Breakdance

History of Breakdance
hip hop element
breakdancing, B-Boy
Hip Hop Dance

Breakdancing, also known as "B-boying" or "B-girling" by its practitioners and followers, is a dynamic style of dancethat is part of Hip Hop culture and emerged out of the Hip-Hop movement in the South Bronx of New York City during the late 20th century. Breakdancing is one of the many elements of Hip Hop culture. Theunique form of dancing is very acrobatic and creative. Breakdance has been performed in countless shows, music videos on MTV and at dance clubs.

History of Breakdance
Note: Many stories and ideassurrounding the history behind breaking are popularized media concepts.

Breakdancing is probably connected to Urban Street Jazz or more likely capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art/dance.Breakdancing as we know it today developed in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s, although there is some controversy, many argue that it was also developing in Los Angeles at the same time.However, the majority believes it is strictly of New York origin. The original practitioners (Crazy Legs, Spy, the Nigga Twins, etc.) say that other dances that people commonly associate with b-boyingsuch as capoeira may have influenced b-boys (many b-boys are known to gather influence from old Kung Fu films). However, b-boying does not stem from those dances. See the video documentary "The FreshestKids" for interviews supporting this claim.

Prototypically the pioneers of breakdancing were young and of a lower socioeconomic class. The majority of these were male, and most were Black orHispanic, and lived in dense urban areas (mostly New York). Many of them were members of street gangs who taught themselves martial arts (particularly capoeira) for self defense. The style was so full ofdance-like moves that it translated well to the nightclub, where breakdancers would battle. Breakdancing, both in the nightclub and on the street is competitive in nature, much like the other elements...