Unlike ballet or salsa, there’s not one way to break dance. It’s mostly improvised by performers and has evolved over the years with more complex and difficult moves.
The dance form came from DJs in the 1970s. They noticed that people would dance at the “break” of the song or the part where you could only hear the drums without any vocals or other instrumentation.
The person who’s credited with created breaking is DJ Kool Herc, who is also considered one of the early pioneers of hip-hop, which isn’t surprising considered the two are intertwined. During parties, Herc would encourage B-Boys to perform as he would continue to loop the percussion breaks during his set and hype up the crowd on the mic.
As the popularity of breaking grew in New York City, B-Boys would create crews where they would come up with their own routine and often challenge others crews to battles.
Some of the pioneering crews included the New York City Breakers, the Zulu Kings, the Dynamic Rockers and the Rock Steady Crew.
Some of the legendary breakdancers who helped popularize and grow the culture include Ken Swift, Crazy Legs, Frosty Freeze, Charlie Rock, Joe Joe and Rubber Band.
As hip-hop has grown in popularity, so has breaking. It’s now a worldwide sensation with multiple competitions taking place every year where the best dancers from every country duke it out to see who’s the best.
As you can see, the moves of some of these dancers has evolved to something that people who created the art form wouldn’t have imagined in the 1970s.
The days of only dancing to breaks in the beat is long gone, as dancers will now perform to some of the most popular songs in the world.
One of the biggest competions in the world is the Red Bull BC One, an annual competition that brings together the best 16 dancers in the world to see who is the best.
These competitions happen all round the world. One of the biggest ones is Battle of the Year (BOTY), which is held every year in Germany.
R16 Korea is another huge competition that takes place in South Korea.
There’s now a new generation of B-Boys and B-Girls across the world who are pulling off moves that you wouldn’t believe.
While some are from the United States, like B-Boy Victor, others come from counties like the Netherlands, South Korea, Russia, France and Japan.
We didn’t forget about the B-Girls who have become just as talented and popular as B-Boys.
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