Break Dance

Breakdance (media coined phrase), also known as breaking, b-girling or b-boying, is a street dance style that evolved as part of the hip hop movement that originated among African American and Latin American youths in the South Bronx of New York City during the early 1970s. It is arguably the best known of all hip hop dance styles. A breakdancer is also known as a breaker.

Popular speculations of the early 1980s suggest that breakdancing, in its organized fashion seen today, began as a method for rival gangs of the ghetto to mediate and settle territorial disputes. In a turn-based showcase of dance routines, the winning side was determined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves.

It later was through the highly energetic performances of the late funk legend James Brown and the rapid growth of dance teams, like the Rock Steady Crew of New York City, that the competitive ritual of gang warfare evolved into a pop-culture phenomenon receiving massive media attention. Parties, disco clubs, talent shows, and other public events became typical locations for breakdancers, including gang members for whom dancing served as a positive diversion from the threats of city life.

Breakdancing is generally unstructured and highly improvisational, allowing the incorporation of many different elements, relying upon a mixture of coordination, flexibility, style, and most importantly, rhythm.

The breakdancer displays his or her proficiency with foot speed and control by performing footwork combinations. These combinations usually transition into more athletic moves known as power moves.

Power moves refer to moves that require momentum and physical power to execute. In power moves, the breakdancer relies more on upper body strength to dance, using his or her hands to do moves. Many moves are borrowed from gymnastics.

Freezes halt all motion in a stylish pose. The more difficult freezes require the breakdancer to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength.

"Battles" refer to any level of competition in which breakdancers in an open space (typically a circle or square) participate in quick-paced, turn-based routines, whether improvised or planned. Participants vary in number, ranging from head-to-head duels to battles of opposing breakdance crews, or teams. Winners are determined by the side exhibiting the most proficient combinations of moves.

Since its inception, breakdancing has provided a youth culture constructive alternative to violent urban street gangs. Today, breakdancing culture is a remarkable discipline somewhere in-between those of dancers and athletes. Since acceptance and involvement centers on dance skills, breakdancing culture is usually free of the common race, gender and age boundaries of a subculture and has been accepted worldwide.

Music is a staple ingredient for breakdancing. The original songs that popularized the dance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz, soul, funk, electro or electro funk, disco, and R&B. For most breakdancers, fashion is also a defining aspect of identity.

In the 1980s, with the help of pop culture and MTV, breakdancing made its way from America to the rest of the world as a new cultural phenomenon

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