Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita (栗田 健男, Kurita Takeo?, 28 April 1889 – 19 December 1977) was a vice-admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Kurita was born in Mito city, Ibaraki Prefecture in 1889. He was sent off to Etajima in 1905 and graduated from the 38th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1910, ranked 28th out of a class of 149 cadets. As a midshipman, he served on the cruisers Kasagi and Niitaka. On being commissioned as ensign in 1911, he was assigned to Tatsuta.
After his promotion to sub-lieutenant in 1913, Kurita served on the battleship Satsuma, destroyer Sakaki and cruiser Iwate. Kurita became a lieutenant on 1 December 1916, and served on a number of ships: cruiser Tone, destroyers Kaba and Minekaze. He also served as either the chief torpedo officer or executive officer on Minekaze, Yakaze, and Hakaze. In 1920, he was given his first command: the destroyer Shigure. In 1921, he assumed command of Oite.
Promoted to lieutenant commander in 1922, Kurita captained the destroyers Wakatake, Hagi, and Hamakaze. As commander from 1927, he commanded the destroyer Urakaze, 25th Destroyer Group and 10th Destroyer Group.
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. 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.
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 that connotes exploitation of the art 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. Popping, locking, and electric boogaloo are not styles of "breakdance". They are funk styles that were developed separately from breaking in California. The dance itself is properly called "breaking" according to rappers such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC.