Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash
Tap…tip toe…top rock…Arm Swing…Jump…Jump…Stretch…Stretch…Crunch…Crunch…Hands Up!
Then:
Aim…Balance…Twirl…Spin…Eyes…Swipe…Bridge…Support… Swappity swap…Peace!
What is going on?!
I feel like I am in a different world, though I am still grounded in this world.
Oh, how this is my favorite hotspot, where I can genuinely be myself and express my inner thoughts!
This is the time where I cultivate friendships, have wholesome conversations, and utilize my visual and muscle memory. It must be a work of art? No matter how long it takes, the warmup builds up to a calculated game-changer. Then, it must be a sport, right? After all, sport and art needs physicality and skill, whether individuals or teams competing…
Ha! A showoff that dribbles in both art and sport: dance. Dance is usually known as a festive or creative art form and is sometimes stereotyped as “graceful” or “trendy”. While these may be true to some degree, it is essential to consider how broad and prevalent dance is as a form of sport as well, with the emphasis on physical strength, stamina, and gamer moves with points, not for scoring goals but scoring a number(musical theater reference) 🙂
Since we have established how dance can be artistic and athletic at the same time, let’s look at how a street dance style finally got registered as a sport in the 2024 Olympics: hip hop’s breaking, which I have started practicing for a month now! To appreciate the culture of the origins of the dance, let’s stick with breaking, as breakdancing is an umbrella term for different styles of street dancing. How did this street dance style get into the Olympics? According to the Olympics, breaking was initially in the 2018 Youth Olympics and moved to the official Olympic Games in Paris 2024 as the dance form requires a significant amount of “athleticism.”
What kind of criteria do the Olympic judges use for breaking? The Olympic Games judge based on how the B-boy or B-girl executes their creative, musical, and performative expression through various techniques and personalities. Top rock is standing moves with brisk hand gestures and dabbling footwork. Freeze describes the “pause” or “balance” in the breaker’s routine, either on the head or hands. The breaker of the games is down rock, which are floor moves with transitions, intense footwork, and room for swift expressions.
There are also power moves, which take inspiration from acrobatic styles for balance and upper body strength. For example, flare is a gymnastic move that involves alternating legs and arms while swinging the upper body(torso). Still, air flare in breaking has the added twist of moving in circles upside down. Like street breaking, a hip hop DJ and throwdown battle set will accompany the breakers’ routines with 16 B-boys and 16 B-girls in competitions.
If the Olympics still preserve the moves of street breaking, what do street breakers think about their dance style getting on the world stage? First, let us educate ourselves on history to get some context. The first breaking started when DJ Kool Herc added breaks in funk music and requested b-boys to dance along with his music. The underlying difference between street and sports breaking is that street battles would be freestyle-based (impromptu). Hans-Pierre, who trained himself in classical and modern, congratulates hip hop’s “self-expression” element, especially breaking, where a small move can have many combinations and raw emotions to voice out struggles.
While I researched street breaking, I came across a 24-year-old Esita Calhoun, aka Bgirl Flyya, who is known in her circles for demonstrating breaking with “acrobatic finesse with an electrifying feeling” along with energy, choreography, and willpower, the elements in sport and arts. Bgirl Flya calls attention to the roots of breaking in the streets (in this case, Cleveland) in the Lords of the Land street dance festival. Breaking is an essential pillar of hip-hop brought up by McIntosh. This director’s 10K movement aims to teach street dancing with respect to the cultural scene in Cleveland and redefine its place within American folk dance. This could bring a whole conversation about the historical underrepresentation of Black culture in American history when they opened up so many cultural venues of expression.
Most natural breakdancers in the street scene have a long-lasting passion and drive for breaking, like Bgirl Flyya. Bgirl Flyya warns about the “culture vultures” that try to change the roots of breaking and emphasizes educating oneself on the origins of a dance style, especially breaking. Even Grace Choi, the winner of breakdancing at the Pan American games, is glad to see breaking represented in the Olympics to captivate the younger demographic. However, she wants breaking to be seen as a style regardless of status as a newly-debuted sport. While we should appreciate the recognition of the strenuous but savoring street dance form as a sport, we must acknowledge the struggle present in the style.
References:
The Roar 