By: Bri Painter
It was so shocking this year when the 2024 Olympics announced that the sport breakdancing would be in the Paris games.
Many people had questions about the breakdancing battles, including myself with a dancer background of ten years.
Ms. Foutz, the dance teacher at Fremont explains the subject of breakdancing, “There’s floorwork like foot work and top rock technique, there are power moves which are part of the floor work which includes moves like the flare.”
Digging into the background of how the judges judged the battle, each contestant had about three major focuses; top rock, down rock, and holds. Top rock is what the contestant performs while dancing above the floor. While down rock is when the dancers compete their routines/improv on the floor. Holds are the moves the dancer executes while doing a handstand, or a difficult hold on their down rock routines. To be a breakdancer competing in the Olympics you need to qualify within five specific tasks the judges would be looking for; Technique, Vocabulary, Execution, Musicality, and Originality.
Technique is likely judged based on how well a break dancer can do the basics of breakdancing. This can revolve on how much effort the dancer has put into practicing these moves.
To explain vocabulary it can be put into the amount of moves they know, or know of. If a dancer’s strength is doing a certain move, they know they are good at doing their strengths. This can give a dancer an upper hand knowing their strengths and weaknesses.
Their execution could be judged in two ways.
This can be judged on either how well they perform, or how well the dancer executes a move correctly.
Musicality can also play a huge role in their performance.
Each break dancer was given an unexpected song.This meant that the dancer needed to match their choreography to the music; most of them probably had a set improv before competing.
Lastly, Originality mixes in with their improv.
This makes the judges ask themselves these questions; What moves make this dancer unique? And what can this dancer show me that looks like their original work?
During the competition all of the contestants were very aware of those nine strategies they would need to match to impress the judges.
The matches were run by three rounds known as throwdowns. A throwdown starts once one of the break dancers starts dancing. The dancer gets about 60 seconds to do their routine before the other opponent starts. Whoever won that round would go into the bracket for the next round, they would keep this routine until the last two standing.
The two gold medalists possibly ever in history for the boys breakdancing was Canadian Phil Wizard, and for the girls breakdancing Japanese Ami Yuasa.
I say “ever in history” because there will no longer be Olympic breakdancing coming, at least in the 2028 Olympics.
Some say, dancing shouldn’t be a sport in the olympics.
Ms. Foutz, on the other hand states, “Dance is athletic and very cultural and not every country does our style of contemporary dance we have here. You have to find a universal sport that most of the countries could compete in.”
Although the matter could ask why other sports aren’t in the olympics like baseball, softball, bowling, lacrosse, mixed martial arts, etc.
This entirely falls on culture and how not every country has this sport to compete with.
Kyree Wilson, a dancer for Fremonts drill team, and Junior this year claims, “This is a year long sport it doesn’t have a specific on and off season, it’s also just as draining and tiring as any other sport can be. You still have to practice and put in a lot of effort.”
So even though not all sports are in the Olympics doesn’t make them not a sport.
With dance it varies and everyone’s opinions are different.
AP News
Dominika Banevic is a 17 year old B-girl in the Olympics.
Breakdancer dancing
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