In today’s society when people hear the term ‘breakdance’, not many people would actually be able to define it. The reason for this is that Hip-Hop has become commercialised and is now an umbrella term for many different styles of dance, to those who are not fully educated on the subject.
Hip-Hop is a culture that was founded in the early 1970’s in the Bronx, New York and consisted of four elements: DJing, MCing, Graffiti and Breakdancing. The development of this culture came from the construction of the ‘Cross Bronx Expressway’ which was constructed on the demands of Robert Moses from 1948-1963.
The expressway was built to divert traffic in order to create a non-stop road that drivers could use to travel across New York with less stops in between. This took commuting traffic away from the New York Borough which, in turn, isolated the community of the Bronx which was a predominantly less fortunate area in America. This was the instigator of the Hip-Hop movement as it brought the people of the Bronx together.
“A whole movement dealing with knowledge, wisdom and understanding as well peace, unity, love and fun” – Afrika Bambaataa. The Freshest kids (2002)
One of the leaders in the Hip-Hop movement was Kool Herc, the first ever Disc Jockey (DJ). Kool Herc would host block parties at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue which were abundant in b-boys and b-girls who would go to dance to his records. Originally breakdancing would only commence in the breaks of the music, hence the term ‘break-dance’.
For this reason the dancers who would take part were called ‘break-boys/girls’ but as the dance was no longer intended for the break this term was shortened to B-Boying/Girling. The style was still recognised as breakdance in general however these terms were used specifically to describe the dancers.
Kool Herc would later work on making the breaks in the music longer to sustain the dancing. Eventually, breakers would dance to any and all parts of the music and started to become increasingly creative in making new moves.
Top rocking was the original breakdance step and involved no floor work or level changes. This started in 1973 and floorwork was not actually introduced until around a year later when one of the most iconic breakers at the time would take breakdancing to the ground.
‘Spy’, one of the pioneers in breakdancing, was the individual who experimented with breaking on the floor and was known as ‘the man with a thousand moves’ due to his level of creativity and flow. Being able to take this dance to a different dimension opened a new door to a realm of possibilities now with people wanting to show off their latest crafts and creations.
People would discover new moves and styles when crews would go and battle one another to compete to see who had the best dancers. One of the most recognised crews of the 70’s was ‘Rocksteady Crew’ which was created in the year 1977. Rocksteady consisted of over 200 members at its peak, thanks to one original member nicknamed ‘Crazy Legs’ who would recruit at battles and block parties.
A crew of Hispanic breakdancers (Puerto Ricans) would ultimately use the floorwork and develop it into using the entire back on the floor which was unseen before. Different crews had different styles and would take inspiration from each other to further develop their own skills.
With B-Boying/Girling growing so popular among the youth culture, the urge to invent new and exciting moves would help the art flourish and grow in popularity. The art was inevitably spread worldwide when rocksteady crew would be cast in the 1983 movie ‘Flashdance’.
This was highly impressive and a huge step for Hip-Hop as it was unheard of to be offered paid work as a breakdancer at the time of its creation. This was due to it being relatively closed off from the rest of America. That was until the crews started to venture into mainstream New York City and Brooklyn, where crews would stage battles and perform on the streets (busking).
Hip-Hop was now being commercialised and this meant that more and more people would be able to listen to the music, try the dance style and later develop it into the Hip-Hop culture that we see today. Hip-Hop as a whole has changed in the sense that it is not any longer strictly defined by the original four elements.
The new generation of Hip-Hop is somewhat tainted in the eyes of original rappers who lived and breathed this culture from a young age. New artists in the music industry lack originality compared to the ‘OG’ artists who evolved Rap/Hip-Hop music. This was mentioned in an interview with Snoop Dogg and DJ Whoo Kid on ‘The Whoolywood Shuffle’ radio show.
“…there was no two rappers, who rapped the same in the 80’s…”
“…the ones who [are] creating it, [are] gonna live forever, but the ones who are duplicating it are gonna fall off…”
In contrast to the element of music, breakdancing has flourished in terms of the new generations ability and skill. If we compare the new icons of breakdancing today to the originals of the 70’s and 80’s, the difference is stark. Everyone still has their own style but the development of new ideas is immense.
In conclusion, the development of breakdance as a technique was largely down to the idea of bettering yourself as a person. Breakdancing took away a lot of violence from young peoples lives at the time because instead of being involved in crime, they were practicing and refining new moves.
The original break dancers, who started the movement really made something of themselves and will now forever be remembered for what they created. They allowed for a new style of entertainment and created the path for the breakdancers of today to prosper and to strive to be better.
The Freshest Kids. (2002). [DVD] USA: Israel.
Adam Coyne 