Drawing of a B-Boy breakdancing.-Leïla Rahmouni.

Drawing of a B-Boy breakdancing.-Leïla Rahmouni.

Breakdancing was born in New-York City during the early 70’s by teenage Black and Puerto Ricans. This dance is unique thanks to four original moves which follow patterns of different ranges of tempo or beats and to music choices, B-boys and B-girls typically dance on Hip-Hop. These four movements are:

– power moves (centerpiece of a breakdancing routine, these moves rely on momentum, acrobatic elements and most importantly speed) ,
– toprock (from a standing position, a string of steps relying upon a mixture of coordination, flexibility, rhythm, and style),
– downrock (this move is preformed with hands and feet on the ground), – and finaly freezes (which consists in stopping all movements for a few seconds).
and finally freezes (this move consists in staying in the same position during a few seconds).

It became popular in the 80’s and spread worldwide especially in the United Kingdom, France, South Korea, Russia, Germany and Japan. Several international competitions were born; for example the B-Boy Championships which is held in the United Kingdom since 1996. The leading country is Korea since 2012 thanks to their team « Jinjo » and to « Morning of Owl » who won the following year. During the last ten years, Korean teams have won five times (in 2004, 2005,2007,2012 and 2013) and the French teams have won three times (in 2006, 2010,2011).

The only thing left to do now, is to wait for this years’ championship which will take place on the 25th and 26th of October at Birmingham’s O2 academy. Who do you think will be the winners of 2014?

 Leïla Rahmouni, Kévin Fermigier & Amber Williamson