By: Lauren Wu

In 2024, after a great success of breaking in the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, breakdancing, or breaking, was added to the Paris Olympics. This was because the International Olympic Committee wanted to appeal to younger fans as they want to have events that all age groups enjoy watching.

[What is Breakdancing?] The break battles, which are? will involve two breakers taking turns trying to out-do each other with their skills and moves. It will be held on August 9 and 10 at Place de la Concorde, Paris. Olympic breakers representing countries like Japan, China, and Australia will also compete in one-on-one battles.

Technology like DVDs and video platforms like YouTube allowed breakers around the world to learn moves and make up new ones. They do it by watching other breakers and observing the moves they do. Then, they start combining existing moves with other moves to create new moves. “That’s why I love it so much, because it’s never the same,” said Menno van Gorp, who will represent the Netherlands in the 2024 Paris Games. “It’s always about innovating and re-innovating.’’

In Paris, breakers will not know beforehand what music the D.J. will play for their battles. Each break battle lasts only up to a minute so it’s crucial that competitors advance rapidly to other moves to catch the judges’ attention.

In the 1970s, breakers with backgrounds in gymnastics and martial arts successfully turned some gymnastics or martial arts moves into power moves in breaking. For example, flares, which is when a breaker balances their upper body between both arms and swings their legs around in a circle, derive from the Thomas Flair, a gymnastics move invented by the U.S. gymnast Kurt Thomas.

Flares once existed as a fundamental component of breaking. Now, generations of variants now exist in battles. The airflare, to name one, requires a breaker to hold themself up on one hand and whip their legs around in a full circle, while holding a base position. Breakers are now in a race to see who can complete two full circles in a single whip.

Breaking is an addition to the Olympics that can make the Olympics more interesting to watch for all ages.

Link- https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/05/arts/dance/breaking-paris-olympics.html

Link- https://www.japantimes.co.jp/olympics/2024/08/10/olympic-breaking-debut-paris/