Fans have been left ‘conflicted’ and ‘underwhelmed’ at a new sport for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with the introduction of Breaking.
The first dancesport discipline in Summer Olympic history is being hosted at the Place de la Concorde today and tomorrow (August 9 and August 10).
Not everyone is happy about breakdancing at the Olympics, though, and it led to controversy and debate in the build-up to the Games.
Why is there so much talk about Breaking, what exactly is it and what are the pros and cons of brining the dancesport to the Olympic Games? Read on to find out…
What is Breaking?
Breaking is a new Olympic sport for 2024. The competition has two gender-based medal events – one for 16 men and one for 16 women.
Athletes are known as ‘B-Boys’ and ‘B-Girls’, who will compete against each other in solo battles.
The breaker with the highest number of points and rounds scored by the judges over his or her opponent in a solo battle will advance to the next round.
Where did Breaking come from?
Breaking is an urban, improvisational dance technique, typically performed to hip-hop music with drum breaks.
It comprises four kinds of movements: top-rock, down-rock, power moves and freezes.
The roots of Breaking lie in the emergence of hip-hop culture in the United States.
Why are fans unhappy?
Some Olympic fans are ‘conflicted’ over whether or not Breaking should be classed as a sport in the first place.
Others have highlighted the judging scandals which have plagued other events such as Gymnastics and Figure Skating in the past and worry it could be repeated.
One Olympic fan said they were left ‘underwhelmed’ watching preliminary Breaking events in the lead up to the Olympics, because the B-Boy or B-Girl they thought should’ve won didn’t.
Another Olympic fan added on Reddit: ‘I tried to watch it. Not interesting and the judging criteria are all off and completely subjective, I read the rulebook and no thanks.’
Concerns from the hip-hop community in Paris
Mathis, a 16-year-old breakdancer based in Paris, told Condé Nast Traveler: ‘[It is] good and not good at the same time. If we can’t perform the ‘right’ way, we’ll be seen as no good.’
Anne Nguyen, a dancer, choreographer, and founder of the Paris-based dance company Par Terre, added: ‘[B-Boys and B-Girls] will be strategic, planning everything from A to Z, to get the high scores.
‘Less improvisation, fewer complex figures, a lot less risk-taking. It means less freedom.’
Bruce Ykanji, the founder of Juste Debout, one of the largest annual street dance events in the world, said: ‘Hip-hop, regardless of style, cannot be considered a sport because then it means every physical art form should be called a sport. The elite do this because they do not appreciate our culture as it is.’
Why has the Olympics introduced Breaking for Paris 2024?
Loughborough University’s Professor Claire Warden, an expert in performance and physical culture, said: ‘I describe Breaking as both a sport and performance art.
‘It’s extremely athletic but it’s also performative in that it is artistic. There will always be events at the Olympics that look at who can run the fastest, who can swim the fastest, and so on, but I don’t think that we should restrict sports to these types of events.
‘There are already sports at the Olympics at the intersection of sport and performance art the same way breaking is, so synchronised swimming would be an example, and rhythmic gymnastics. What we’re going to see is the very, very best breakers in the entire world. So, that sense of competition is still there.
‘The Olympics has never stayed the same. Time and time and time again, it has shifted and changed, moved with the times and responded to culture to attract new audiences. I just see the addition of breaking as a furtherance of that narrative.
‘Yes, there are other sport-arts they could have chosen here, of course, but I think the Olympic committee has decided to go with breaking because it is really dynamic. It appeals to a lot of people who perhaps wouldn’t be attracted to the Olympics by other things, and this is a sport-art that is popular all over the world, so it appeals to a global audience.’
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