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Set to make its debut as an Olympic sport next month at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, breaking — also known as breakdancing — has evolved from a street dance created in a New York City ghetto by poor and marginalized youths from African American, Caribbean American, and Latino heritage to becoming the first dance-sport ever to make it onto one of the largest athletic stages in the world with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
On a recent trip to Paris, I was able to witness the many similarities between the city that never sleeps, and the city of lights. Having grown up in the Bronx, during the ’70s and witnessed the birth and development of breaking — or breakdancing as some prefer to call it — La Place de la Concorde seems like the appropriate place for the Olympics’ first breaking battles, being that it is one of Paris’ most iconic open spaces and also the site where many famous beheadings occurred during the French Revolution.
Since its beginnings over half a century ago on the streets of the Bronx — one of the most devastated urban landscapes in America — breaking has risen from the ashes of poverty, violence, drugs, racism and urban decay. It’s now a global industry and cultural phenomenon with an array of corporations, organizations and formal competitions encouraging its growth as a competitive sport.
As the genre has spread across the cultural corridors of the world, it appears that the place where it originated has become less and less significant in its development. Take as an example Red Bull’s yearly international competition — one of the largest supported by a mainstream brand — which since its creation in 2004 has only yielded four American winners, and none were from New York. The United States doesn’t even have a national governing body for the dance form. Currently, that role is played by the World DanceSport Federation in Switzerland as recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
The question on some people’s minds as the Games approach is whether the communities where breaking started will be represented in the upcoming games, and if not, what happens when the people who started a cultural phenomenon get left behind? As envoys of the country that invented breaking, the American team has something to prove and potentially lose.
With social media, it’s easy to see that breaking has resonated with many Asians around the United States — particularly younger generations. While often associated with Black and Latino culture dressed in tracksuits and carrying around a boombox and a folded cardboard, Asian Americans have found a prominent place in breaking. Now that it has spread globally, breaking no longer belongs to any particular group.
Breaking as an art form and competitive sport has developed into a proper dance-sport with established rules and scoring systems that make for Olympic style fair play.
According to the International Olympic Committee, 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls — part of the hip-hop nomenclature used to describe either a male or female breakdancer — representing different countries will follow a tournament style format where breakers compete head-to-head with individual events for men and women. Battles are divided into best of three rounds, which are called throwdowns. A throwdown begins when a breaker starts their performance. Each breaker is given up to 60 seconds to complete their routine with the opposing breaker responding in a throwdown.
Nine judges will score them on five criteria, which include technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality. Each category accounts for 20 percent of the final score. Breaking will not be scored numerically. Instead, judges will use a digital slider to score battles. The slider will shift in real-time toward the breaker who is outperforming the opposing dancer in a specific category.
All judges will have three misbehavior buttons that they can utilize to penalize a breaker for acting or gesturing inappropriately — mild, moderate and severe — with a 3 to 10 percent point deduction applied to an athlete’s total score. If a majority of judges call an act severe, the offending competitor will be immediately up for disqualification, pending final approval from the chair.
In Paris, there won’t be the same music as in typical contests. The music will have to be approved by the International Olympic Committee. Also, the breaker’s look will be somewhat regulated by the official apparel partners. It will no doubt be a different kind of breaking event free from trash talk and certain gestures such as crotch grabbing, which are basic to the dance form.
Today, breaking is a remarkable discipline somewhere in between dancing and gymnastics. It is undoubtedly one of the most athletic dances in the world and is viewed by many as one of the most unique dance styles ever invented.
The inclusion of breaking in the 2024 Paris Olympics is huge on many levels, because it acknowledges and validates the dance form as a sport and it provides new opportunities for dancers.
Unfortunately, according to the International Olympic Committee, breaking is not scheduled to be part of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. As the Paris Olympic Games get closer, all eyes are on the newest sport that is sure to bring the party to Paris.
Breaking events will take place Aug. 9-10 at Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Lopez is a freelance writer who lives in Poway.
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