Competition was baked into hip-hop from the start. Rap battles tested an MC’s rhymes and flow. DJs and writers (graffiti artists) duked it out using turntables and spray paint, respectively. Breaking, hip-hop’s fourth element, went global in the ‘90s, spawning competitions on five continents. The finest from those battles will be among the b-boys and b-girls who can call themselves Olympians as well.
Breaking will make its debut as an Olympic sport Aug. 9 at the 2024 Summer Games now happening in Paris. Efforts to make breaking an Olympic sport were met with pushback, much of it from the breaking community. It required a marriage of convenience in which neither partner was terribly smitten with the other.
The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), formerly International DanceSport, tried unsuccessfully to make ballroom dancing an Olympic sport in the ’90s. Despite the rejection, the federation, an umbrella organization for dances from salsa to the foxtrot, believed it could get its foot in the door if the right style was presented.
WDSF hired a consultant to find out what style would convince the International Olympic Committee to consider dance a sport. The consultant’s findings weren’t what they wanted to hear. Breaking, the consultant concluded had the best chance of winning over the IOC.
WDSF had to make its Olympic pitch with a form its members didn’t know or understand. Many in the breakdancing community resented their form of expression being used as a Trojan horse for ballroom dancers.
None of that seemed to be an issue for the International Olympic Committee after a rousing reception for breaking’s soft opening at the 2018 Youth Olympics. The IOC made breaking an Olympic sport, naysayers on either side came around (or were ignored) and breaking will be part of the Paris Olympics.
Breaking emerged in the 1970s alongside hip-hop music, and for sheer athleticism and physicality, it’s hard to deny it’s a sport. Routines include flips, spins and standing on just about any part of the body besides the feet.
For readers who haven’t thought about breaking since Kangols were all the rage, here are a few facts to ponder before the competition begins.
The athletes (Florida represents!): Kissimmee native Victor Montalvo, 30, is one of three Americans competing in the breaking event. He’s the highest ranked American breaker and was the first to qualify for the Olympics.
Also competing for the U.S. are Sunny Choi, 35, and Logan Edra, 21, who has been breaking since age 7. All three have competed internationally.
Don’t call it breakdancing: The Olympics event is called Breaking. It is divided into male and female divisions, or B-Boys and B-Girls. This is in line with the form’s history, as performing was known as either b-boying or b-girling. The “b” stands for break or beat or Bronx or battle depending on who’s remembering, but break seems to be the most accepted choice. B-Boys (and it was mostly boys with some exceptions) favored performance music was percussion-heavy instrumental portions of funk and soul records. Those sections were known as “breaks.”
… Because “breakdancing” is problematic: Particularly for originators and early practitioners of the form, “breakdancing” is a misapplied label. “Dance” was appended to “break” by mainstream media afraid its viewers wouldn’t know what to call it, apparently. Breakdancing quickly became a blanket term for any street dance style regardless of origin. This reduces breaking/b-boying to a craze, ignoring its significance in hip-hop culture.
It’s happening on hip-hop’s anniversary weekend: Breaking competitions will be held Aug. 9 and 10. Aug. 11 is considered the birthday of hip-hop. On that day in 1973, DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell) threw a back-to-school party in the rec room of his apartment building. Herc used two turntables, a fader and two copies of the same record, to extend percussion-heavy instrumental segments of songs, keeping the dance floor full and giving early b-boys the soundtrack to their art.
It’s worldwide: Many of the Olympic breakers are the finalists from competitions held on every continent. Some of the most highly rated b-boys and b-girls are from Japan and Russia. Like hip-hop music, this South Bronx native has gone global.
Breaking from the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC and be available to stream on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.