Breaking makes its Olympic debut in Paris, and with any new Olympic sport comes new vocabulary for sports fans to learn. If you’re not familiar with breaking terminology, not to worry.
Here’s a glossary of terms you might hear during the breaking competition.
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Why is it called breaking?
When you heard breaking was joining the Olympic sport roster, you might have wondered why it’s not called breakdancing. The simple answer is that breakdancing is not the real title of the sport. Breaking originated in the Bronx in the 1970s. DJ Kool Herc realized that people tend to dance with more energy during the instrumental section songs, also known as the “break.” He then created the style of producing a song composed entirely of the dancing beat, or the “breakbeat.” Herc began hosting parties, and then later competitions, where people would come and dance to his breakbeats without having heard them beforehand. They called the dancing to these beats, “breaking,” and the sport was born.
When breaking started to permeate throughout more mainstream media, such as television and movies, people began referring to it as breakdancing, though that was never the term used by the true breaking community.
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What are B-Boys and B-Girls?
The terms “B-Boys” and “B-Girls” are titles for the breaking athletes themselves. When DJ Herc began hosting breaking parties and competitions, he called the participants “Break-Boys” and “Break-Girls.” Ever since, breaking athletes have often used the title in front of their breaking name. For example, Canadian breaking athlete, Philip Kim, is known as “B-Boy Phil Wizard.”
While many breaking athletes use the prefix, not all prefer it, with some competitors electing to just be referred to by their breaking name.
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Breaking Styles
Power head: Someone who loves to practice and perform mostly power moves in their breaking, which are acrobatic moves that require momentum, speed, endurance, strength, flexibility, and control. The breaker is generally supported by their upper body, while the rest of their body creates circular momentum.
Footwork cat: Someone who loves to practice and perform footwork in their breaking.
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Breaking Moves
Popping: A continuous flexing of the muscles to the beat. Some moves include arm and body waves that look like an electric current has passed through the body.
Locking: Freezing from a fast movement and “locking” into a certain position, holding it, and then continuing at the same speed as before.
Headspin: In a headstand position, the breaker spins by pushing with their hands
Heelspin: Breaker puts their weight on one heel and initiates a spin by swinging their leg
Windmill: Breaker rotates continuously on one shoulder with their feet in the air and legs apart
Backspin: Breaker balances weight on their upper back and goes into a spin by pushing with their hands or swinging the legs across the body
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Breaking Competition Terms
Throw down: When the B-Girl or B-Boy hits the floor and starts breaking, they are doing a throw down.
Set: A set is a breaker’s prepared round or combination of moves.
Repeating: When a breaker reuses a move that they’ve already done during the competition, they are considered to have been “repeating.” Twenty percent of a breaker’s score is originality, and repeating can negatively impact that score.
Bite/biter/biting: When a breaker is accused of ‘biting’ or being a ‘biter,’ it means that they have either stolen or copied moves/style from another breaker. Similar to “repeating,” this can also affect a breaker’s originality score.
Crashing: If a breaker ‘crashes,’ it means they failed an attempted move and fell during or at the end of their attempt. This may be the most common cause of a breaker losing a battle. The best breakers, however, know how to turn a crash into a move and can control the crash enough to continue their flow into something else.
Crew: A group of breakers who train and compete together. Historically, rival crews have often competed against each other under various sets of rules.
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