(Breakdancing)
In the late 1980s, with the release of the American film "Breakdancing" in China, breakdancing became a fashion label for young people. Soon after, the movie "Rock 'n' Roll Youth" caused a sensation, and the male protagonist Tao Jin became China's first breakdancing prince. Sun Honglei, Jia Zhangke, Sha Baoliang and others are also avid followers of breakdancing. From Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai to small counties, countless street dancers have appeared in the streets and alleys.
Released by MGM in 1984, Sabah Du and Bugaro Schlimp played street break dance masters "Whirlwind" and "Motor", and although their acting skills were average, their dance reached heights unmatched by any Hollywood song and dance film.
At the closing ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the breakdancing frenzy reached its peak, and rock superstar Leonard Ritchie sang the song "All Night", and under the fireworks, 200 dancers brokedancing, and audiences around the world saw the scene in front of television.
To the surprise of future generations, the cultural contamination of Chinese youth in the late 1980s was almost synchronized with that of the United States. In 1987, the movie "Break Dance" was released in Chinese mainland and immediately caused a sensation. I remember that on the road in Tianjin at that time, at dusk, I often saw a group of young people "dancing", most of them were boys, dancing "space steps", "electricity transmission", "glass cleaning", "broom dance" and "Thomas back spinning" accompanied by dance music played by the Sanyo Dual Card Recorder. Breakdancing has become the first choice for young people to express their self-awareness and rebellious thinking.
They wore "thunderbolt suits", thunderbolt gloves and elbow pads with their fingers exposed, canvas blue sneakers or high-top tourist shoes on their feet, permed explosive hairstyles, flower headbands, and thunderbolt glasses — the most fashionable attire for young people at the time, and it would have been better to have a sports bike with a curved handle and a shifting speed.
At this stage, a breakdancing prince appeared in China, his name was Tao Jin.
Born in Nanjing in 1961, Tao Jin was admitted to the Beijing Dance Academy majoring in ethnic dance at the age of 19. In 1984, when Tao Jin was studying at the Beijing Dance Academy, he was appointed by the school to participate in the dance festival in Hong Kong with three other students. At that time they danced national dances. Just when "Breakdancing" was released in Hong Kong, Tao Jin and his classmates watched this movie, immediately fell in love, bought a video and brought it back to Beijing, watched it every day, and pondered it repeatedly.
(Tao Jin)
After graduation, Tao Jin was assigned to teach in the dance department of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts. There is a teacher in military art named Liu Yiran, a very good writer, who became friends with Tao Jin and created the novel "Rock Youth" based on Tao Jin. Later, Liu Yiran wrote a series of youth rebellious novels such as "Crazy Jazz Drum", "Lonely Saxophone", "Tin Duck", "Metal Soul" and so on.
Tao Jin liked Liu Yiran's novel so much that he decided to make it a "Chinese version of BreakDancing". He invited Tian Zhuangzhuang, the fifth-generation director who represented the new cutting-edge force at that time, to direct, and Xiao Feng, who was also a fifth-generation photographer, to serve as a photographer, starring Tao Jin himself and his sister Ma Ling at the Beijing Dance Academy, as well as Shi Ke, Zhu Xun, Li Hu, etc.
Song and dance troupe dancer Long Xiang (Tao Jin) quit his job because he was tired of dancing red silk dance, broke up with his girlfriend Yuanyuan (Ma Ling), who wanted to live a stable life, and met with the support of the fashion company's female boss Rodin (Shi Ke) to start a modern dance career. Breakdancing, riding a cross-country motorcycle, painting movie posters, singing rock songs... It comprehensively shows the courage of the literary and artistic youth in the 80s to re-judge the tradition, break through the reality, and pursue a boiling life.
(Rock 'n' Roll Youth)
"Rock 'n' Roll Youth" invested 600,000 yuan and was a huge success after its release in 1988, with a box office of 3 million. It was the first song and dance film Chinese mainland the 80s, and the film's large number of breakdancing performances was overwhelming. At the same time, the film soundtrack tape was launched, which was the first film soundtrack album in China, with Xu Peidong as the music director and Wang Di, Sun Guoqing, Tu Honggang, Fan Linlin, Tao Jin and others as the lead singers.
When "Rock 'n' Roll Youth" was released, most of the audience thought that the film was the work of Tian Zhuangzhuang, in fact, Tao Jin, in addition to starring, also led the pre-planning and served as the general designer of the dance.
Tao Jin became famous overnight through "Rock and Roll Youth", and made his debut at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 1989, performing the song and dance "Jump Up", which also explained the popularity of breakdancing at that time. After that, Tao Jin performed "Smelling the Chicken Dancing" with Ane and Ah Bing at the Spring Festival Gala in 1993; and sang "What Do You Want to See" with Xie Jin at the Spring Festival Gala in 1995. During the same period, he starred in several movies such as "A Few Degrees of Style and Several Degrees of Sorrow" and "Youth Karaoke", and also went to the United States to learn from pop N Taco, a predecessor of crazy dance, and was the first Chinese to be passed on by street dance masters.
Unfortunately, in 1996, Tao Jin was diagnosed with cancer and died young on August 25, 1997, at the age of 36, becoming a legend. Looking back now, in the mainland showbiz circle, Tao Jin was indeed an idol superstar of that era.
In addition to Tao Jin, the king of break dancing who was more popular at that time was Yang Zijun in Anshan, Liaoning. He has been practicing martial arts since childhood, winning the Shen Nusi Cup Break dance competition and performing break dancing in the best police commercial film "The Last Madness" in the late 80s.
The heavy metal band "Face Band", which published the compilation album "China Fire 1" with Tang Chao, Dou Wei and Zhang Chu in Taiwan's Magic Rock Records, was originally a breakdancing teenager. At that time, there were two well-known underground dance troupes in Beijing, the "Vibration Team" and the "Victory Team", and they made a documentary "Crazy Break dance". At the beginning of the movie "Rock Youth", at night, a group of teenagers "dance" under the Forbidden City, one of which is Sha Baoliang. At that time, Sha Baoliang was a student of the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe and the main force of the "Vibration Team".
Jia Zhangke's dance troupe is called the "Pest Team". Jia Zhangke likes break dancing, and in high school, he danced with his classmates from outside the school, and he could turn his head in martial arts, nicknamed "Fenyang Break dance Little Prince". These past events are all presented in his movie "Platform".
(80s fashion elements from Breakdancing)
The best dancer was Sun Honglei. In recent years, Sun Honglei has been breaking dance at the dance forest conference, and a break dance video of him in the early years has also been exposed. It was December 1988, Chongqing hosted the National General Cup Breakdancing Grand Prix, and Sun Honglei, a sophomore in high school, went from Harbin to Chongqing to participate in the competition and won the second prize, the prize was a refrigerator, he sold 700 yuan to send to his family. Subsequently, he participated in the "China Break Dance Star Troupe" sponsored by the Heilongjiang Dance Association, and performed in class across the country.
Luo Qi, the "first female voice of Chinese rock and roll", was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, dropped out of school due to the divorce of her parents, and at the age of 13, she escaped from the garment factory arranged for her mother and joined a cave walking team - singing, breaking dance, earning 3 yuan a day.
At the end of the 1980s, the video recorder was not yet popular, and even published a book version of breakdancing textbooks, you can watch the decomposition of the action on the book to learn breakdance. At that time, Tianjin held a "Baiyue Cup break dance competition", and the winner was Bruce Lee. He is a percussion student at the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, with excellent physical fitness and dance skills to shock others, plus a lifeless momentum. He later became a well-known rapper.
The performances of major light music troupes in Tianjin, Li Delin, Ma Changbao, Da Huan Erhan, Niu Hu Niu Leopard and other popular singers are singing while dancing thunderbolts, Li Delin sings "Meilan Meilan I Love You", singing to the end, jumping space step backwards to the background, the effect is particularly hot. Various cave performances also have special breakdancing performances. (Text: He Yuxin)
(Sun Honglei breakdancing)