Olympic breaking debuts: B-girl India winning the first battle in Games history
Updated: 12:14 PM CDT Aug 9, 2024
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.
Olympic breaking debuts: B-girl India winning the first battle in Games history
Updated: 12:14 PM CDT Aug 9, 2024
B-girl India from the Netherlands beat refugee team member b-girl Talash in the first-ever breaking battle at the Olympics, kicking off the women's competition as breaking—or break dancing—debuted at the Paris Games on Friday.India Sardjoe — known as "b-girl India" — advanced after beating Manizha Talash, or "b-girl Talash," in the sole pre-qualifying matchup before the round-robin stage.The one-off pre-qualifier was added in May, when Talash was added to the Olympic roster after the b-girl from Afghanistan missed registration for qualifying events. The International Olympic Committee's executive board invited her to participate after learning of her efforts to defy the strict rule of the Taliban in her home country.Sardjoe started her routine showing off some of her power moves before Talash responded by focusing on toprocking and moving into footwork on the floor. Talahs later unfurled a cape that said "Free Afghan Women."The Olympic competition now goes into in a round-robin phase, when groups of four breakers will face off against each other one by one. Only two will emerge from each round-robin group before the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final matchup to determine the champion by the end of the evening.Before the battle began, American rapper Snoop Dogg made a grand entrance into the stadium to the soundtrack of "Drop it Like it's Hot," prompting cheers and dancing in the stands. The emcees introduced the 17 b-girls competing on Friday, with the b-girls from France and the U.S. receiving the loudest applause from the crowd.The judges are all b-boys and b-girls in their own right from around the world. They sat between the circular floor, modeled after a record, and a massive replica of a boombox, in a nod to the musical root of breaking – the breakbeat itself – which is the moment when a song's vocals drop and the DJ loops the beat over and over, to allow b-boys and b-girls to make their mark on the dance floor.
PARIS — B-girl India from the Netherlands beat refugee team member b-girl Talash in the first-ever breaking battle at the Olympics, kicking off the women's competition as breaking—or break dancing—debuted at the Paris Games on Friday.
India Sardjoe — known as "b-girl India" — advanced after beating Manizha Talash, or "b-girl Talash," in the sole pre-qualifying matchup before the round-robin stage.
The one-off pre-qualifier was added in May, when Talash was added to the Olympic roster after the b-girl from Afghanistan missed registration for qualifying events. The International Olympic Committee's executive board invited her to participate after learning of her efforts to defy the strict rule of the Taliban in her home country.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin
Netherland’s India Sardjoe, known as B-Girl India, right, competes during the B-Girls Pre-Qualifier Battle of the breaking competition at La Concorde Urban Park at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France.
Sardjoe started her routine showing off some of her power moves before Talash responded by focusing on toprocking and moving into footwork on the floor. Talahs later unfurled a cape that said "Free Afghan Women."
The Olympic competition now goes into in a round-robin phase, when groups of four breakers will face off against each other one by one. Only two will emerge from each round-robin group before the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final matchup to determine the champion by the end of the evening.
Before the battle began, American rapper Snoop Dogg made a grand entrance into the stadium to the soundtrack of "Drop it Like it's Hot," prompting cheers and dancing in the stands. The emcees introduced the 17 b-girls competing on Friday, with the b-girls from France and the U.S. receiving the loudest applause from the crowd.
The judges are all b-boys and b-girls in their own right from around the world. They sat between the circular floor, modeled after a record, and a massive replica of a boombox, in a nod to the musical root of breaking – the breakbeat itself – which is the moment when a song's vocals drop and the DJ loops the beat over and over, to allow b-boys and b-girls to make their mark on the dance floor.