Breakdancing (b-boying or break-boying)
Chris "Check It" Lim (above leaft) of the Dancing Turtle studio in Albuquerque, NM, tells his students that breaking or b-boying is a form of communication, and it takes intense concentration. He doesn't mention, but it is obvious when one watches the "dancers" that it takes coordination and muscles much like gymnastics.
Instead of using the original term b-boying or break-boying, the mainstream media promoted it as “breakdancing,” and since mainstream media often overshadows what might be referred to as “fringe,” that is how the artform became known — breakdancing.
A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker and all of Lim’s students have a b-boy or b-girl name that they identify with when dancing or competing.
Although the term “breakdance” is frequently used to refer to the dance in popular culture and in the mainstream entertainment industry, “b-boying” and “breaking” are the original terms and are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners.
If you’re an enthusiast it quite possible you’d consider the term “breakdancing” as a derogatory term.
And the media amplified this distortion by showing simplified versions of the dance, making it appear that the “tricks” were everything, essentially brainwashing the uninitiated into believing the media’s story.
Fake news in today’s parlance.
Admittedly there are those “tricks,” the spinning on one’s head and the back flips, but there are also the more subtle moves and the interplay — such as the implied tension or antagonism — between the various dancers who might be competing.
The dance itself is properly called “breaking” by rappers such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Darryl McDaniels of Run–D.M.C.
The terms “b-boy” (break-boy), “b-girl” (break-girl), and “breaker” were the original terms used to describe the dancers who performed to DJ Kool Herc’s breakbeats.
The dance style originated primarily among Puerto Rican and African American youths, many of them former members of street gangs (many of them former members of the Black Spades, the Young Spades, or the Baby Spades) during the mid-1970s in the Bronx. The dance spread worldwide due to popularity in the media, especially in regions such as Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
So although the media was to blame for misnaming the genre, it’s growth was helped by popular culture and the media.
Breaking is athletic and has four main kinds of movement: downrock, toprock, freezes and power moves.
Although is most commonly thought to be a hip-hop music oriented dance style, at a recent competition in Albuquerque organized by Lim — err, “Check It” — the music styles varied widely with hip-hop being only a small percentage of songs being dance to with the most important aspect of the music, no matter what style, being the tempo and beat that the dancers move to.
Instead of using the original term b-boying or break-boying, the mainstream media promoted it as “breakdancing,” and since mainstream media often overshadows what might be referred to as “fringe,” that is how the artform became known — breakdancing.
A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker and all of Lim’s students have a b-boy or b-girl name that they identify with when dancing or competing.
Although the term “breakdance” is frequently used to refer to the dance in popular culture and in the mainstream entertainment industry, “b-boying” and “breaking” are the original terms and are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners.
If you’re an enthusiast it quite possible you’d consider the term “breakdancing” as a derogatory term.
And the media amplified this distortion by showing simplified versions of the dance, making it appear that the “tricks” were everything, essentially brainwashing the uninitiated into believing the media’s story.
Fake news in today’s parlance.
Admittedly there are those “tricks,” the spinning on one’s head and the back flips, but there are also the more subtle moves and the interplay — such as the implied tension or antagonism — between the various dancers who might be competing.
The dance itself is properly called “breaking” by rappers such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Darryl McDaniels of Run–D.M.C.
The terms “b-boy” (break-boy), “b-girl” (break-girl), and “breaker” were the original terms used to describe the dancers who performed to DJ Kool Herc’s breakbeats.
The dance style originated primarily among Puerto Rican and African American youths, many of them former members of street gangs (many of them former members of the Black Spades, the Young Spades, or the Baby Spades) during the mid-1970s in the Bronx. The dance spread worldwide due to popularity in the media, especially in regions such as Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
So although the media was to blame for misnaming the genre, it’s growth was helped by popular culture and the media.
Breaking is athletic and has four main kinds of movement: downrock, toprock, freezes and power moves.
Although is most commonly thought to be a hip-hop music oriented dance style, at a recent competition in Albuquerque organized by Lim — err, “Check It” — the music styles varied widely with hip-hop being only a small percentage of songs being dance to with the most important aspect of the music, no matter what style, being the tempo and beat that the dancers move to.
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