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With breaking now becoming an Olympic sport, here’s what you need to know.
You’ve probably seen, or heard of, movies like You Got Served, Stomp the Yard, or Step Up. Movies about breakdancing and group dancing have been prevalent for the longest time, yet competitions were left to outside corporations and promotions.
That is, until 2018, when breakdancing, known more commonly as breaking, was introduced at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. It received a massive boost in popularity and support, leading to the implementation of breaking as an Olympic sport, beginning in Paris in 2024.
Saturday, Red Bull BC One is hosting a Southeast regional cypher, where the winner will travel to Philadelphia for the national final, determining who will represent the United States in Paris for the World Final, a direct nod to Paris 2024.
Red Bull BC has been the most prominent one-on-one breaking competition, hosting cyphers around the world. They also are home to one of the best breaking crews worldwide, Red Bull BC One All-Stars.
So, before we tune in to the regional cypher this weekend and to prepare you for the upcoming finals and Olympic events, let’s dig a little deeper into the world of breaking.
How did breaking start?
According to the Red Bull site, Breaking began in the 1970s out of the origins of hip hop in New York, a form of dancing that would happen in between the lyrics of a song, or the “break” (you get it? Breaking? During the break?). Inspired by entertainers such as James Brown and Michael Jackson, DJs on the street would put breaks in songs to allow dancers to do their best moves. The art of expression through breaking are deep in African-American and Latin American roots, incorporating movements from other influences such as capoeira, disco and gymnastics.
In the late 1970’s “The Freak” took over, based on the Mothers of Invention album “Freak Out”. Acrobatic moves by the Rock Steady Crew really began the style of breaking that we see today, and the styles you’ll see at the regional cypher. Breakers are known as B-boys or B-girls.
How are cyphers organized and judged?
So, cyphers are split into men’s and women’s divisions, normally 16 men and women per side. It’s a single elimination bracket style tournament, with b-boys and b-girls taking on each other in one-on-one competitions. Each breaker will get “sets”, or turns, to dance against each other. Red Bull BC One does three sets per competitor, per round. A DJ provides a beat, and the dancers are off. Turns will also be called “throw downs”, and each throw down lasts 60 seconds. Breakers will get three throw downs until the final, when the last two standing will get five throw downs to impress the judges.
Now, let’s talk about the judges. Normally a panel of five of the most respected breakers from around the world, the judges are judging on very specific criteria for each round. The criteria are:
Creativity: there are a large amount of moves that a breaker can do during their throw down, but nothing is new under the sun. Creativity is massive, putting new twists on moves already seen before.
Personality: Dancing is an art form, and you are the artist. Breakers have to create their own style for themself and how to best show it to the judges.
Technique: how you put your round together, how you make your moves flow, as well as the nitty gritty in terms of footwork and movement.
Musicality: very simply: can you follow the beat? Can you align your movements to the tempo and flow of the music? The Red Bull BC site defines it as such: To take musicality to a higher level, breakers need to demonstrate their ability to play with the different layers of the music, expressing the sounds and lyrics of a track by hitting their freezes on beat and adapting or playing with their footwork to fit the music. It basically comes down to whether a B-Boy or B-Girl can dance with everything they’re displaying.
Foundation: can the breaker get the fundamental moves down? We’ll discuss the moves in a bit.
Variety and difficulty of movement: the best breakers can string together extremely high level moves. Judges want to see the breakers at their best, and pulling out the difficult moves will be huge.
What moves will you see at the cypher?
There are three basic foundations to breaking, kind of like the beginner’s guide to being a high level b-boy or b-girl. Those three are as follows:
Top Rock
These are moves done while the breaker is standing up. most of the time these are elaborate hand movements and footwork. This is normally done by breakers for two counts of the music, and is used at the beginning of throw downs to get a feel for the beat and get some preliminary moves out there. Some steps associated with top rock are the Indian step, which looks like this:
Another one is the cross step, which looks like this:
Down Rock
These are all moves done on the floor, and most times are the most important part of any throw down. It’s so important that there are smaller categories within down rock, that you’ll see in the throw downs.
The first one is a Go Down, which is what a breaker will do when they want to go from the top rock position to the down rock. The more seamless the movement is, the better. Breakers will use a knee drop, which is exactly what it sounds like, a spin drop (also exactly what it sounds like) and a hook drop (hook the knee and go down to the floor). You’ll sometimes see breakers use the windmill go down, sweeping the leg as they go down.
Next you have tricks, which are unconventional ways of doing conventional moves. These are what really get a crowd going. Hopping air chairs are an example of a trick.
Then you got Power Moves, which are when a breaker will go into a continuous spinning motion, balancing on their head, elbows, hands or shoulders. Head spins are probably the most popular power move, and breakers will combine power moves with other power moves to score big with judges.
Footwork is also done on the floor, and breakers use their hands to support them. Some common footwork that’s used is the 6-step, which looks like this:
There are also moves named the 3-step, shuffle and CC, all done on the floor.
The last move we’ll cover that’s done on the floor are called freezes, and they’re kind of self explanatory. This is when a b-boy or b-girl will literally freeze and hold a solid shape with their body for a few counts of the music. This is normally used to signify the end of a sequence. The Baby freeze is a very common one seen in breaking, and that looks like this:
Where can I watch the Red Bull BC One Southeast Cypher?
The event will be streamed on Red Bull’s website, with final battles beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
