Breakdancing

As many of us know, dance is more than just movement – it spans culture, time, and place. Break, popularly known as Breakdancing, is no exception.

Originating in New York City in the late ‘60s - early ‘70s in Black and Latino communities, Breaking brings together energy and creativity by combining a few core moves and adding individual flair. Break was and continues to be a source of self-expression, community, and identity in communities that were, and are, often marginalized by mainstream culture.

A strong competitive culture developed around Break in the urban communities it took root in, with crews of dancers coming together to compete. Break is closely intertwined with the rise of hip-hop, as artists experimented with mixing music — including percussive “breaks” that coined the sport’s name.

Today, Break has hit the mainstream, which is exactly why we wanted to try Breaking for ourselves.

Break combines a set of five “pillar” movements with improvised flips, headstands and spin moves:

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1. Toprock: these moves are typically performed while standing.
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2. Downrock: these moves are typically performed on the ground and the dancers support themselves on their hands or feet.
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3. Drops: these moves are transitional between toprock and downrock, and allow the artist to incorporate unique flare and visuals to their moves.
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4. Power moves: these moves are often inspired by gymnastics or martial arts, including head spins, backspins and the windmill.
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5. Freezes: these are poses artists might hold for multiple beats, requiring a great deal of balance and strength.
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​ Our instructor broke down each pillar for us as we mirrored his movements, freestyling with these moves for about a minute after each demo. We then got time to create our own Break, combining the pillar moves we learned with our own unique poses and power moves.

At the end, we broke out into a dance circle and got to show off our new moves and cheer each other on. It was great to experience the social aspect of Break that takes place during competitions or parties, even at a beginner-level class.

None of us had tried Breakdancing before, much less taken a Break class. For a dance form that has so many dynamic movements – like flips and headstands – it was surprisingly accessible, thanks to our instructors.

It was really interesting to connect to the history of Break and hip-hop and the cultures who shaped it, and to see that play out in the movements used in Break and overall attitude of the dance form. We learned the importance of balance and imbalance and using both to flow between moves and create our own personal flair, which adds a really nice yin-yang energy to Break.

Trying Break for the first time was inspiring, and an incredible way to connect with the history and the communities that created this sport, and to connect with ourselves through physical expression. We’re all really excited to see the expanding influence of Breaking worldwide.