Breakdancing - A Modern Hip Hop Dance Routine

Breakdancing started in the streets of Bronx back in the 1970's. It was first classified as a type of street dancing involving remixed music with highly-advanced and sophisticated maneuvers. Today, breakdancing is a popular modern dance routine performed around the world -- either as a friendly competition between "crews" out in the streets or parks, dance events between groups, and of course, international competition sponsored by big names in the industry.

History

If you study dancing history then you will see that breakdancing is nowhere to be found in the records. The trend started in the streets of New York -- a way for kids and teenagers to show off their "cool moves" with the inclusion of music. It was observed that this form of modern dance is a combination of athletic moves and dance maneuvers -- with emphasis on extreme "power moves" with "freezes" during breaks in the music. The trend started with the Latinos and Black youths in Bronx, but was later performed by the general populace and eventually in the international level.

Naming

Breakdancers don’t like to be called as such. They have their own terms to define who they are in this modern dance routine. Notable performers often term themselves as "b-boy" or "b-girl" and the dance itself is named as "breaking"

Break And Dance

Breakdancing got its name from the "breaks" in the music where performers put a halt on their extreme dance moves to show off. In most cases, the musics are remixed to fit in these breaks to allow more emphasis on the maneuvers. There are 5 moves incorporated into this modern dance routine, namely:

1. Toprock - steps performed while standing;

2. Downrock - emphasis of feet and body movements on the floor. This is often termed as footwork or floorwork;

3. Power Moves - these are termed as acrobatic maneuvers that require physical strength, balance, and stamina. Initial movement includes circular maneuvers for the body to gain momentum to execute power moves;

4. Freezes - the performer stays in a pose, usually after executing power moves, during the break in the music;

5. Suicides - this is an extreme maneuver that usually denotes the end of a routine.

Requirement

If you break down the fundamentals of "breaking", one will observe that the emphasis is more into the person's physical strength and balance. The moves can be quite tricky and require complete control of the body or ends up in very painful consequences brought about by lack of timing and experience.

In most cases, professional breakers who teach breakdancing often start their lessons in improving a performer's physical strength and balance. Each maneuver is executed individually until they learn to grasp complete control of their body and proceed to more complicated techniques.

There has been a major debate saying that breakdancing is more into power than style. However, breakers classify themselves into these two fundamentals -- one incorporating the use of power to amplify and support their moves, while one group focus more into mastering unique "power moves" to their dancing.