This summer season, dance followers shall be on the sting of their seats awaiting the debut of the latest Olympic sport: breaking. However when the model takes the Olympic stage, how will the competitors unfold, and what ought to viewers be searching for? Understanding the intricacies of the judging system—and the way it’s been adjusted to work within the Olympics, whereas nonetheless honoring breaking’s historical past—provides a window into how an artwork kind shall be included into one of many most-watched sporting occasions worldwide.
Construction and Scoring
Olympic breaking shall be break up into two occasions, one for b-boys and one for b-girls. There shall be 32 opponents, with equal gender illustration, from between eight and 16 international locations (qualification occasions had been nonetheless occurring at press time).
Throughout the gendered occasions, dancers begin in a round-robin schedule, during which they compete in one-on-one battles, explains Zack “Cracker Zacks” Slusser, vp of DanceSport Breaking. The 16 athletes shall be break up into 4 teams of 4, with every dancer going head-to-head in solo battles with every of the opposite three dancers of their group for 2 rounds, leading to a complete of six rounds.
The highest eight dancers (two from every group of 4) advance to the “knockout” stage. On this stage, dancers are seeded into brackets, and every bracket matchup has three rounds. Bracket winners progress from quarterfinals to semifinals to finals, with the winner being awarded Olympic gold.
Judges rating dancers based mostly on 5 standards: execution, method, originality, musicality, and vocabulary. Hearkening again to hip hop’s roots, scores shall be represented comparatively by a DJ fader. In every head-to-head battle, judges will transfer every of the 5 digital sliders (both a bit or all the best way) towards the breaker who’s stronger in every class. Viewers will solely see who every decide in the end votes for, indicated by a blue or a crimson field displayed on a big LED scoreboard.
What to Watch For
With rapid-fire rounds and unimaginable expertise, there shall be loads to see throughout breaking’s Olympic debut. Ivan “Flipz” Velez, a veteran breaker and a member of the judging panel in Paris, recommends expecting the basics of the shape, like “smoothness, artistic transitions, and ranges.” Velez additionally advises looking for energy strikes and noticing what number of strikes dancers can mix and stack. “The longer the combo, the cooler the strikes, the upper you rating,” he says. Dancers shall be responding to the tracks that the deejay decides to spin.
Along with these showstopping actions, the intricacy of every dancer’s craft can be necessary, notes veteran breaker Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio. The best way a dancer executes a step or phrase can provide hints into their background, origins, coaching, and persona. “The way you experience the rhythm, the way you specific your explicit model and individuality by the music and the dance—it additionally exposes your social background,” he says.
Acknowledging Breaking’s Historical past
The intense worldwide highlight of the Olympics will illuminate not solely the athleticism of breaking but in addition its artistry, historical past, and legacy. Veteran breaker Ana “Rokafella” Garcia hopes viewers will study concerning the social roots of the shape, and concentrate on the truth that breakers usually study in nontraditional areas, generally amongst mates and with no conventional coach or instructor. She emphasizes that hip hop is a style in flux from era to era. “It positively permits for interpretation and contributions from every dancer and every era,” she explains.
Dionisio additionally hopes that breaking’s geographic and cultural roots shall be acknowledged, explaining that the style was born in New York Metropolis, amongst communities of shade throughout a time of nice upheaval. “That’s what hip hop is—it’s a diamond that was born beneath the pressures of financial woes and cultural wars of the time,” Dionisio says. “To come back out shining from these instances with one thing referred to as hip hop, and to current that diamond to the world, is precisely what must be performed on the Olympics.”
