History of Breakdancing – From The Beginning To The Olympics

Today we are going to give you a full guide to the history of breakdancing. This is one of the most phenomenal sports, dance variations, and general musical culture, as it was created naturally, without the arrangement and mental preparation of anyone. This shows how humans can create something just by doing things together. From a small habit from one DJ born a whole new genre of community that will forever be a part of human history.

The history of breakdancing is one of the most interesting phenomena to learn about in the world of sports! But why exactly? Well, this is a modern activity, invented by a group of people who were unaware of doing it. One person noticed a strange pattern of dancing, and soon it turned into a local habit. Becoming popular, mixing with different cultures from the same style that attracted the original crowd, soon it received a name: Breaking.

As it gained media popularity, it was then called breakdancing, to make people recognize the name of this category. Hosting events, being featured in movies, and soon earning their competitive scene, humans invented breaking miraculously. If you are interested in betting on the future competition of breaking, then all you have to do is register at any of the online sportsbook sites in the US!

Defining Breakdance – History of Breakdancing

Before we discover how we started in a club, and then move on to talk about the Olympic breakdance odds, first let us define breakdance. According to Britannica, breakdance, break dance, or breaking is a largely improvisational dance art, made up of variations of “standard” moves. It was invented in New York City during the early 70s, incorporating moves from various sources such as martial arts and gymnastics.

The emphasis on the moves is to convey energy, movement, humor, creativity, and even elements of danger. It seeks to represent the city lifestyle, but early on it was meant to fit the “break” in a given song. A type of dance that fits the percussion breaks during a song that mixes the percussion from two songs, switching back and forth constantly. Therefore, we could also call this the Dance of Percussions. Breaking builds up from the following elements:

• Toprock: Standing dance moves before going to the floor, like the Indian step.
• Go Downs: Moves to transition from standing to the floor, like knee drops.
• Footwork: Floor-based moves using hands for support, like the six-step.
• Freezes: Holding a solid pose, like the baby freezing.
• Power Moves: Dynamic spins using the whole body, like head spins.
• Tricks: Adding a unique twist to moves, like leg threading during hand hops.
• Transitions: Movements connecting different elements, like sweeps and spins.

To bet on future breaking competitions, all you have to do is register at Bovada Sportsbook!

Kool Herc – Who Invented Breakdancing and Where?

The history of breakdancing begins with one DJ. The father of breaking is none other than DJ Kool Herc! According to Red Bull, Kool Herc had his style of creating his tracks. To shorten the musical explanation, essentially he used two tracks, mixing the percussions, switching back and forth. This has created a strange, yet rhythmically attractive break in the flow of the song. This would allow unexpected movements or changes in the dance’s direction in a sudden way. Kool Herc noticed how people tried to fit dances to the rhythm in an entirely new way. To understand how this sounds, take a look at the earliest foundations for break music:

• James Brown – Give it up or turn it loose
• Incredible Bongo Band – Apache
• Jimmy Castor Bunch – Just Begun
• Babe Ruth – The Mexican
• Technotronic – Pump Up The Jam

In conclusion, he invented the B-Boys and B-Girls (B stands for a break), where he’d tell the B-Boys and B-Girls to form a circle and start doing the break. This new style of dancing and music, made in a group without any rules was phenomenal and has taken hip-hop and disc-jockey culture like a tsunami, quickly becoming a core element in the culture that was refined in the 70s.

Mixing With Hip Hop Culture – History of Breakdancing

So, how did the mix with the hip-hop culture begin? In the first place, the general hip-hop culture and the disc jockey community used songs with similar BPM and bop. These were ranging between 80-134. These were the general thresholds for dance music and rhythmic music. Both music relied heavily on scratches, percussions, and samples. Add these three elements together with some general boom-bap drums, and you have the formula for both hip-hop and breaking.

Furthermore, this was an urban activity. Hip-hop and rap were known to have little representation back then, making the fans host rap battles similar to what you see in Eminem’s movie called 8 Mile. And break dance is among the big city sports you can start today. The street knows the street, and both streets played the same music. Their personalities were nearly identical, with Breaking having a less aggressive approach than rap battles (which was still a safe event, but with threats in the lyrics).

Breaking Or Breakdancing?

The history of breakdancing keeps debating the proper term. Let’s start with this: The original definition of the activity was whatever the B-Boys and B-Girls did surrounded by the circle. However, soon it was called “breaking”, loosely named after the fact that the DJ began the breaking sequence for the music, and it was time to start “breaking”, thus, dancing in a circle, using the signature breakdance variations. Breakdancing became popular through the media, so people would not hear “breaking”, thinking people break their bones or their mental constitution.

Simply, it became breakdancing. We believe both terms are valid, but breakdancing communicates the category better than “breaking”, which nowadays we use to explain a mental breakdown. According to The DemoStop, we already have famous breakers/breakdancers. These are the following:

• Kim Hyo Geun
• Omar Delgado Macias
• Ali Ramdani
• Ronnie Albadonado
• B-Boy Junior
• Ken Swift
• Richard “Cray Legs” Colon
• Kim Hong-Yul
• Salah, Thias Lopez

Breaking At The Olympics – History of Breakdancing

As time went on, we saw the rise of breakdancing into popularity, which was one of the most phenomenal things we have witnessed. Legends were born, and are still being born, with more and more professional environments. First, they made sure to make the general activity safer, more stylish, and generally more accepting to anyone who might be interested. First, it became an art style, and this is where we saw the emergence of breaking features in movies, pop culture, and video clips. Just later, we saw professional competitions.

Among them, we have the most professional events hosted by Red Bull. It is a Red Bull-specific event with great prizes and recognition, but of course, there are “official” organizations that host Grand Championships. And now, both the B-Boy and B-Girl winners are fan-favorite Paris Olympic athletes. In 2024, we reached the moment when finally breaking became an official sport at the Olympics!

Where To Bet On Breaking?

Finally, we reached the end of our article that collected everything on the history of breakdancing. If you are interested in more, we highly recommend you take a look at our other articles! On top of that, we recommend you browse our list of sports betting sites. 

Firstly, you should take a look at our country selector, where you can filter out the online sportsbook operators who have a legal license in your selected country’s IP. However, our default recommendation is going to be Bovada Sportsbook! They recognize breaking as a sport, and every time there is an event, we see the tournaments being hosted as betting markets on their site.

Click here to stay tuned with Bovada Sportsbook!