little Big Shots” TV moment. The Fox show “So You Think You Can Dance” solicited Bulls Kidz to tryout. After Mateo completed his audition in California, it came to light that he was one month too young to be on that show.
“The ‘Little Big Shots’ team heard the story and contacted the choreographer of Bulls Kidz,” Jay Nacu said. “We submitted a video that got him onto the show.”
Part of appearing included Mateo rehearsing for six hours and performing with the Emmy-nominated Quest Crew, doing an interview with host Steve Harvey, and having to keep the appearance a secret for almost a year. It was taped last summer, but did not appear until this June.
“The rehearsal was like being in heaven!” Mateo said. “It went by so fast. During the show, I was excited and nervous at the same time. At first I was nervous with the interview, but when I started dancing I was not nervous.”
The Nacus could not talk about the show airing until the previews were released to the general public. When Mateo told his classmates, he didn’t get the reaction he expected.
“In the beginning, when it hadn’t aired yet, they didn’t believe me,” he said. “When my family found out, they believed it because my dad put it on Facebook.”
When Mateo isn’t dancing, he is often doing something else he loves – karate. He grew up doing karate. His parents, including mom Denise Nacu, own Enso Oak Park, as well as Enso Chicago, both karate dojos. His older sister, Maile, also does karate.
Mateo has been competing since age 3. In 2016, He went on the world stage in Ireland, and came in third in his age group among black and brown belts. His father stressed the importance of making it onto the podium at an event like this.
“He competed against 70 others,” Nacu said. “He is also the youngest member on the U.S. Karate Team.”
Mateo also placed at the nationals last month in both team and individual events.
Through all of this, Mateo, who attends the University of Chicago Lab School, rarely misses a day of class. His dad says he does really well at school, and Mateo says he usually stays focused in class because it is engaging, but will think about dancing once in a while. When he does have time to dream, he has some big plans.
“I want to dance on the ‘Ellen’ show,” Mateo said. “And, go to the 2024 Olympics.”
Not yet an Olympic sport, karate will be introduced at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“Mateo will only be 13 at that time, so he is too young,” his dad said. “He’ll be 17 years old for the 2024 Olympics and hopes to make the U.S. Karate Team then.”