This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. Please help clarify the article; suggestions may be found on the talk page. (September 2008)

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008)

Shalya in Javanese Wayang

In the epic Mahabharata, King Shalya (Sanskrit: शल्‍य) was the brother of Madri (mother of Nakula and Sahadeva), as well as the ruler of Madra-desa or the kingdom of Madra. Thus, he was the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva and was loved and revered by the Pandavas. When he was young, he entered a competition among princes and nobilities to marry Kunti, but subsequently lost to Pandu.^{[citation needed]}Madri was married off to Pandu as part of a secret deal between Shalya and Pandu.^{[citation needed]} Shalya was a skilled archer and formidable warrior.

Diplomatic defeat before the Kurukshetra war[link]

The Pandavas had counted on Shalya joining their side with his huge army. On the way to assist the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra War, Shalya was tricked by Duryodhana, who arranged a huge feast for Shalya and his men. When Shalya was impressed by the hospitality of his host who he mistakenly thought to be Yudhisthira, he offered to be at his host's service. Unable to turn down Duryodhana's request to join the Kauravas, Shalya met Yudhisthira and apologized for his mistake. Yudhishtira, knowing that Shalya was a great charioteer and forecasting that Shalya would someday be asked to be the charioteer of Karna, extracted a vow from Shalya to the effect that Shalya will demoralise Karna and dampen his spirits. Shalya assured the Pandavas that he would do everything possible to demoralise Karna and dampen his spirits.

War with Uttar[link]

Shalya reluctantly entered the Kurukshetra war on the Kauravas side. Shalya confronted many great warriors and killed them. One was Abhimanyu’s brother-in-law Uttar. Uttar was Princess Uttara’s brother and son of King Virāta. Uttar, with Arjuna’s help, had defeated the Kaurava army that had invaded the Virāta kingdom. Uttar then had been Arjuna’s charioteer.

Shalya looking at the skill displayed by the young boy asked who he was, the lad replied “Krishna is Arjuna’s charioteer in this Kurukshetra war, but I was Arjuna’s charioteer in the battle of Virāt."

Shalya kills Uttar

The young prince knew that Shalya himself was a great warrior and the best charioteer of that era. After that Shalya killed the boy with his spear, displaying fantastic skill.
Later Abhimanyu took revenge by killing Shalya’s brother and son and disabling Shalya himself so badly that the great warrior could not even move in Dronacharya’s circular formation (Chakravyuha).

Last three days of the war[link]

Shalya served as Karna's charioteer during the latter's battle with Arjuna, while continuously praising the Pandava prince and citing Karna's shortcomings. Shalya took over the leadership of the Kaurava army on the eighteenth and last day of the great battle after the death of Karna when it was becoming rapidly clear that the war was a lost cause, and close to the end of the battle he was killed by King Yudhishtira with a spear. Shalya was the second to last Kaurava commander-in-chief and after his death, the Kauravas were left leaderless and broke ranks fleeing from the slaughter despite Duryodhana's best efforts.He then after death came to yuddhisthir as a spirit and tried to scare him.

v t e Mahabharata Kuru Kingdom Shantanu · Ganga · Bhishma · Satyavati · Chitrāngada · Vichitravirya · Ambika · Ambalika · Vidura · Dhritarashtra · Gandhari · Shakuni · Pandu · Kunti · Madri · Yudhisthira · Bhima · Arjuna · Nakula · Sahadeva · Duryodhana · Dushasana · Yuyutsu · Dushala · Draupadi · Hidimbi · Ghatotkacha · Ahilawati · Subhadra · Uttara · Ulupi · Chitrāngadā  · Abhimanyu  · Iravan · Babruvahana · Barbarika · Parikshit  · Janamejaya Other characters Karna · Drona · Amba · Vyasa · Krishna · Satyaki · Dhristadyumna · Sanjaya · Virata · Kichaka · Kripa · Ashwatthama · Ekalavya · Kritavarma · Jarasandha · Mayasura · Durvasa · Jayadratha · Balarama · Drupada · Hidimba · Shalya · Adhiratha · Shikhandi Other Mahābhārata and the Indian caste system · Avatars · Pandava · Kaurava · Hastinapur · Indraprastha · Kingdoms · Kurukshetra War · Bhagavad Gita

v t e Hindu deities and texts Gods Deva Ganesha Brahma Vishnu Shiva Rama Krishna Murugan Hanuman Indra Surya more Goddesses Adi parashakti Devi Saraswati Lakshmi Sati Parvati Durga Shakti Kali Sita Radha Mahavidya Navadurga Matrikas more Texts Vedas Upanishads Puranas Ramayana Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita more Hinduism Hindu mythology

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

Native Brazilian chiefs.

A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single (or dual) leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.

In the case of indigenous tribal societies existing within larger colonial and post-colonial states, tribal chiefs may represent their tribe or ethnicity in a form of self-government.

The most common types are the chairman of a council (usually of "elders") and/or a broader popular assembly in "parliamentary" cultures, the war chief (may be an alternative or additional post in war time), the hereditary chief and the politically dominant medicineman (in "theocratic" cultures).

The term is usually distinct from chiefs at still lower levels, such as village headman (geographically defined) or clan chief (an essentially genealogical notion), as the notion "tribal" rather requires an ethno-cultural identity (racial, linguistic, religious etc.) as well as some political (representative, legislative, executive and/or judicial) expression.

History[link]

Anthropologist Elman Service distinguishes two stages of tribal societies: simple societies organised by limited instances of social rank and prestige, and more stratified societies led by chieftains or tribal kings (chiefdoms). Historically, tribal societies represent an intermediate stage between the band society of the Paleolithic stage and the Civilization with centralized, super-regional government based in cities. Stratified tribal societies led by tribal kings thus flourished from the Neolithic stage into the Iron Age, albeit in competition with civilisations and empires beginning in the Bronze Age. An important source of information for tribal societies of the Iron Age is Greco-Roman ethnography, which describes tribal societies surrounding the urban, imperialist civilisation of the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, tribal kingdoms were again established over much of Europe in the wake of the Migration period. By the High Middle Ages, these had again coalesced into super-regional monarchies.

Tribal societies also remained prevalent in much of the New World, excepting Paleolithic or Mesolithic band societies in Oceania and in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Europeans forced centralized governments onto these societies during Colonialism, but in some instances they have retained or regained partial self-government.

Specific tribal chiefdoms[link]

Americas[link]

• lonco (mapudungun: longko, "head") among the Mapuche
• Morubixaba — tribal Cacique (chief) of the Tupi people
• Oubutu (among the Kalinago people of the the southern Caribbean)
• Rajiv (among the central Trinidadian people of Freeport)
• Tyee tribal chief of the Chinookan (Chinook)^[1][2]

Sub-Saharan Africa[link]

• Eze (Ibo people of Nigeria)
• Gbong Gwon Jos (of the Berom people of Nigeria)
• Kgosi (amongst the Tswana people of Botswana and South Africa, with the House of Khama being its most powerful holders)
• Mogho Naba (in the Ouagadougou region of Burkina Faso)
• Nkosi (Zulu, Ndebele and Xhosa peoples, South Africa and Zimbabwe
• Oba (also in Nigeria, with its various Yoruba and Bini holders claiming direct descent from the deified Oduduwa. Their ministers, governors and nobles, all known in the Yoruba language as Oloyes, are the chiefs who use the word "chief" as an honourific. The Obas, when referred to in English, are variously called kings, monarchs, royal fathers and, officially, traditional rulers).
• Obai (Temne people of Sierra Leone)
• Omanhene (amongst the Akan peoples of Ghana)
• Orkoiyot (Nandi people in Kenya)
• Sarki (in the Hausaland region of Niger and Nigeria)

Oceania[link]

• Ariki, 'ariki henua
• Ibedul
• Iroijlaplap
• Matai, in the Samoan fa'amatai system
• Nahnmwarki, Lepen Palikir
• Rangatira, a chief of Māori in New Zealand
• Ratu

Philippines[link]

• Apo Rodolfo Aguilar (Kudol I) (Paramount Tribal Chieftain of the Tagbanua tribes people living in Banuang Daan and Cabugao settlements in Coron Island, Palawan, Philippines)

Modern states providing an organized form of tribal chiefships[link]

India[link]

Adivasi in Sanskrit refers to indigenous people who have been living in a place from time immemorial, Adi meaning first and vasi meaning inhabitant. These tribes have "Chiefs" and they are referred to by various names. The north eastern states of India, with a large tribal population, is a valid case study. There, tribal chiefs enjoy a lot of power and status.

Middle East[link]

Arabs, in particular peninsular Arabs and nomadic Beduins, are largely organized in tribes, many of whom have official representatives in governments. Tribal chiefs are known as Sheikhs, though this term is also sometimes applied as an honorific title to spiritual leaders of Sufism.

Oceania[link]

The Solomon Islands have a Local Court Act which empowers chiefs to deal with crimes in their communities, thus assuring them of considerable effective authority.

United States[link]

Goyathlay, or Geronimo, Apache chieftain for the Chiricahua

Historical cultural differences between tribes[link]

Generally, a tribe or nation is considered to be part of an ethnic group, usually sharing cultural values. For example, the forest-dwelling Chippewa historically built dwellings from the bark of trees, as opposed to the Great Plains-dwelling tribes, who would not have access to trees, except by trade, for example for lodgepoles. Thus, the tribes of the Great Plains might typically dwell in skin-covered tipis rather than bark lodges. But some Plains tribes built their lodges of earth, as for example the Pawnee.^[1] The Pueblo people, meanwhile, built their dwellings of stone and earth.

Political power in a tribe[link]

A chief might be considered to hold political power, say by oratory or by example. But on the North American continent, it was historically possible to evade the political power of another by migration. The Mingos, for example, were Iroquois who migrated further west to the sparsely populated Ohio Country during the 18th century. Two Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, Hiawatha and the Great Peacemaker, formulated a constitution for the Iroquois Confederation.

The tribes were pacified by units of the United States Army in the nineteenth century, and were also subject to forced schooling in the decades afterward. Thus, it is uncommon for today's tribes to have a purely Native American cultural background, and today Native Americans are in many ways simply another ethnicity of the secular American people. Because formal education is now respected, some like Peter McDonald, a Navajo, left their jobs in the mainstream U.S. economy to become chairpeople of their tribal councils or similar self-government institutions.

Not all tribal leaders need be men; Wilma Mankiller was a well-known Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Also, though the fount of power might be the chief, he or she is typically not free to wield power without the consent of a council of elders of some kind. For example: Cherokee men were not permitted to go to war without the consent of the council of women.

Tribal government is an official form of government in the United States,^[3] as it is in a number of countries around the world.

Historically, the U.S. government treated tribes as seats of political power, and made treaties with the tribes as legal entities. Be that as it may, the territory of these tribes fell under the authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as reservations held in trust for the tribes. Citizenship was formerly considered a tribal matter. For example, it was not until 1924 that the Pueblo people were granted U.S. citizenship, and it was not until 1948 that the Puebloans were granted the right to vote in state elections in New Mexico. In Wisconsin, the Menominee Nation has its own county Menominee County, Wisconsin with special car license plates; 87% of the county's population is therefore Native American.

Mainstream Americans often find pride and comfort in realizing that at least part of their ethnic ancestry is Native American, although the connection is usually only sentimental and not economic or cultural. Thus, there is some political power in one's ability to claim a Native American connection (as in the Black Seminole).

Economic power in a tribe[link]

Because the Nations were sovereign, with treaty rights and obligations, the Wisconsin tribes innovated Indian gaming in 1988,^[4] that is, on-reservation gambling casinos, which have since become a US$14 billion industry nationwide. This has been imitated in many of the respective states that still have Native American tribes. The money that this generates has engendered some political scandal. For example, the Tigua tribe, which fled their ancestral lands in New Mexico during the Pueblo revolt of 1680, and who then settled on land in El Paso County, Texas, has paid^[5] for a low probable return to the tribe because of the Jack Abramoff publicity.

Many of the tribes use professional management for their money. Thus, the Mescalero Apache have renovated their Inn of the Mountain Gods to include gambling as well as the previous tourism, lodging, and skiing in the older Inn, as of 2005.

The Navajo nation defeated bids to open casinos in 1994, but by 2004, the Shiprock casino was a fait accompli.

See also: Economy of the Iroquois

See also[link]

• Cacique
• House of chiefs
• Indirect rule
• Opperhoofd
• Paramount Chief
• Sachem
• Sagamore (title)

Notes[link]

• ^ The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois has an exhibit on the Pawnee earth lodge.
• ^ The Field Museum has exhibits with artifacts, dress, tools and pottery of the Pueblo people, the Northwest tribes, the Plains tribes and the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, especially those of the Midwest.

References[link]

• WorldStatesmen
• List of Tribal Governments in the United States
• CorPun- passim; here Solomon Islands

External links[link]

• Death of Andamanese Tribal Chief in India

B-boying
Ryan Grasell in Faneuil Hall, Boston, MA.
Genre	Hip-hop dance
Inventor	N/A - Street dancers from New York City
Year	1970s
Country	United States
Competitions	Battle of the Year B-Boy Summit [1] UK B-Boy Champs Freestyle Session The Notorious IBE Red Bull BC One We B*Girlz Warsaw Challenge R-16 Korea Floor Wars World B-Boy Classic

B-boying or breaking, often called "breakdancing", is a style of street dance that originated as a part of hip-hop culture among African American and Latino youths in New York City during the early 1970s.^{[2]:125, 141, 153[3]} Fast to gain popularity in the media, the dance style also gained popularity worldwide especially in South Korea, France, Russia, Japan, and Brazil. While extremely diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop and especially breakbeats, although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns.

A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term "breakdance" is frequently used to refer to the dance, "b-boying" and "breaking" are the original terms. These terms are preferred by the majority of the art form’s pioneers and most notable practitioners.^[4][5]

Terminology[link]

The terminology used to refer to b-boying changed after promotion by the mainstream media. Although widespread, the term "breakdancing" is looked down upon by those immersed in hip-hop culture. Purists consider "breakdancing" an ignorant term invented by the media^[2]:58[4] that connotes exploitation of the art^[2]:60[4] and is used to sensationalize breaking. The term "breakdancing" is also problematic because it has become a diluted umbrella term that incorrectly includes popping, locking, and electric boogaloo.^[2]:60[6] Popping, locking, and electric boogaloo are not styles of "breakdance". They are funk styles that were developed separately from breaking in California.^[7] The dance itself is properly called "breaking" according to rappers such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC.^[8]

The terms "b-boy" (break-boy), "b-girl" (break-girl), and "breaker" are the original terms used to describe the dancers. The original terms arose to describe the dancers who performed to DJ Kool Herc's breakbeats. DJ Kool Herc is a Jamaican American DJ who is responsible for developing the foundational aspects of hip-hop music. The obvious connection of the term "breaking" is to the word "breakbeat", but DJ Kool Herc has commented that the term "breaking" was slang at the time for "getting excited", "acting energetically" or "causing a disturbance".^[9] Most b-boying pioneers and practitioners prefer the terms "b-boy", "b-girl", and/or "breaker" when referring to these dancers. For those immersed in hip-hop culture, the term "breakdancer" may be used to disparage those who learn the dance for personal gain rather than for commitment to the culture.^[2]:61 B-boy London of the New York City Breakers and filmmaker Michael Holman refer to these dancers as "breakers".^[4] Frosty Freeze of the Rock Steady Crew says, "we were known as b-boys", and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa says, "b-boys, [are] what you call break boys... or b-girls, what you call break girls."^[4] In addition, co-founder of Rock Steady Crew Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres, Rock Steady Crew member Mr. Freeze, and hip-hop historian Fab 5 Freddy use the term "b-boy",^[4] as do rappers Big Daddy Kane^[10] and Tech N9ne.^[11]

History[link]

A b-boy practicing downrock at a studio in Moscow.

Origin[link]

B-boying at its inception borrowed from other performance styles, as many elements of b-boying may be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1970s. Concerning martial arts, b-boying looks very similar to the movement found in the Brazilian martial art capoeira which came about in the 1500s;^[19] however, b-boy pioneers Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon and Kenneth "Ken Swift" Gabbert, both of Rock Steady Crew, deny they ever witnessed capoeira when they were young; they cite James Brown and Kung-Fu films as influences instead.^[20][21] Many of b-boying's more acrobatic moves, such as the flare, show clear connections to gymnastics. An Arab street dancer performing acrobatic headspins was recorded by Thomas Edison in 1898.^[22] However, it was not until the 1970s that b-boying developed as a defined dance style.

Beginning with DJ Kool Herc, Bronx-based DJs would take the rhythmic breakdown sections (also known as the "breaks") of dance records and prolong them by looping them successively. The breakbeat provided a rhythmic base that allowed dancers to display their improvisational skills during the duration of the break. This led to the first battles – turn-based dance competitions between two individuals or dance crews judged with respect to creativity, skill, and musicality. These battles occurred in cyphers – circles of people gathered around the breakers. Though at its inception the earliest b-boys were "close to 90 percent African-American", dance crews such as "SalSoul" and "Rockwell Association" were populated almost entirely by Latino Americans.^[23] Historian Joseph Glenn Schloss described it as such:

“

In other words, there were three basic stages to the development of the dance: the early rock dance of the '60s, which was Latino and citywide; Brooklyn rocking or uprocking which was Latino and Brooklyn-based; and b-boying, which is Black and Latino and Bronx-based. Within this basic framework, it is not difficult to see how three constituencies-Brooklyn Latinos, Bronx Latinos, and African Americans-could have three totally different perspectives on the history.[2]:153

”

Uprock[link]

A separate but related dance form which influenced breaking is uprock also called rocking or Brooklyn rock. Uprock is an aggressive dance that involves two dancers who mimic ways of fighting each other using mimed weaponry in rhythm with the music.^[14] Uprock as a dance style of its own never gained the same widespread popularity as breaking, except for some very specific moves adopted by breakers who use it as a variation for their toprock.^[24]:138 When used in a b-boy battle, opponents often respond by performing similar uprock moves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle. Some dancers argue that because uprock was originally a separate dance style it should never be mixed with breaking and that the uprock moves performed by breakers today are not the original moves but poor imitations that only show a small part of the original uprock style^[25]

It has been stated that breaking replaced fighting between street gangs.^[12] On the contrary, some believe it a misconception that b-boying ever played a part in mediating gang rivalry. Both viewpoints have some truth. Uprock has its roots in gangs.^{[24]:116, 138} Whenever there was an issue over turf, the two warlords of the feuding gangs would uprock. Whoever won this preliminary battle would decide where the real fight would be.^[26] This is where the battle mentality in breaking and hip-hop dance in general comes from.^[27] "Sometimes a dance was enough to settle the beef, sometimes the dance set off more beef."^[14][24]:116

Brazil[link]

Ismael Toledo was one of the first b-boys in Brazil.^[28] In 1984, he moved to the United States to study dance.^[28] While in the U.S. he discovered breaking and ended up meeting b-boy Crazy Legs who personally mentored him for the four years that followed.^[28] After becoming proficient in breaking, he moved back to São Paulo and started to organize b-boys crews and enter international competitions.^[28] He eventually opened a hip-hop dance studio called the Hip-Hop Street College.^[28]

Korea[link]

B-boying was first introduced to South Korea by American soldiers shortly after its surge of popularity in the U.S. during the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the culture and dance really took hold.^[29] 1997 is known as the "Year Zero of Korean breaking".^[18] A Korean-American hip hop promoter named John Jay Chon was visiting his family in Seoul and while he was there, he met a crew named Expression Crew in a club. He gave them a VHS of a Los Angeles b-boying competition called Radiotron. A year later when he returned, Chon found that his video and others like his had been copied and dubbed numerous times, and were feeding an ever-growing b-boy community.

In 2002, Korea's Expression Crew won the prestigious international b-boying competition Battle of the Year, exposing the skill of the country's b-boys to the rest of the world. Since then, the Korean government has capitalized on the popularity of the dance and has promoted it alongside Korean culture. R-16 Korea is the most well-known government-sponsored b-boy event, and is hosted by the Korean Tourism Organization and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

Japan[link]

Shortly after the Rock Steady Crew came to Japan, b-boying within Japan began to thrive. Each Sunday b-boys would perform breaking in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park.^[30] One of the first and most influential Japanese breakers was Crazy-A, who is now the leader of the Tokyo chapter of Rock Steady Crew.^[30] He also organizes the yearly B-Boy Park which draws upwards of 10,000 fans a year and attempts to expose a wider audience to the culture.^[31]

Dance elements[link]

Gravity Benders crew showcasing the four elements of b-boying — toprock, downrock, freezes, and power moves — some crew choreography, and a short battle.

There are four primary elements that form breaking. These include toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes/suicides.

Toprock generally refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, though dancers often transition from other aspects of breaking to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps which can each be varied according to the dancer's expression (ie. aggressive, calm, excited). A great deal of freedom is allowed in the definition of toprock: as long as the dancer maintains cleanness, form and the b-boy attitude, theoretically anything can be toprock. Toprock can draw upon many other dance styles such as popping, locking, tap dance, or house dance. Transitions from toprock to downrock and power moves are called "drops".^[32]

Downrock (also known as "footwork" or "floorwork") is used to describe any movement on the floor with the hands supporting the dancer as much as the feet. Downrock includes moves such as the foundational 6-step, and its variants such as the 3-step. The most basic of downrock is done entirely on feet and hands but more complex variations can involve the knees when threading limbs through each other.

Power moves are acrobatic moves that require momentum, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. The breaker is generally supported by his upper body while the rest of his body creates circular momentum. Some examples are the windmill, swipe, and head spin. Some power moves are borrowed from gymnastics and martial arts. An example of a power move taken from gymnastics is the Thomas Flair which is shortened and spelled flare in b-boying.

Freezes are stylish poses, and the more difficult require the breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength in poses such as the pike. They are used to emphasize strong beats in the music and often signal the end of a b-boy set. Freezes can be linked into chains or "stacks" where breakers go from freeze to freeze to the music to display musicality and physical strength.

Suicides, like freezes, are used to emphasize a strong beat in the music and signal the end to a routine. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to a controlled final position. Breakers will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, but breakers execute them in a way to minimize pain.

B-boy styles[link]

B-boy Timon doing a baby freeze

There are many different individual styles used in b-boying. Individual styles often stem from a dancer's region of origin and influences. However, some people such as b-boy Jacob "Kujo" Lyons feel that videos inhibits individual style. In an interview with B-Boy Magazine he expressed his frustration:

... because everybody watches the same videos online, everybody ends up looking very similar. The differences between individual b-boys, between crews, between cities/states/countries/continents, have largely disappeared. It used to be that you could tell what city a b-boy was from by the way he danced. Not anymore. But I've been saying these things for almost a decade, and most people don't listen, but continue watching the same videos and dancing the same way. It's what I call the "international style," or the "Youtube style."^[33]

Although there are some generalities in the styles that exist, many dancers combine elements of different styles with their own ideas and knowledge in order to create a unique style of their own. B-boys can therefore be categorized into a broad style which generally showcases the same types of techniques.

• Power: This style of b-boying is what most members of the general public associate with the term "breakdancing". Power moves comprise full-body spins and rotations that give the illusion of defying gravity. Examples of power moves include headspins, backspins, windmills, flares, airtracks/airflares, 1990s, 2000s, jackhammers, crickets, turtles, hand glide, halos, and elbow spins. Those b-boys who use "power moves" almost exclusively in their sets are referred to as "power heads" or power movers.
• Abstract: A very broad style of b-boying which may include the incorporation of "threading" footwork, freestyle movement to hit beats, house dance, and "circus" styles (tricks, contortion, etc.).
• Blowup: A style of b-boying which focuses on the "wow factor" of certain power moves, freezes, and circus styles. Blowups consist of performing a sequence of as many difficult trick combinations in as quick succession as possible in order to "smack" or exceed the virtuosity of the other b-boy's performance. This is usually attempted only after becoming proficient in other styles due to the degree of control and practice required in this type of dancing. The names of some of the moves are: airbaby, airchair, hollow backs, solar eclipse, reverse airbaby, among others. The main goal in blowup-style is the rapid transition through a sequence of power moves ending in a skillful freeze.
• Flavor: A style that is based more on elaborate toprock, downrock, and/or freezes. This style is focused more on the beat and musicality of the song than having to rely on "power" moves only. B-boys who base their dance on "flavor" or style are known as "style heads".

Downrock styles[link]

In edition to the styles listed above, certain footwork styles have been associated with different areas which popularized them.^[34]

• Traditional New York Style: The original style of b-boying from the Bronx, based around the Russian trepak dance, this style of downrock focuses on kicks called "CCs" and foundational moves such as 6-steps and variations of it.
• Euro Style: Created in the early 90's, this style is very circular, focusing not on steps but more on glide-type moves such as the pretzel, deadlegs, undersweeps and fluid sliding moves
• Canadian Style: Created in the late 90's, also known as the 'Toronto thread' style. Based upon the Euro Style, except also characterized by elaborate leg threads

Power versus style[link]

Multiple stereotypes have emerged in the breaking community over the give-and-take relationship between technical footwork and physical power. Those who focus on dance steps and fundamental sharpness are labeled as "style-heads." Specialists of more gymnastics-oriented technique and form—at the cost of charisma and coordinated footwork—are known as "power-heads." Such terms are used colloquially often to classify one's skill, however, the subject has been known to disrupt competitive events where judges tend to favor a certain technique over the other.

This debate however is somewhat of a misnomer. The classification of dancing as "style" in b-boying is inaccurate because every b-boy or b-girl has their own unique style developed both consciously and subconsciously. Each b-boy or b-girl's style is the certain attitude or method in which they execute their movements. A breaker's unique style does not strictly refer to just toprock or downrock. It is a concept which encompasses how a move is executed rather than what move is done.

Music[link]

The musical selection for breaking is not restricted to hip-hop music as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. Breaking can be readily adapted to different music genres with the aid of remixing. The original songs that popularized the dance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz, soul, funk, electro, and disco. The most common feature of b-boy music exists in musical breaks, or compilations formed from samples taken from different songs which are then looped and chained together by the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135 beats per minute with shuffled sixteenth and quarter beats in the percussive pattern. History credits DJ Kool Herc for the invention of this concept^[24]:79 later termed the break beat.

Gender inequality[link]

Like the other aspects of hip-hop culture, graffiti writing, MCing, and DJing, males are generally the predominant gender within breaking. However, this is being challenged by the rapidly increasing number of b-girls. Critics argue that it is unfair to make a sweeping generalization about these inequalities because women have begun to play a larger role in the breaking scene.^[35][36]

Despite the increasing number of female breakers, another possible barrier is lack of promotion. As Firefly, a full-time b-girl, says "It's getting more popular. There are a lot more girls involved. The problem is that promoters are not putting on enough female-only battles."^[37][38] More people are seeking to change the traditional image of females in hip-hop culture (and by extension, b-boy culture) to a more positive, empowered role in the modern hip-hop scene.^[39][40][41] The lower exposure of female dancers is probably caused not by any conscious discrimination, but simply by the fewer number of female breakers compared to the number of male breakers. However, both males and females do practice this art form equally together and are competitively judged only by skill and personal expression, not gender.

Media exposure[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

Film[link]

In the past 40 years since b-boying's creation, various films have depicted the dance. In the early 1980s several films depicted b-boying including Wild Style, Flashdance, Breakin', Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, Delivery Boys, Krush Groove, and Beat Street. The 1983 PBS documentary Style Wars chronicled New York graffiti artists, but also includes some b-boying. In 1985, at the height of b-boying's popularity, Donnie Yen starred in a Hong Kong hip-hop film called Mismatched Couples.

The 2000's saw a resurgence of films featuring b-boying. The 2002 documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy provides a comprehensive history of b-boying including its evolution and its place within hip-hop culture. The 2007 documentary Planet B-Boy follows five crews from around the world in their journey to the international breaking competition Battle of the Year. The award-winning (SXSW Film Festival audience award) 2007 documentary "Inside the Circle"^[42] goes into the personal stories of three b-boys (Omar Davila, Josh "Milky" Ayers and Romeo Navarro) and their struggle to keep dance at the center of their lives. The 2010 German documentary Neukölln Unlimited depicts the life of two b-boy brothers in Berlin that try to use their dancing talents to secure a livelihood. B-boying moves are sometimes incorporated into the choreography of films featuring martial arts. This is due to the visually pleasing aspect of the dance, no matter how ridiculous or useless it would be in an actual fight.

• The 2001 comedy film Zoolander depicts Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) performing b-boy moves on a catwalk.
• In the 2003 film Shanghai Knights, Donnie Yen implements a windmill in a fight against Jackie Chan.
• The 2004 anime TV series Samurai Champloo features one of the main characters, Mugen using a fighting style based on b-boying.
• The 2009 Thai martial arts film Raging Phoenix incorporates b-boying in its fight scenes, along with capoeira.
• The 2010 martial arts film True Legend features a scene where Drunken God, played by Jay Chou performs windmills, flares, and airflares in a restaurant.

Television[link]

B-boys performing on San Francisco's Powell Street in 2008.

In the United States, the dance shows So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best Dance Crew arguably presented b-boying back to the forefront of America's pop culture, similar to the popularity it had in the 80s. B-boying is widely referenced in TV advertising, as well as news, travelogue, and documentary segments, as an indicator of youth/street culture. From a production point of view the style is visually arresting, instantly recognizable and adducible to fast-editing, while the ethos is multi-ethnic, energetic and edgy, but free from the gangster-laden overtones of much rap-culture imagery. Its usability as a visual cliché benefits sponsorship, despite the relatively small following of the genre itself beyond the circle of its practitioners. In 2005, a Volkswagen Golf GTi commercial featured a partly CGI version of Gene Kelly popping and b-boying to a remix of "Singin' in the Rain", by Mint Royale. The tagline was, "The original, updated."

Since b-boying's popularity surge in South Korea, it has been featured in various TV dramas and commercials. Break is a 2006 mini series from Korea about a b-boying competition. Over the Rainbow (Drama series 2006) centers on different characters who are brought together by b-boying.

Literature[link]

• In 1997, Kim Soo Yong began serialization of the first b-boying themed comic, Hip Hop. The comic sold over 1.5 million books and it helped to introduce breaking and hip-hop culture to Korean youth.
• The first b-boying themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki, was an amateur b-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas b-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel was inspired by Dalecki's b-boy-themed short story The B-Boys of Beaumont, which won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest.
• Breakin' the city, a photo book by Nicolaus Schmidt, portrays b-boys from the Bronx and Brooklyn wheeling around on subway cars, in city plazas, and on sidewalks in New York City.^[43] Published in 2011, it features six New York based b-boy crews photographed between 2007 and 2009.^[44]
• Breakdancing: Mr. Fresh and the Supreme Rockers Show You How (Avon Books, 1984) was an introductory reference for newcomers to the "breakin'" style of dance as it evolved in North America in the 1970s and 1980s.

Video gaming[link]

There have been few video games created that focus on b-boying. The main deterrence for attempting to create games like these is the difficulty of translating the dance into something entertaining and fun on a video game console. Most of these attempts have had low to average success.

• Break Dance was an 8-bit computer game by Epyx released in 1984, at the height of breaking's popularity.
• B-boy is a 2006 console game released for PS2 and PSP which aims at an unadulterated depiction of breaking.^[45]
• Bust A Groove is a video game franchise whose character "Heat" specializes in breaking.
• Pump It Up is a Korean game that requires physical movement of the feet. The game involves b-boying and people can accomplish this feat by memorizing the steps and creating dance moves to hit the arrows on time.
• Breakdance Champion Red Bull BC One is an iOS and Android rhythm game that focuses on the actual b-boying competition Red Bull BC One.^[46]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: B-boying

• Bboy Community and News Outlet
• History of B-boying
• B-boying media source

v t e Hip-hop dance Main styles Breaking · Locking · Popping Derivatives Krumping · Jerkin' · Turfing · Memphis Jookin' · Studio/New Style · Lyrical Hip-Hop · Jazz-Funk Movies Wild Style · Beat Street · Breakin · Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo · The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy · Honey · Honey 2 · You Got Served · You Got Served: Beat the World · Step Up · Step Up 2: The Streets · Step Up 3D · Step Up Revolution · How She Move · Planet B-Boy · Rize · Save the Last Dance · Feel the Noise · Stomp the Yard · Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming · Boogie Town · StreetDance 3D · StreetDance 2 · Beat This: A Hip-Hop History · Saigon Electric · Neukölln Unlimited TV shows Soul Train · The Grind · Dance Fever · Dance 360 · The Wade Robson Project · America's Best Dance Crew · Dance on Sunset · Shake It Up People Jeffrey Daniel · Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon · Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell · Christopher "Lil' C" Toler · Kenneth "Ken Swift" Gabbert · James Brown · Salah · Toni Basil · Dave Scott · Wayne "Frosty Freeze" Frost · Luca "Lazylegz" Patuelli · Darrin Henson · Hong 10 · Steffan "Mr. Wiggles" Clemente · Michael Jackson · Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo · George Sampson · Shane Sparks · Mona-Jeanette Berntsen · Harry Shum, Jr. · Laurieann Gibson · Detlef Soost · Carter "Fever One" McGlasson · Alyson Stoner · Adil Khan · Jon Chu · Hassan "Haspop" El-Hajjami · Poppin' Hyun Joon · Sofia Boutella · Adam G. Sevani · Akai Osei · B-boy Lilou   International champions Battle of the Year JinJo Crew- b-boy crew UK B-Boy Championships Vagabonds - b-boy crew  · Morris - b-boy solo  · Kite - popping solo Freestyle Session Killafornia - b-boy crew  · Seioshi - locking solo  · Green Tec - popping solo World Hip Hop Dance Championships Plague - hip-hop crew (adult)  · Sorority - hip-hop crew (varsity)  · Bubblegum - hip-hop crew (junior)  · J Boogie - hip-hop solo  · Bionic - popping solo  · Tiffany Bong - locking solo  · Fallen Kings - b-boy crew Juste Debout Samo - toprock solo  · Salas & Ben - hip-hop duo  · Popping J & Crazy Kio - popping duo  · Markus & Alex A-Train - locking duo  · Mamson & Babson - house duo Red Bull BC One Roxrite - b-boy solo R16 Korea JinJo Crew - b-boy crew Related topics African-American culture · African-American dance · Bounce Streetdance Company · Breakin' Convention · Electro dance · Funk music · Funk styles · Hip-hop culture · Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory · Hip-hop theater · History of hip-hop dance · House dance · Into the Hoods · Rock the Spot · Street dance · Urban Street Jam · Vibe Dance Competition · So You Think You Can Dance · The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers