Soak up the moment to see how they did it when break dancing is introduced as an official Olympic sport at the Paris Games.
Bodies contort and seem to defy gravity, and athletes perform “headspins,” “pinwheels” and “freezes” movements, all set to music.
The sport, also known as breaking, was successfully debuted at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and according to NBC Olympics, the number of viewers exceeded 1 million, and many others The number of viewers far exceeded that of sports. The Olympics have been declared a “remarkable success” and both organizers and athletes hope to apply that magic to sport's biggest stage.
“This is an opportunity for us to grow and educate people about breaking” Jeffrey Lewis (B-Boy Jeffro) told NBC Olympics. Louie, a B-boy ranked No. 5 in the world, is considered a strong candidate for the one remaining spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Breaking joins other new sports, including surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing, three of which were added to the Olympic program for the first time at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
According to the Paris Olympics, the addition of these sports to the official Olympic roster is due to the fact that “all four sports are easy to work with and participants form very active communities on social media.” Considering this is the International Olympic Committee's attempt to reach a younger audience. .
The commission, known as the IOC, hopes to inspire millions of children around the world to take up the sport themselves.
“If you do it right, you can create something that is unstoppable,” Louis said. “I can't let this happen again, because the first heartbreak exploded and disappeared.”
What does it mean to break?
According to the Paris Olympics, the dance battle sport is “characterized by acrobatic movements, stylized footwork, and the important role played by the DJ and MC during the battle.”
Some moves have athletes twisting and rotating their bodies as if with a board under their feet, leaving spectators wondering where the halfpipe is.
Techniques of the sport include top locks (standing footwork) and down locks (movements on the floor), power moves (twists and spins), and breaker poses supported by the head and hands. This includes freezes that harden.
How does it work?
The Paris breaking competition will be divided into two events, women's and men's, and will be held at La Concorde Urban Park on August 9th and 10th.
According to the Paris Olympics, a total of 16 B-boys or 16 B-girls will “face off in epic solo battles.”
Contestants will combine “power moves” such as windmills, six-steps, and freezes to perform their best moves while improvising to the beat of a DJ's track in order to survive the dance battle. To the Paris Olympics.
The judges will then vote, paving the way for the first medalist in Olympic history.
Who is on the U.S. Olympic Breaking News Team?
The United States will be represented by four breakers, two B-boys and two B-girls, in a solo battle for the gold medal.
So far, two American breakers have qualified: Sunny Choi (B-Girl Sunny) and Victor Montalvo (B-Boy Victor).
From the Bronx to Paris
It took a decades-long battle to make it to the main stage.
The dance style, which has roots in hip-hop culture, began at block parties in New York City in the 1970s, according to the Paris Olympics.
According to Lewis, the sport's origins lie in the rec rooms of the Bronx, where “a legendary DJ named Kool Herc debuted a new technique centered around percussive 'breaks' in songs.” During these breaks the crowd began dancing, which became known as breaking or breakdancing. ”
By the 1980s, groups like the Rock Steady Crew, Dynamic Rockers, and New York City Breakers were mainstream, innovating new, more complex movements.
It became more widely known thanks to the 1983 film Flashdance. Although the film included only a few short breaking scenes featuring the Rock Steady Crew, USA Dance said the film inspired people around the world to try breaking. But by the end of the 80s, it had disappeared.
According to USA Dance, the Breakers brought in fellow dancers who took early retirement and reinvigorated the scene. The International Battle of the Year was the first major breaking news event to be formally judged, and started in the 90s, contributing to the resurgence of the sport and ushering in a new era of prominence. Other international competitions also began during this decade, some of which are still active today.
international revival
Since then, “breaking has evolved into a global cultural art form with many sporting elements,” according to USA Dance.
The national organization says numerous breaking schools have opened across the country in the past decade, providing a space for a new, younger generation of breakers to learn and hone their craft.
The World Dancesport Federation currently governs the sport internationally and is recognized as such by the IOC.
Whitney Carter, Director of Internal Management Sports at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, is the founder of Breaking for Gold, an organization dedicated to preparing the nation's breakers for the world's biggest games, as reported by NBC Olympics. He contributed to the establishment of the USA.
“The United States is now the favorite for the Olympics,” Tiquan Hodak, USA Dance's breaking news communications director, told NBC Olympics. “We are a great country. Every other country respects us.”
