Finally, the b-boys — and b-girls — of summer are here, and they’re bringing their unique blend of dance, gymnastics and hip-hop culture to Paris. On Aug. 9, breaking — don’t call it breakdancing — makes its anticipated Olympic debut in one of the sport’s highest-profile moments to date.
The entrance to the Olympics is a huge milestone for a sport and a dance style that has fought long and hard for social recognition. After all, you can’t be an Olympic athlete without approaching a mentally unbalanced level of physical stamina and ability. And when you match that with the level of agility required of great dancers and the heady competition of a sport honed through street fighting, you have the recipe for a truly unique, groundbreaking Olympic sport — and street dance on a whole new global level in this American-born mainstream.
What is broken?
To understand Breaking, you have to understand the roots of hip-hop culture. On the sidewalks and back yards of the Bronx, where hip-hop was born in the late 60s and 70s, there were four main genres or elements of the hip-hop industry: DJing, MCing, graffiti art, and breaking, all of which developed into cornerstones of contemporary mainstream culture. has been DJing is everywhere, from your average wedding to megastars who play in clubs and arenas and has evolved to producers who create beats and sounds. MCing became more commonly known as rapping, which further developed into a diverse and rich poetic language. Graffiti has influenced modern art and pop aesthetics for decades, and influenced “guerrilla” art and other subversive underground art movements. It is now a regular installation in museums and galleries and an important element of public art in urban areas. And breaking, growing alongside other related but separate street dance styles, has become one of the most famous and popular dances around.
Over the decades, breaking and other street dance styles have benefited as popular dance mediums step up Franchise, K-pop and other popular Asian dance groups, and shows like Chinese street dance. Simultaneously, the rise of high-profile international street dance circuit competitions such as Just Debut and Red Bull’s annual BC One Challenge Braking and its associated culture have sent it on an upward trajectory that shows no signs of stopping.
Braking is a unique blend of athleticism and artistry
When a B-boy or B-girl wants to be taken seriously as a breaker, they need to show that they can not only make big athletic movements, but they can also execute precisely.toprock,” are the basic steps to open up and transform a dance into more athletic movement — because the beat is still essential to the performance. In a toprock battle, as shown below, big movements don’t always win out over controlled music.
Outside of a specialized toprock competition such as this, the purpose of the toprock is to help the dancer move smoothly onto the floor, where larger, more gymnastic moves usually occur. But that was not always the case; A 2020 InterviewOG hip-hop pioneer DJ EZ Mike explains how breaking over time became the larger movement it is known for today:
The dance changed over the years. We didn’t windmill on the floor because we didn’t get our clothes dirty. We dress very nicely. So it had a lot to do with hand movements, facial expressions and footwork. I guess they call it up-rocking today.
As dancers became more comfortable getting down and dirty, the form of breaking expanded. In this classic breaking footage from 1984, the street dance crew Sidewalk Breakers perform a variety of moves that show how complex footwork flows across complex floors:
This is where the most well-known breaking moves come from — such as the “Thomas Flare,” a famous gymnast move that evolved into an even more famous old-school breaking move in which a dancer balances on one or both hands while walking around…
…or “Windmill”, which is basically the same thing in reverse, with the dancer balancing on their elbows and shoulders and sometimes just their head.
Obviously some of these big “power moves” are extremely dangerous, which is one reason that braking has struggled for decades to overcome what it initially had a negative reputation for. Part of this was due to the overall stigmatization of hip-hop culture by the mainstream and racist stereotypes that it was inherently associated with gang participation. In fact, there were four “elements” of hip-hop First brought together As a way for gangs in the Bronx to peacefully assemble and interact in block parties and other collective forms of community-building. They gave rise to the dance crew, which is still a staple of street dance culture. Street dance is inherently both collective and competitive, so you’re always stronger when you’re part of a strong group of dancers.
Another reason for the negative public perception of breaking was the media-coined moniker “breakdancing” itself (which originated due to a flub the manager legendary rock steady crew during an interview) and the danger and risk of injury it implies. Within the culture, the name “breaking” actually comes from participants responding to breaks in music—that is, filling in parts of what we now think of as “dance breaks.” What else? the dance Originally, breaking was just for fun, improvised during block parties. This results in “Cipher“or dance groups where participants form a circle – an informal stage – and take turns dancing for each other. Eventually, the cipher gave rise to a more structured form of competition – the “battle” – which still dominates street dance culture.
As we can see from the first video above, the battle format is generally pretty simple. Two contestants improvise, or “freestyle,” dance moves to songs selected by a DJ and directed by an MC. They usually compete in two rounds, after which the judges declare the winner. Judges are almost always on stage or sidestage with the contestants, and in most settings they vote in the most informal way possible — by making a decision then and there, pointing to who won.
In cases where the judges cannot decide, they will form an “X” with their hands, indicating that the dancers must do one more round. In some cases, “one more round” can turn into multiple rounds and become a test of stamina. That’s a big deal for the Breakers, who are known less for their prowess in long fights than for their massive bursts of physical activity.
Of course, there are variations of one-on-one battles, such as two-on-two battles or team battles. The most famous team battle is probably “7 to Smoke”, a brutal battle format where contestants who win a round continue to battle other contestants until they lose and the new winner takes charge of the battle. This continues until either a total of 25 minutes have elapsed, the winner is the person who wins the most rounds, or until one person manages to win seven rounds.
These are key points to break down. But of course, things are a little more complicated for the Olympics.
What you can expect at the Olympics
Throughout the 2010s, there was an Olympic dance lobby known as the World Dancesport Federation worked hard To raise awareness of break as a dance style and advocate for its entry into the Olympics. (They adopted breaking as their main cause after failing to get ballroom dance accepted into the Games — a big pivot, but one that paid off.) In 2016, they scored big during breaking’s debut at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. It was widely seen as a precursor to the Olympic stage and as the official Olympic website welcome The games showcase breaking as a “real world game”.
You might expect the Olympics to completely change the way breaking battles are conducted, but surprisingly, they only are Slightly tweaked Basic combat concepts. In Paris, we will see 16 men and 17 women go through two main rounds of competition. (Since the women’s competition has an odd number of participants, the two lowest-ranked female contestants must first choose their own one-off round to join the rest of the competition.)
The first round for both men and women will be an all-round round robin battle with contestants randomly divided into four groups. Each contestant will then face off against three others in a two-round battle.
After they all compete against each other, the two highest-scoring contestants from each group will advance to the next three rounds of the competition, where they will be defeated in a three-round head-to-head battle. The last breaker standing — or windmilling — gets the gold.
The format differs slightly from standard combat, and the most important element — improvisation — remains. There are no pre-rehearsed routines; The Breakers will still demonstrate their ability to adapt songs they haven’t prepared in advance. The trial will necessarily be more formal. Judges will vote after each round based on six criteria. As with ice skating, some factors carry more weight than others, but surprisingly, it’s not a “technical/artistic” divide: technique, performance and creativity comprise 60 percent of the score; Personality, variety and music make up 40 percent. (“Performativity” in this context refers to how clearly the movement is performed.)
Competitors to keep your eye on include members of the Afghan IOC refugee team Looking for ManishaWho has won hearts with him Inspirational story Discovery and then re-discovery breaking across two continents. At 42, the veteran Japanese dancer Fukushima Ayumi Many younger dancers are encountered, many of whom are still in their teens and started dancing only a few years ago. He can face his own teammate, Yuasa AmiWith whom he had a strong back-and-forth enmity. He defeated Ami at the 2021 World Championships; Ayumi then won the 2022 world prize, only for Ayumi to return with a vengeance in the 2024 Olympic qualifiers.
On the men’s side, Vancouver-based pioneer Phillip Kim, aka Phil WizardHas a knack for pulling off miracles — he does decided To enter a cipher competition in Los Angeles, vowed to drop out of college and break full time if he won. he did His main competition? Probably Japan’s Nakarai Shigeyuki, aka ShigekixKnown for big, crowd-pleasing dance moves. For a preview of what that showdown might look like, here’s how they both faced off last year:
As exciting and fresh as all this is, these Games and these competitors still have a lot to prove to skeptics and Olympic officials alike. “Dance is not a game. It’s an industry, the International Olympic Committee or whatever So, you think you can dance Judges try to tell you,” opinion A columnist in 2022. “Seems like a desperate reach for more audiences with dance.” As recently as Fortune Note thatBreaking has not yet been approved for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles — despite the city being a hotbed of street dance culture and a regular stop on the combat competition circuits.
If we know anything about Breaker, though, it’s that they know how to put on big, dramatic shows. The Olympics may indeed experiment with bringing in more viewers, but this year’s breakers will make the gamble worth it — and hopefully leave them plenty to look forward to in four more years.
