Abstract: In the 90s of the 20th century, international breaking competitions were held around the world for the first time, which meant that the popularity of breaking changed from the hip-hop community to the general public.
Who is the "World Dance King"? With handsome and chic movements and energetic music, as the youngest competition in the Olympic Games, breaking will make its Olympic debut in Paris this summer. From 16 to 19 May, the world's best players will gather in Shanghai to compete for the final ticket to the Paris Dance Showdown through the Olympic Qualification Series.
How has break dancing evolved from a smash hit dance to an Olympic game, and how do you understand the meaning and difficulty of the athletes' movements when you sit on the sidelines and dance to the music?
A "memory of youth" that is different from a generation
In 1983, the movie "Flash Dance" was released, and break dancing quickly became popular all over the world. At that time, young people burned their heads with explosive heads, carried tape recorders, "space walks" under their feet, and "wiped glass" on their hands, which was the mark of youth belonging to a generation, and it was also believed that this is what break dancing looked like.
Although he is not the best dancer, film and television actor Sun Honglei is recognized as the "king of breaking" by the Chinese people. Before his debut, Sun Honglei won the Heilongjiang Province Break Dance Competition with his outstanding dance skills.
An early breakdance look. Data map
However, the glory of this kind of break dancing was very short-lived, with the rise of Hong Kong and Taiwan pop music in the 90s of the last century, the status of break dancing was gradually replaced by "strong songs and dances"; after the new century, with the rise of Japanese and Korean idol groups, street dance has become a trend pursued by a new generation of young people.
Today's break dance is actually a kind of technical street dance based on personal style, absorbing the elements and movements of different sports and art forms such as Brazilian war dance, gymnastics, Chinese martial arts, etc., integrating professional skills such as coordination, strength, stage art, and creativity, and embodying the elements of street dance such as vitality, publicity, strength, balance, and trend.
Shang Xiaoyu competed at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Xinhua News Agency
In the 21st century, breaking has developed into a cultural form that combines sport and art due to its sporty nature and its popularity among young people around the world. In 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to add breakdancing to the official programme of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. In December 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed to add a break dance event to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with one gold medal for each individual male and female.
After entering the Olympics, the rules strictly control the quality of athletes
Last year in Hangzhou, breaking became an official event of the Asian Games for the first time. The competition is divided into several stages, such as qualifying, round-robin, knockout, semi-finals, bronze medal match, and gold medal match.
The rules of the competition are that the DJ plays the music randomly, and the athletes perform according to the music, and each person does not perform for more than 60 seconds. In the qualifying round, every team of 4 players will play and advance to the next round according to the score. From the beginning of the round-robin match, the red and blue sides take turns to perform in the venue, that is, in the form of a battle dance, and each side completes one duel, which is called one round. At the time of the Paris Olympics, the breakdancing competition was divided into five stages: group stage, top 8, top 4, bronze medal battle and gold medal match. Starting from the top 8 matches, the best-of-three format will be implemented.
Liu Qingyi won the women's break dance championship at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Xinhua News Agency
Wang Shenjiong, the "first person" of Chinese breaking and an international break dance referee, introduced that the breaking competition evaluates the performance of athletes from three aspects: physical fitness, artistry and deductive expression ability, with skills, diversity, originality, integrity and musicality, and each part accounts for 20%.
Among them, the skills are assessed for the athletes' athletic ability, body control, action energy, spatial awareness and morphology, the number and variation of the athletes' movements are assessed for diversity, the improvisation, innovation, spontaneity and personality of the contestants are assessed for originality, the cleanliness, almost zero mistakes and the consistency of flow are assessed for completeness, and the synchronicity, rhythm/melody/rhyme and texture of the contestants are assessed for musicality.
Breaking judging system. Courtesy of Wang Shenjiong
Due to the development of street sports, today's world-class street dance or break dancing competitions will have some reasonable provocative actions between competitors to increase the atmosphere and excitement of the competition. However, according to professionals, after entering the Olympic Games, the breaking competition strictly controls the professionalism of the athletes, and athletes are not allowed to shout at each other or provoke opponents with actions, or even say that athletes just wave at each other, which may be regarded as provocation, not to mention racial discrimination, insulting gestures, violent actions, deliberately touching opponents and other excessive actions or language.
One link is more enjoyable than fighting dance
Young, stylish, enthusiastic, and infectious...... These are all labels for breakdancing. Wang Shenjiong said that when the new events were being tested at the Youth Olympic Games, the IOC found that breaking was particularly attractive to young audiences. Among the four new events, break dancing has the largest number of live audiences.
After entering the Olympic Games, breaking has become more vigorous. According to Wang Shenjiong, there are now more than 200,000 people learning break dancing across the country, and there are more than 30 professional studios in Shanghai.
Olympic Qualification Series format. Courtesy of Wang Shenjiong
Viewers who followed the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year will find that break dancing has a characteristic: on the stage, there are 2 DJs, 3 MCs (microphone shouters), 9 referees, referees, DJs, and MCs are uniformly dressed, but the athletes are dressed in a variety of ways - most of them are dressed more dynamically, mainly sportswear and board shoes. Therefore, break dancing will probably be the most varied competition on the Olympic stage.
It is worth noting that the live music of each competition is confidential, and after the tuner gives the music, the contestants need to improvise, "only a few seconds to react", and then quickly choose the appropriate dance moves to express. Wang Shenjiong said that the on-the-spot reaction of players is very important, and athletes with strong ability often hold back a few "big moves" and win high scores at critical moments.
The format of the Paris Olympics. Courtesy of Wang Shenjiong
When the reporter interviewed the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, he found that break dancing is not only one of the most intense competitions, but also a very special link, before the opening, the referees will take the lead in "blowing up the field", whether they are wearing suits or sports suits, the music sounds, they take the lead in releasing the "big move", rolling on the floor, which directly ignites the atmosphere of the scene. If the Olympic Qualification Series and the Paris Olympics are also arranged in this way, I am afraid that it will be one of the links not to be missed.
The header photo shows Shanghai athlete Shang Xiaoyu shooting a promotional video for the Olympic Qualification Series. Courtesy of the International Olympic Committee