What is Breaking?

What is Breaking and when did it start?

Breaking known as Break Dancing is a street dance style that evolved from the Hip Hop movement in the 1970s. The dance style incorporates acrobatic movements, coordinaton, creativity, style, poses and holding your body weight, known as freezes.

What do you call someone that does Breaking or Break Dancing?

A practitioner of Breaking is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. The term “breakdance” is frequently used by the media or people not involved in the Breaking culture to refer to the dance, which was known as originally as Breaking.

What are the elements of Breaking?

The dance elements or movement categories of Breaking include:

Toprock - The steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the opening display of style of how breakers start their freestyle or dance set/routine.

Drops - A movement of transition from Toprock to the floor with style.

Footwork - Any movement on the floor with the hands supporting the dancer as much as the feet, footwork movements vary from being performed in a circular motion, travelling in one direction, twisting in alternate directions and utiling different limbs such as forearms continue the movements. The most common footwork move is 6-Step and Helicopter Sweep also known as Coffee Grinder.

Power Moves - These are acrobatic movements that require momentum, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. The moves involve holding the breakers upper body weight whilst performing an acrobatic movement that is of a circular motion. Headspins, Backpins, Windmills and Knee Spins are common power moves that you may have seen in person or on videos.

Freezes - The poses performed with a Breaking style, the breaker is required to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength, each freeze has a name and there are several variations of each freeze. One-handed handstand freezes are commonly associated with Breaking in the media.

Tricks - These are movements that require a level of explosive kicking or pushing from the hands to execute a quick motion. Flips and hopping handstands are great examples of a Breaking tricking that you may have seen.