Breakdance, breaking, b-boying or b-girling is a street dance style that evolved as part of the hip hop movement among African American and Puerto Rican youths in the South Bronx of New York City during the early 1970s. It is normally danced to funk or hip hop music, often remixed to prolong the breaks, and is arguably the best known of all hip hop dance styles.

A breakdancer, breaker, b-boy or b-girl refers to a person who practices breakdancing.

Origins: From street to dance

Breakdancer doing a turtle.

Breaking was born when street corner DJ's (in legend it is DJ Kool Herc who was first) would take the breakdown sections (or "breaks")of dance records and string them together without any elements of thesong per se. This provided a raw rhythmic base for improvising andfurther mixing, and it allowed dancers to display their skills duringthe break.

One of the major break dance street culture pushes was Michael Jackson's Robot dance,firstly performed on television in 1974. The performance received bigfollowing in the country with many later break dance pioneers furtherpopularizing break dance in the late 1970s.

Popular speculations of the early 1980s suggest that breakdancing,in its organized fashion seen today, began as a method for rival gangsof the ghetto to mediate and settle territorial disputes.^[1]In a turn-based showcase of dance routines, the winning side wasdetermined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other bydisplaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves.^[2]

It later was through the highly energetic performances of the late funk legend James Brown and the rapid growth of dance teams, like the Rock Steady Crew of New York City,that the competitive ritual of gang warfare evolved into a pop-culturephenomenon receiving massive media attention. Parties, disco clubs,talent shows, and other public events became typical locations forbreakdancers, including gang members for whom dancing served as apositive diversion from the threats of city life.

Though its intense popularity eventually faded in the 1980s, it hastoday grown into a well-known and accepted dance style, portrayed incommercials, movies, and the media, and often available at common dance studios. Some large annual breakdance competitions can be seen today, such as Battle of the Year or the heavily sponsored Red Bull BC One.

The dance

For more details on this topic, see List of breakdance moves.

A breakdancer in the middle of a downrock.

Breakdancing is generally unstructured and highly improvisational,allowing the incorporation of many different elements. A basic routinemight include toprock, a transition into downrock, a display of power moves, and finally a climactic freeze or suicide.

Toprock refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position, relying upon a mixture of coordination,flexibility, style, and most importantly, rhythm. It is usually thefirst and foremost opening display of style, and it serves as a warm-upfor transitions into more acrobatic maneuvers. In contrast, downrockincludes all footwork performed on the floor as in the 6-step.Downrock is normally performed with the hands and feet on the floor. Indownrock, the breakdancer displays his or her proficiency with footspeed and control by performing footwork combinations. Thesecombinations usually transition into more athletic moves known as powermoves.

The windmill is a popular power move.

Power moves refer to moves that require momentum and physical powerto execute. In power moves, the breakdancer relies more on upper bodystrength to dance, using his or her hands to do moves. Power movesinclude windmill, swipe, and flare.Because power moves are physically demanding, breakdancers use them asa display of upper body strength and stamina. Many moves are borrowedfrom gymnastics, such as the flare, and martial arts, with impressiveacrobatics such as the butterfly kick.

A one-handed handstand, commonly used as a freeze.

Freezeshalt all motion in a stylish pose. The more difficult freezes requirethe breakdancer to suspend himself or herself off the ground usingupper body strength, in poses such as the handstand or pike. Whereas freezing refers to a single pose, locking^[3] entails sharp transitions between a series of freezes.

Suicidesare another type of end to a routine. Breakers will make it appear thatthey have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. Themore painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, butbreakdancers execute them in a way to minimize pain. In contrast tofreezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losingcontrol, while freezes draw attention to the final position.

"Battles" refer to any level of competition in which breakdancers inan open space (typically a circle or even on stage) participate inquick-paced, turn-based routines, whether improvised or planned.Participants vary in number, ranging from head-to-head duels to battlesof opposing breakdance crews,or teams. Winners are determined by the side exhibiting the mostproficient and varied combinations of moves. "Cyphers," on the otherhand, are open-forum, mock exhibitions where competition is lessemphasized.

In pop culture

Cartoon of a breakdancer displaying a basic freeze, next to a stereotypical boombox.

Since its inception, breakdancing has provided a youth cultureconstructive alternative to violent urban street gangs. Today,breakdancing culture is a remarkable discipline somewhere in-betweenthose of dancers and athletes.Since acceptance and involvement centers on dance skills, breakdancingculture is usually free of the common race, gender and age boundariesof a subculture and has been accepted worldwide.

The world scene

Social interaction centers on practices and competitions, which areoccasionally intertwined because of its improvisational style. Whilefeatured at dance schools, breakdancing is very difficult, typicallytaught to newbies, or beginners, by more experiencedbreakdancers and passed on to new generations by informalword-of-mouth. Clubs and hip-hop schools do exist, but are rare innumber and more so in organization.

Music

As the clichéd quote "break to the beat" insists, music is a stapleingredient for breakdancing. The original songs that popularized thedance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz, soul, funk, electro or electro funk, disco, and R&B. The most common feature of breakdance music exists in breaks, or compilations formed from samplestaken from different songs which are then looped and chained togetherby the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135beats-per-minute with shuffled sixteenth and quarter beats in the percussive pattern. History credits Kool Dj Herc for the invention of this concept, later termed breakbeat.

The musical selection is not restricted to hip-hop as long as thetempo and beat pattern conditions are met. It can be readily adapted todifferent music genres (often with the aid of remixing). World competitions have seen the unexpected progressions and applications of heavily European electronica, and even opera. Some b-boys, such as Pierre, even extend it to rock music.

Fashion

Breakdancer doing a headstand.

For most breakdancers, fashion is a defining aspect of identity. The breakdancers of the 1980s typically sported flat-soled Adidas,Puma, or Fila shoes with thick, elaborately patterned laces. Somebreakdancing crews matched their hats, shirts, and shoes to showuniformity, and were perceived as a threat to the competitor by theirapparent strength in numbers. B-boys also wore nylon tracksuitswhich were functional as well as fashionable. The slick, low-frictionmaterial allowed the breakdancer to slide on the floor much morereadily than with cotton or most other materials. Hooded nylon jacketsallowed dancers to perform head spins and windmills with greater ease.Additionally, the popular image of the original breakdancer alwaysinvolved a public performance on the street, accompanied by theessential boombox and oversized sheet of cardboard, which serves as a dance floor.

The b-boys today dress differently from the b-boys in the 80s, but one constant remains: dressing "fresh".^{[citation needed]}Due to the spread of breakdancing from the inner cities into thesuburbs and other social groups, different perceptions of "fresh" havearisen. Generally the rule that one's gear needs to match has remainedfrom the 80s, along with a certain playfulness. Kangols are still worn by some, and track pants and nylon clothes still have their place combined with modern sneakers and hats. Trucker hats were reintroduced to the scene in the late 1990s, well before the mainstream pop culture began wearing them again in numbers.^{[citation needed]}

A freeze.

Function is heavily intertwined with b-boy fashion. Due to thedemands on the feet in b-boying, b-boys look for shoes with low weight,good grip, and durability in the sole as well as elsewhere. Headwearcan facilitate the movement of the head on the ground, especially inheadspins. Bandannas underneath headwear can protect against thediscomfort of fabric pulling on hair. Wristbands placed along the armcan also lower friction in particular places, as well as provide someprotection. Today's breakdancing styles, which emphasize fast-paced,fluid floor moves and freezes, differ from that of two decades ago,requiring more freedom of movement in the upper body. Therefore, lessbaggy upperwear is more common today (though pants remain baggy).^{[citation needed]}

Some dancers and crews have begun to dress in a style similar to "goth" or punk rockers in order to stand out from the more traditional toned-down b-boy appearance.

Certain clothing brands have been associated with breaking, for instance, Tribal. Puma is also well known in the breaking community. Both brands sponsor many b-boy events.

But aside from these generalities, many b-boys choose not to try toohard to dress for breaking, because one would want to be able to breakanytime, anywhere, whatever the circumstances.^{[citation needed]}This is part of the reason why many breakdancers would rather learnheadspins without a helmet even though helmets allow them to learn thetechnique more easily.

Breakdancing as a folk dance

There is some academic interest in whether breaking can be considered a folk dance. In particular, street dances are living and evolving dance forms, while folk dances are to a significant degree bound by tradition. Breakdancing was in the beginning a social dance but in its later years, because of media and television exposure, it has become a more performance oriented dance.

Breakdancing as a stage show

Se7en performs his signature Nike kick.

In many different countries, most notably South Korea,different stage companies and individual breakdancing crews arecreating musicals and stage shows that are either based on, or focus onbreakdancing. Among the most notable is A Ballerina Who Loved A B-Boy,a musical telling the story of a ballerina who falls in love with thepower of breakdancing. It is played by professional breakdance crews,including Extreme Crew, Maximum Crew, and Able Crew. Anotherbreakdancing musical is Marionette, performed, created and choreographed by Korean breakdancing crew Expression. Many entertainers have incorporated breakdance moves into their stage performance, ranging from professional wrestler Booker T to Korean singer Se7en.

Media exposure

In the 1980s, with the help of pop culture and MTV, breakdancing made its way from America to the rest of the world as a new cultural phenomenon. Musicians such as Michael Jackson popularized some of the breakdancing styles in music videos, and movies such as Flashdance, Wild Style, Beat Street, Breakin', and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogalooalso contributed to the growing appeal of breakdancing. Today, manyb-boys and former breakers are disappointed by the media hype that haschanged the focus of breakdancing to money and overuse of power moves.Breaking was given proper respect in the critically-acclaimed, featuredocumentary film: The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy.The film captured the essence of the culture and accurately traced theorigin, evolution, and position of the dance within the Hip Hopmovement.

Controversy

Though recreational, the dance is not without its heated debates.

Name

Some practitioners state the original terms b-boying or breaking are better names for the dance as breakdance was supposedly created by the media as a marketing device. As such, the term breakdanceis said to lack the depth and history of the older terms and are todaylooked down by some who consider its use as an evidence of ignoranceand disrespect to the history of the dance style itself.

Style vs. technique

Multiple stereotypes have emerged in the breakdancing community overthe give-and-take relationship between technical footwork and physicalprowess. Those who focus on dance steps and fundamental sharpness—butlack upper-body brawn, form, discipline, etc.—are labeled as "style-heads" and specialists of more gymnastics-oriented technique and form—at the cost of charisma and coordinated footwork—are known as "power-heads."Such terms are used colloquially often to classify one's skill,however, the subject has been known to disrupt competitive events wherejudges tend to favor a certain array of techniques.

Gang association

It has often been stated that breakdancing replaced fighting betweenstreet gangs, though some believe it a misconception that b-boying everplayed a part in mediating gang rivalry. These gang roots madebreakdancing itself seem controversial in its early history.

Uprocking

Uprockingas a dance style of its own never gained the same wide-spreadpopularity as breakdance, except for some very specific moves adoptedby breakers who use it as a variation for their toprock. When used in abreakdance battle, opponents often respond by performing similar uprockmoves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle.

Some state that because uprocking was originally a separate dancestyle it should never be mixed with breaking, and that the uprock movesperformed by breakers today are not the original moves but poorimitations that only shows a small part of the original uprock style.

Injury risks

Often the danger inherent in breakdancing is overemphasized. As withany other strenuous activity, a measured risk of physical injuryexists. Breakdancers should practice using professional supervision todecrease the chances of personal injuries.

Pop-media references to breakdancing

• Buffalo Gals (Malcolm McLaren music video. 1982): The first breakdancing video on MTV, that brought hip hop to the mainstream, most noticeably in Europe.
• Wild Style! (Movie. 1982)
• Flashdance (Movie. 1983): features an appearance by the Rock Steady Crew and a stunt breakdance stand-in for the main character.
• Style Wars (Movie. 1983): Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's historicPBS documentary Style Wars tracks the rise and fall of subway graffitiin New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the peak of itspopularity, graffiti was as much a part of B-boy culture as rapping,scratching, and breaking.
• Breakin' (Movie. 1984): The first movie all about breakdancing
• Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (Movie. 1984).
• Delivery Boys (Movie. 1984) Genres Comedy, Plot Synopsis: A gang ofboys under the Brooklyn Bridge are united by their common interest inbreak dancing. Some work as pizza delivery boys, hence they callthemselves the "Delivery Boys". They form a dance team and enter alocal break dance contest, sponsored by a woman's panty manufacturer. Arival gang's sponsor intimidates their employer into thinking she mustkeep the boys working so they won't be harmed. She gives the boys some"specialized" deliveries to make them late for the contest. The anticsand calamities abound as the boys wrestle with her work assignments andgetting to the contest on time.
• Beat Street (Movie. 1984)
• It's Like That by Run DMC (Music Video. 1997): Quite possibly thedance video responsible for the return of breakdancing to mainstreamculture. The recording, though seemingly unrelated to the harsh themesof the song, features a comical battle between two talentedrespectively all-female and male crews.
• Bust A Groove (Video game franchise. 1998): The two games series by 989 Studioswhich spanned comprises a rhythm based gameplay that featuredcharacters with distinctly unique dance styles. The fictional maincharacter, "Heat," former F-1 racer, specializes in breakdancing, whileother selectable characters, punk Gas-O and alien twins Capoeira userespectively house and (obviously) Capoeira martial arts.
• Zoolander. (Movie. 2001): On a catwalk, model Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson)engage in a "walk-off," or a mock modeling exhibition which sees boththem randomly performing breakdancing moves—notably the Robot, thewallflip, and a few windmills. Later in the film, Hansel uses headspinsto kick his enemy in the face, an absurd attack to which villain Mugatu(Will Ferrell) blurts, "They're breakdance fighting!"
• Save the Last Dance (Movie. 2001)^{[citation needed]}
• Days Go By by Dirty Vegas(Music Video. 2002): The music video tells the story of a man whoreturns to the same spot every year to breakdance in the hopes that thegirl who left him will return.
• Pro-Test by Skinny Puppy (Music Video. 2004): Features B-Boys breakdancing on a sidewalk in Los Angeles, when a group of gothsshow up to the B-Boys ridicule. At this point a battle breaks outbetween the B-Boys and the goths with the goths winning out in the end.The video also features Krumping.
• You Got Served (Movie. 2004): The film centers on street dancing, where two inner-city dancers (played by Omarion Grandberry and Marques Houston),along with their crew, compete in a tournament to regain pride andmoney lost in a hasty bet. Though marred by mediocre acting and storyplot, the film was praised for high-level choreography, and featuredworld-class breakdancers from California. The movie also popularizedthe slang term "served."
• South Park - You Got F'd in the A (Television series. 2004): This episode features a parody to the plot seen in You Got Served.
• Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers(Music Video. 2005): features three young boys who sneak out of theirhomes late at night wearing clown makeup and then sneak into a danceclub for a break dance competition focuses heavily on Krump the song mixes Hip-hop and Electronica elements.
• B-boy (videogame) (2006): a console game which aims at an unadulterated depiction of breakdancing^[4]
• Break (Mini Series 2006) The Korean mini series featured well known singers and dancers including Poppin' Nam Hyun Joon that brings people of all backgrounds into a breakdancing competition.
• Over the Rainbow (Drama series 2006) centers on a differentcharacters who are brought together by breakdancing as they all try toaim for fame. This series includes many popular Korean stars includingFany of Fly to the Sky and also guest stars many Korean bboys including the 2005 BOTY champions, Last for One's Zero-nine.
• Energy Drink Energzen Commercial (2006) A Korean commercial featuring Bboy Bruce Lee from the 2004 BOTY champions Gambler.
• Canon in D Korean video clip (2006) features a famous DJ (DJ Chang Eue), beatboxer (Eun Jun), and three members of the 2005 BOTY champions, Last for One in two different versions.
• South Korea vs North KoreaBreakdancing video clip (2005) depicts the separation of these twonations and the will for reunification through bboying. Ths video clipincludes world famous breakdancers Bboy Ducky (Drifterz). Bboy Trickx(Drifterz), Bboy Phyicx (Rivers), and Hong10 (Drifterz).
• World famous Korean crews including Gambler Crew, Rivers Crew,Extreme (Obowang) Crew, Drifterz Crew and more have participated increating breakdancing tutorial clips shown on television and online tohelp instruct the new generation of aspiring bboys.
• In addition, members of the boy band Shinhwa including Minwoo and Junjin have participated in teaching their own breakdancing skills to their fans.
• The 2002 BOTY champions, Expression Crew, the 2004 BOTY champions, Gambler Crew, and the 2005 BOTY champions, Last for Onealong with many other well known crews have created schools foraspiring breakdancers and advertisement in Korea has been profound asthey have recruited hundreds of students from around their country.
• Koreansingers have been known for incorporating breakdancing moves into theirchoreographies, music videos and performances. The list of such singersinclude:
  • Se7en (singer) in his music videos and performances including "Passion", "Crazy", "I Know", and more.
  • BoA in her 2005 "Girls on Top" performance at the M.Net 2005 Music Awards.
  • Rain in his music videos and performances "It's Raining", "Bad Guy", "I'm Coming", and more.
  • Group Big Bang in their music videos and performances "V.I.P", "We Belong Together", "My Girl", and more.
  • YG Family in their 2003 music video "Get Ready."
  • Group 1TYM in ther music videos and performances including "1TYM", "Ready or Not", "Nasty", "Hot" and more.
  • Group Jinusean in their music videos and performances "Gasoline"m "A-Yo", and more.
  • Boy band Battle in their music video "Crash."
  • Korean popstar, Hyori's music video "Anymotion" featuring Eric of Shinhwa shows scenes of breakdancing
  • Boy Band Shinhwa in their music videos and performances including "Yo!", "Only One", "All Your Dreams", "Wild Eyes", "Brand New", and more.
  • Jang Woo Hyuk in his music videos "Flip Reverse", "The Sun That Never Sets", "Pump Flow" and more.
  • Boy band TVXQ in their music videos and performances including "Rising Sun" and "O."
  • Minwoo in his music videos and performances including "Bump!!" as both a soloist and a member of Shinhwa.
• Pump It Upis a Korean game that requires physical movement of the feet. The gameis open for breakdancing and many people have accomplished this feat bymemorizing the steps and creating dance moves to hit the arrows ontime. See World Pump Freestyle (WPF) videos.
• In 2005, the widow of Gene gave permission to Volkswagen as part of their Volkswagen Golf GTipromotion, to use Gene Kelly's likeness. However, despite Mrs. Kelly'surging, the German auto maker refused to show the commercial in the U.S.. The television clip featured a partly CGI version of Kelly breakdancing to a new version of "Singin' in the Rain", remixed by Mint Royale. The tagline was, "The original, updated."
• 2006, outside of the large shopping mall at Dongdaemun in Seoul,South Korea, a number of bboys gathered to promote a new mp3 productduring the peak of shopping hours successfully gathering lots ofattention.
• In later installments of the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, Sonic is known to breakdance as a form of celebration, or even as attack moves in some situations.
• In the game Super Smash Bros. Melee for Nintendo GameCube, some characters use breakdancing moves for their downward smash attack.
• In the novel Kid B by Linden Dalecki, published on Houghton Mifflin (2006). The first, and currently only, novel set in the world of b-boying.
• In the Australian documentary Sprayed Conflict,produced by Robert Moller (1994). Featured the breakdancing ofAustralian graffiti artist and 2000 Melbourne Extreme Games breakdancewinner Duel.
• The character Mugen on the anime TV series Samurai Champloo uses a fighting style that is based on breakdancing.
• Code: Lyoko: Odd Della Robbia creates a movie called "Break, Break, Breakdance".
• Some characters in the Tekken series, notably Eddy Gordo and Christie Monteiro, specialize in capoeira, resulting in a fighting style similar to breakdancing.

Breakdancing in fiction

In 1997, Korea, Kim Soo Yong began serialization of the first breakdancing themed comic, Hip Hop (comic). The comic was immediate success, and sold over 1.5 million books when it was published into books. Hip Hopis credited for introducing the Hiphop and breakdancing culture toKoreans, and inspired many teenagers to begin breakdancing, which wasstill looked down on in Korea those days. Many Korean breakdancers suchas Bruce Lee (dancer) admitted they were first introduced and inspired to breakdance by reading Hip Hop when they were teenagers.

The first breakdancing-themed novel, Kid B,was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki,was an amateur b-boy in high school and directed a short documentaryfilm about Texas b-boy culture before writing the novel. The novelevolved from Dalecki's b-boy themed short story The B-Boys of Beaumont, which won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest.