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

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