From street dancing to Olympic sport, breaking will make its debut at the Summer Olympics in Paris.
The dance that emerged on the streets of the Bronx in the 1970s thanks to New York’s African-American community is on its way to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Breaking, also known as breakdance to those outside the breaking community, is the only new sport to debut at the Summer Olympics in France. Here’s everything you need to know about the sport.
What’s breaking?
- Breaking is an urban and improvisational dance technique, typically performed to hip-hop music with drum breaks.
- It consists of four types of movements: top-rock, down-rock, power moves and freezes.
- Break’s roots lie in the emergence of hip-hop culture in the United States.
- The 1990s saw the first international breakbreaking competitions.
- Currently, Red Bull BC One, which began in 2004, is the sport’s most prestigious annual breaking championship.
- The World DanceSport Federation has been the sport’s official governing body since 2018.
- Breakbreaking was introduced at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2018.
Breaking down terms to know
- Circuit breaker: A gender-neutral term for a breakdancer.
- B-boys and b-girls: Gender words for breakers, abbreviations for break-boys and break-girls.
- B-boying and b-girling: Gender words for the act of a break performing break-dance.
How will breaking competitions work at the Olympics?
- Breaking will be divided into two different competitions, one for b-girls and one for b-boys each.
- 16 b-girls and 16 b-boys will face each other in solo competitions and improvise their moves based on the DJ’s songs.
- They will use power moves, “including windmills, 6 steps and freezes,” according to the Olympics website.
What time are the last minute Olympics competitions?
- The women’s breakbreaking competition takes place on August 9th, from 4pm Paris time (2pm GMT) until the end of the day. The final round, the Gold Medal Battle, will begin at 9:23 pm Paris time (7:23 pm GMT).
- The men’s breakbreaking competition takes place on August 10th, from 4pm Paris time (2pm GMT) until the end of the day. The final round, the Gold Medal Battle, will begin at 9:23 pm Paris time (7:23 pm GMT).
Where are the last-minute Olympics competitions?
The last-minute Olympics competitions will take place at La Concorde in Paris, 5 km (3.1 miles) from the Olympic and Paralympic Village.
Stay up to date:
You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Paris 2024 Olympics tournament page with all the news and features, as well as event build-up and live text commentary on selected football, basketball, tennis and boxing games.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
