When breaking first surfaced as a possible Olympic event, some laughed it off as silly. They thought breaking wasn’t competitive or worthy of being on the Summer Games stage.
But those of us who grew up breaking and watched it evolve from cardboard boxes on concrete streets and playgrounds to international competitions knew better.
We knew the hard work it required. The long hours spent perfecting gravity-defying moves that even gymnasts would have trouble completing.
Breaking is a physical art form that demands dedication. It’s part of Hip hop culture that was birthed in the Bronx and spread quickly internationally to countries as far as Japan.
Breaking began in inner-city neighborhoods, where breakers would assemble big pieces of cardboard, slide on suede Pumas with fat laces and show off windmills, headspins, suicides, handspins and other crowd-pleasing moves. It grew to peaceful “battles” where crews would compete against each other for bragging rights and reps.
B-boys and B-girls would frequently take over midtown Manhattan sidewalks and earn money by demonstrating their acrobatics talents to many who wouldn’t dare venture uptown. Eventually, breaking made it to the silver screen through films such as “Wildstyle”, “Beat Street” and “Breakin'”.
The growing culture was contagious and what was once something belonging primarily to Black and Latino communities was quickly adopted by other communities, giving rise to groups that took the art to the next level like the California-based Jabbawockeez.
And that connection is why LA28 Olympic organizers messed up badly by omitting breaking from the 2028 Summer Games.
When breaking was first accepted to the Paris 2024 Games in 2022, the culture rejoiced. It had been a 50+ year journey from concrete streets to the Olympic stage, something breaking icons such as Crazy Legs of the legendary Rock Steady Crew had no thoughts of when he was first donning windbreakers to battle other crews.
And while he’s excited about seeing it in the Olympics with international competitors, he doesn’t want the essence of breaking to be lost in the mainstream.
“I think with, and out of respect for the Olympic platform and it being their platform, I think there’s going to have to be some compromise [in regard to calling it “breaking” not “breakdancing”],” said Crazy Legs in an interview with Rock The Bells. “I think a lot of this is still about educating the Olympics, IOC and whatever federations from each country on what the terminologies honor the culture. I think that because of breaking being so unique, it should not be renamed by outsiders just because it’s on their platform.”
While fans will celebrate the culture and art of breaking in Paris next year, LA28 Olympic organizers have cruelly deprived everyone of the event.
It’s an atrocious decision, one the committee needs to be taken to task for, particularly in light of the West Coast’s rich and storied Hip hop history, tradition and culture that includes breaking.
Breaking brings groups together despite the neighborhood, ethnicity or coast, and organizers should have honored it by giving breaking its rightful place at the 2028 LA Games.
“All of us at the WDSF are profoundly disappointed with this outcome,” said World DanceSport Federation President Shawn Tay.
As a result, Tay wants breakers to know that they’ll have to go extra hard in 2024 so that breaking can hopefully be added to the 2032 Games in Brisbane, Australia.
“Our performance in Paris will define the future of dance sport within the Olympic Movement, and it is imperative that we must work together to do everything within our power to exceed expectations next summer on the Place de la Concorde,” said Tay.
“Our campaign to be added to Brisbane 2032 has already begun,” he added.
Breaking is competitive. At the start, it focused the energy, anger, and talents of the streets into performances on cardboard before growing and attracting hundreds of thousands to performances, competitions and schools across the globe.
Unfortunately, LA organizers ignored this fact and made the wack decision to exclude an exciting, creative and competitive event that has deep roots in the city. Even worse, they made the decision during Hip hop’s 50th anniversary year.
For that alone they should be ashamed.
While many rightfully celebrated the inclusion of flag football, cricket, lacrosse, squash, baseball and softball, many more should be criticizing organizers for excluding breaking, an event that has deeper cultural ties to the city than some of the aforementioned sports.
I hope the Hip hop community reads this and joins me, a former B-boy, in blasting this horrendous decision.
