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Breaking is finally set to make its Olympic debut. How will the competitors be judged?

Breaking is finally set to make its Olympic debut. How will the competitors be judged?
That's all I can see that. It's *** party. Just add *** little competitive environment to it. And you got yourself *** battle from block parties in the Bronx to the international stage. Breaking has taken the world by storm. You know, it's bigger, faster, stronger. Now. For the first time ever, the craft is stepping up to the highest level of sports competition. The Olympics, I feel like we're bringing something new to the table. We're shining *** light on breaking and how it's no surprise. The art form is Olympic Worthy. Breaking was widely popularized and commercialized in the 19 eighties through features in films like flash dance or in hip hop music videos on MTV. It's *** core element of hip hop among emceeing D jing and aerosol art. But breaking actually came before hip hop. According to breaking scholar and practitioner Saroj Abrahamian, the creation of breaking began in the 19 seventies when the civil rights and black power movements had reawakened *** sense of cultural pride among African Americans, African American teens in the Bronx created breaking while hanging out at block parties, rec rooms or underground clubs known as joke joints at the same time the Bronx was going through *** huge transformation, the flight of white residents due to the fear of racial integration. This had changed the socio-economic conditions of the borough, Oper Ham and says from this atmosphere of vilification and segregation on one hand and the cultural pride and communion on the other birth, *** new form of African American expression breaking. Many of the original breakers were actually inspired by funk music, especially by James Brown. People would start dancing in the break of the song where only the beat was playing. Basic breaking moves include top rock which is footwork while standing down rock, which is hands and feet on the floor. Power moves like heads spins and freezes where the dancer holds *** shape for *** few seconds of the inspired was *** DJ named Cool Herk who's now considered the father of hip hop Herk regularly threw lively block parties in the Bronx. It started from 25 cents for ladies, 50 cents for fellas and all I asked you for was don't disrespect the party by extending *** song's percussive breaks. Kerk noticed people would break or start dancing. This type of breakbeat. Djing formed the foundation of hip hop music. This technique caught on to other DJ S like Grandmaster Flash. So my contribution to this whole thing is, is the first DJ to take an in admin object called the turntable and play it like it was an instrument by the 19 eighties breaking was hotter than ever. Popularity grew even more after the movie Beach Street came out in 1984 the movie has inspired one of the best breakers in the game team USA Olympic Breaker. Victor Montalvo Beach Street just came on on TV. And my dad was like, yo, we used to do that back in the days and my cousin was like, no, you guys didn't like you're lying. My dad and my uncle literally go into their room put on some hoodies and they just start busting out windmills, heads spins. And we're all like shocked ever since that day, like we would just put on beach street, you know, every day and we would just like mimic the movements of the dancers breaking continued to evolve. Dancers started to face off against one another. An act known as burning young women or B girls often initiated challenges against the men or B boys. Abrahamian says this is one of the areas where women played *** critical role in the development of breaking. They were not passive onlookers but actually active and equal participants. Pioneers like Shaw Rock helped develop hip hop as it is today. Now, breaker Sonny choi is paving the way as the first American B girl to qualify for the Olympics breaking has really kind of helped to shape me as *** person. I've grown so much and I feel like really been able to like celebrate myself in *** way that I never was able to before. But when we're dancing, you're going up there with everything you've experienced in life, with all of the bad, all of the good and you're just like this is who I am and we're here to celebrate it. Breaking competitions continue to spread across the country. By the 19 nineties, it was all over the globe. You know, it's bigger, faster, stronger, which leads to its inclusion into the Olympics in 2024. The breaking competition will be made up of 16 B boys and 16 B girls facing off in solo battles. Breakers will be judged based on how well they use their power moves such as windmills, the six step and freezes all while improvising to the beat of the DJ S tracks team USA Olympic breaker, Jeffrey Lewis is ready to show off his unique moves. My favorites signature move is called the 1130. And so it's where I swing my arm this way and then I flip the other way and I land on my back, but it doesn't hurt. Olympic officials are hopeful that adding breaking into the schedule will bring in younger viewers. Either way. Its inclusion into the Olympics provides more recognition for the sport. Breakings, history of pride and resilience carries on through the newest generation of breakers. I wanna represent the US. Well, so I wanna show the essence I wanna show the movement freedom that breaking allows I wanna show the character that other countries don't have in breaking, they learn the moves, but do they have the movement? Do they have the soul? So that's what I'm here to showcase is that extra element that, that's missing and breaking around right now. Taking note of continuing with or without the Olympics but to have breaking elevated and spread to this new audience is huge audience that the Olympics have access to is very special.
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Breaking is finally set to make its Olympic debut. How will the competitors be judged?
A new sport calls for new rules at the Olympic level. And while breaking — commonly referred to as breakdancing — has been around for decades, it's still new to the world of Olympic judging.The battles, the moves and the culture aren't new — breaking is one of four foundational elements of hip-hop, the 50th anniversary of which was celebrated last year. The international competitions aren't new either — the Red Bull BC One World Final has been around for two decades and the sport resonated among younger viewers at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Still, many remain skeptical of the Olympic addition as they tune in for the final few days of the Paris Games.“I think the critics have a misconception about breaking still being something from the '80s or something that is just in the streets, and I don’t think they realize how much it’s evolved,” said Ronnie Abaldonado, or b-boy Ronnie, a breaker who's competed, judged and taught for 31 years. Abaldonado is an official commentator for the breaking competition broadcast.“It’s going to be undeniable once they see it on the big stage and they see the spectacle and the level of talent and even the high level of difficulty,” he said. “You could kind of compare it to gymnastics.”At its root, breaking is an art form that connects mind, body and soul. Judges will score breakers using the Trivium judging system, created for breaking's debut at the Buenos Aires Youth Games. A panel of nine judges scores each breaker on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality — each accounts for 20% of the final score.Breaking is judged qualitatively because of its roots as an art form, and judges use a sliding scale to score each round and battle, adjusting the scale towards the breaker who is winning in each of the above criteria. Throughout, an emcee will offer commentary and hype up the crowd. The judges for the Olympic competition have not yet been made public.“What looks so appealing to the naked eye are the power moves, like the ‘air’ moves, the head spins, the ground power, which are like the windmills and freezes,” Abaldonado said. “It's the strength, the control and the speed that's also visually appealing.”A judge will be looking at the technical side, though, “which is like the footwork and dancing on the music or the beat, because that’s like the DNA of breaking,” Abaldonado said. What's more, he said, there needs to be an element of improvisation, which feeds into the originality score. The DJ selects the music — and the breakers won't know what soundtrack they'll be competing to until they hit the floor.“We practice and rehearse everything, but we also have to adapt in the moment and improvise,” said Victor Montalvo, or b-boy Victor, representing Team USA. “We try not to have a fully rehearsed round, because it tends to look robotic.”For Tony “Mr. Wave” Wesley, a breaking pioneer from the Bronx who was launched into stardom decades ago with the New York City Breakers, seeing breaking make its imprint on the global stage is validating. Now, he's trying to pass on his institutional knowledge by creating a virtual lesson plan that includes flashcards on breaking's elements and terminology for the digital learning platform Quizlet.“I always felt that we didn’t do enough for the newer generations. And then I saw my peers dying, leaving us, and all we had was their stories, and they took those with them. So someone has to write that story,” Wesley said.Here is a breakdown of the five criteria on which judges will evaluate breakers:TechniqueMaintaining physiological control while focusing on athleticism, form and spatial awareness.VocabularyThe range of moves that display variation and the quantity of moves, ideally with minimal repetition.ExecutionThe ability to land and perform moves smoothly, without falls or slips and while maintaining consistency and flow.MusicalityThe ability to stay on beat, syncing movements to the rhythm of the music.OriginalityThe capacity for improvisation, creativity and maintaining spontaneity with style and personality.

A new sport calls for new rules at the Olympic level. And while breaking — commonly referred to as breakdancing — has been around for decades, it's still new to the world of Olympic judging.

The battles, the moves and the culture aren't new — breaking is one of four foundational elements of hip-hop, the 50th anniversary of which was celebrated last year. The international competitions aren't new either — the Red Bull BC One World Final has been around for two decades and the sport resonated among younger viewers at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Still, many remain skeptical of the Olympic addition as they tune in for the final few days of the Paris Games.

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“I think the critics have a misconception about breaking still being something from the '80s or something that is just in the streets, and I don’t think they realize how much it’s evolved,” said Ronnie Abaldonado, or b-boy Ronnie, a breaker who's competed, judged and taught for 31 years. Abaldonado is an official commentator for the breaking competition broadcast.

“It’s going to be undeniable once they see it on the big stage and they see the spectacle and the level of talent and even the high level of difficulty,” he said. “You could kind of compare it to gymnastics.”

At its root, breaking is an art form that connects mind, body and soul. Judges will score breakers using the Trivium judging system, created for breaking's debut at the Buenos Aires Youth Games. A panel of nine judges scores each breaker on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality and originality — each accounts for 20% of the final score.

Breaking is judged qualitatively because of its roots as an art form, and judges use a sliding scale to score each round and battle, adjusting the scale towards the breaker who is winning in each of the above criteria. Throughout, an emcee will offer commentary and hype up the crowd. The judges for the Olympic competition have not yet been made public.

“What looks so appealing to the naked eye are the power moves, like the ‘air’ moves, the head spins, the ground power, which are like the windmills and freezes,” Abaldonado said. “It's the strength, the control and the speed that's also visually appealing.”

A judge will be looking at the technical side, though, “which is like the footwork and dancing on the music or the beat, because that’s like the DNA of breaking,” Abaldonado said. What's more, he said, there needs to be an element of improvisation, which feeds into the originality score. The DJ selects the music — and the breakers won't know what soundtrack they'll be competing to until they hit the floor.

“We practice and rehearse everything, but we also have to adapt in the moment and improvise,” said Victor Montalvo, or b-boy Victor, representing Team USA. “We try not to have a fully rehearsed round, because it tends to look robotic.”

For Tony “Mr. Wave” Wesley, a breaking pioneer from the Bronx who was launched into stardom decades ago with the New York City Breakers, seeing breaking make its imprint on the global stage is validating. Now, he's trying to pass on his institutional knowledge by creating a virtual lesson plan that includes flashcards on breaking's elements and terminology for the digital learning platform Quizlet.

“I always felt that we didn’t do enough for the newer generations. And then I saw my peers dying, leaving us, and all we had was their stories, and they took those with them. So someone has to write that story,” Wesley said.

Here is a breakdown of the five criteria on which judges will evaluate breakers:

Technique

Maintaining physiological control while focusing on athleticism, form and spatial awareness.

Vocabulary

The range of moves that display variation and the quantity of moves, ideally with minimal repetition.

Execution

The ability to land and perform moves smoothly, without falls or slips and while maintaining consistency and flow.

Musicality

The ability to stay on beat, syncing movements to the rhythm of the music.

Originality

The capacity for improvisation, creativity and maintaining spontaneity with style and personality.