In the early 1970s, hip-hop dancers at block parties in New York City began incorporating moves from gymnastics, martial arts, and other sources into their repertoire, creating a new improvisational style called “b-boying.” Today, it is commonly known as “breaking,” though dancers who specialize in this genre prefer the term “breaking.”
Breaking is now set to appear on its biggest stage yet: the Olympics. Breaking will become the first-ever dance genre included in the Games when it debuts at this year’s event, which will take place between July 26 and August 11 in Paris.
Thirty-two athletes from around the world—16 men and 16 women—will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals in breaking. While a DJ spins tracks, dancers will improvise a variety of moves, including intricate footwork, twists, spins, and “freezes,” a feat that involves balancing on their hands or head. Judges will score them based on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity, and musicality.
So far, the United States has chosen two athletes: , a 35-year-old from New York, and , a 29-year-old based in Florida. The team still has two spots available.
Breaking made its debut at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2018, and was an instant hit. More than a million people watched the competition. The Summer Olympics hope to replicate that success.
“Breaking is allowing the [International Olympic Committee] to reconnect with the youth, the generation between 15 and 25 years old,” says Jean-Laurent Bourquin, a former senior manager with the committee and the former CEO of the World DanceSport Federation, breaking’s international governing body.
Athletes hope the unprecedented visibility will attract new people to breaking. “The Olympics are such a big platform for us to share what we do and bring people into the community that otherwise might not have known breaking even existed,” says , a 33-year-old who hopes to qualify for the U.S. team.
Some debate whether breaking deserves to be in the Olympics, while others argue that it should be considered an art, rather than a sport. However, breaking is not that different from other judged events at the Olympics, such as figure skating and gymnastics, that merge artistry and athleticism. Additionally, breakers train and prepare just like those participating in other Olympic events.
Breaking began in the Bronx in the summer of 1973, when a DJ named began experimenting at a party. At other events, Herc had noticed that people danced more during the percussive instrumental breaks in songs—and he devised a method of extending those breaks using two turntables to keep people moving. Over time, people began engaging in dance-offs with each other, and a new style was born.
Breaking is one of the four elements of hip-hop, along with graffiti painting, DJing, and rapping. Interest in breaking has ebbed and flowed over the years, reaching what many consider to be its peak in the mid-1980s when it was featured in movies like “Breakin'” (1984) and “Flashdance” (1983). Its popularity waned in the years that followed but has recently been making a comeback, which the Summer Olympics will undoubtedly help fuel.
If you do decide to tune in during the Games this summer, a word of advice: Don’t call it “breakdancing.” These days, the term is passé—and, to breakers, a bit offensive. “We’re not 14-year-old kids,” Kevin Gopie, who goes by “DJ Renegade,” says, adding: “If you call it breakdancing, you’re not a breaker.”
