5 Things To Know Before You Watch Breakdancing At The Olympics

For the first time, breaking has danced its way into the Olympic Games.

Spectators in Paris and worldwide will watch as B-girls and B-boys windmill, 6-step, and freeze their way to gold.

But what does ‘good’ breakdancing look like, and why has it debuted in Paris?

Hannah Belet joins The Briefing‘s Helen Smith to discuss what a gold medal breakdancing performance might look like and who she thinks might be the competitors to watch.

Competitors don’t know what music they will break to.

“One of the reasons why breaking is difficult is because it’s a freestyle dance. You do have your own combos, like, obviously you’ve trained some crazy moves like you’re not going to able to do a head spin out of nowhere. But we’re freestyling to the music. So how we respond to the music is part of how they score us as well.”

Unlike other sports (e.g. artistic gymnastics), the goal is to make new moves.

“It’s always been that you’re doing something that no one has ever seen before. So you’re not trying to do the moves that other people can do. You’re trying to do the moves that people can’t do.”

Still, there are some foundations audiences should understand.

“We do have the main foundations of breaking which is top rock, footwork, freezes, and power moves. Power moves are the like big moves you see. So the windmills, the head spins, the crazy spinning moves, the air flows flares.” 

The Paris Olympics will follow a tournament style.

“They’ll start with the round robin, which is a top sixteen, and then they’ll go straight to the Top eight—tournament style all the way to the end”

Breakdancing kicks off at the Paris Games on August 10.

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