BBOYING

Break Dancing - Battle of the year.

 

The bboying appeared in the mid-1970s in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Bronx, because of the musical hits of James Brown. In a party, the DJ Kool Herc, seeing people became excited when they heard the “breaks” (parts of a song whithout lyrics) of James Brown's songs, use two disks of the same album to play only these breaks all the time.

The most enthusiastic dancers started to dancing in the floor, making spins on their backs, heads, elbows, knees, etc. This kind of dance was called bboying (or breakdance, but this is the comercial name used by the media) because dancers used the “breaks” of the song to dance, and dancers were called bboys (break boys).The residents of this neighborhoods, were more time in parties dancing and enjoying music than on the streets.

Later, the DJ Afrika Bambaataa, inspired by DJ Kool Herc, became famous in the Bronx, and years later, around the world. He noticed the change that music, dance, and painting were causing to the youths in his neighborhood. These elements (music, dance, and painting) were an alternative escape way to gangs, drugs and bad life so sadly common in poor neighborhoods like the Bronx orBrooklyn. Hence the fast expansion among youth from different districts. In an attempt to define what was happening in his own neighborhood, Afrika Bambaataa decided to give the name of HipHop to this new movement, which included dance (Hustle, Lyndi Hop, Up-rocking, Bboying...), music (salsa, funk, rap,...) and painting (aerosol, bombing, murals, political graffitti,...). Years later, KRS One (also from the Bronx) attempted unify all elements of HipHop into four groups: Djing, Mcing, Graffiti and Bboying.It was a new culture with very different roots and everyone was welcome. Its only rule: "Peace, Love, Unity, and Having Fun".

Four basic elements form the foundation of breaking. The first is Toprock, a term referring to the upright dancing and shuffles. The second element is Downrock or Footworks which refers to dancing performed on the floor. The third element is the Freeze, the poses that breakers throw into their dance sets to add punctuation to certain beats and end their routines. The fourth element is the Power Moves. These are the most impressive acrobatic movements normally made up of circular motions where the dancer will spin on the floor or in the air.

In 1977, the group Rock Steady Crew (RSC) was formed. They were one of the groups that popularized the Bboying worldwide thanks to its appearance in several films and her performance at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984.

Some known bboys are Crazy Legs (RSC) or Bboy Crazy Smooth (Breaks Kru).

                                                      By Pablo Lerma and Carlos González.