B-boying
Encyclopedia
B-boying, often called "breakdancing", is a popular style of street dance
that was created and developed as part of hip-hop culture among African Americans and Latino
youths in New York City
. The dance
consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves and freezes. It is danced to both hip-hop
and other genre
s of music that are often remix
ed to prolong the musical breaks
. The musical selection for b-boying is not restricted to hip-hop music as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. These dancers often participate in battles, formal or informal dance competitions between two individuals or two crews. Although the term "breakdance" is frequently used, "b-boying" and "breaking" are the original terms used to refer to the dance. These terms are preferred by the majority of the art form’s pioneers and most notable practitioners.
. "Breakdancer" may even be used disparagingly to refer to those who learned the dance for personal gain rather than commitment to hip-hop culture. The terms 'b-boys' (or break-boy), 'b-girls', and 'breakers' are the preferred terms to use to describe the dancers. The "b-boys" and "b-girls" were the dancers to DJ Kool Herc
's breaks, who were described as "breaking". The obvious connection is to the breakbeat, but Herc has noted that "breaking" was also street slang of the time meaning "getting excited", "acting energetically" or "causing a disturbance". B-boy London of New York City Breakers
and filmmaker Michael Holman refer to these dancers as “breakers”. Frosty Freeze
of Rock Steady Crew says, “we were known as b-boys”, and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa
says, “b-boys, [are] what you call break boys... or b-girls, what you call break girls.” The term breaker is gender neutral. In addition, Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres (co-founder of Rock Steady Crew
), Mr. Freeze of Rock Steady Crew
and hip-hop historian Fab 5 Freddy use the term “b-boy”, as do rappers Big Daddy Kane
and Tech N9ne
.
The dance itself is properly called "breaking" according to rappers such as KRS-One
, Talib Kweli
, Mos Def
, and Darryl McDaniels
of Run-DMC in the breaking documentary The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy. Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, Michael Holman, Frosty Freeze, and Jo Jo use the original term "b-boying". Purists consider "breakdancing" an ignorant term invented by the media that connotes exploitation of the art.
The term "breakdancing" is also problematic because it has become a diluted umbrella term
that incorrectly includes popping, locking, and electric boogaloo. Popping, locking, and electric boogaloo are not styles of "breakdance". They are funk styles that were developed separately from breaking in California
.
style. Street corner DJ
s would take the rhythmic breakdown section
s (or "breaks") of dance record
s and loop them one after the other. This provided a rhythmic base for improvising and mixing and it allowed dancers to display their skills during the break. In a turn-based showcase of dance routines the winning side was determined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves while maintaining to hit specific beats of the break.
by American soldiers shortly after its surge of popularity in the US during the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the culture and dance really took hold. 1997 is known as the "Year Zero of Korean breaking". A Korean-American hip hop promoter named John Jay Chon was visiting his family in Seoul and while he was there, he met a crew named Expression Crew
in a club. He gave them a VHS
of a Los Angeles b-boying competition called Radiotron. A year later when he returned, Chon found that his video and others like his had been copied and dubbed numerous times, and were feeding an ever-growing b-boy community.
In 2002, Korea's Expression Crew won the prestigious international b-boying competition Battle of the Year
, exposing the skill of the country's b-boys to the rest of the world. Since then, the Korean government has capitalized on the popularity of the dance and has promoted it as part of Korean culture. R-16 Korea
is the most well-known government-sponsored event, and is hosted by the Korean Tourism Organization and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
, b-boying within Japan began to thrive. Each Sunday b-boys would perform breaking in Tokyo
's Yoyogi Park. One of the first and most influential Japanese breakers was Crazy-A, who is now the leader of the Tokyo chapter of Rock Steady Crew. He also organizes the yearly B-Boy Park which draws upwards of 10,000 fans a year and attempts to expose a wider audience to the culture.
also called Rocking or Brooklyn Rock. Uprock is an aggressive dance that involves two dancers who mimic ways of fighting each other using mimed weaponry in rhythm with the music. Uprock
as a dance style of its own never gained the same widespread popularity as breaking, except for some very specific moves adopted by breakers who use it as a variation for their toprock. When used in a b-boy battle, opponents often respond by performing similar uprock moves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle. Some dancers argue that because uprock was originally a separate dance style it should never be mixed with breaking and that the uprock moves performed by breakers today are not the original moves but poor imitations that only show a small part of the original uprock style
It has been stated that breaking replaced fighting between street gangs. On the contrary, some believe it a misconception that b-boying ever played a part in mediating gang rivalry. Both viewpoints have some truth. Uprock has its roots in gang
s. Whenever there was an issue over turf, the two warlords of the feuding gangs would uprock. Whoever won this preliminary battle would decide where the real fight would be. This is where the battle mentality in breaking and hip-hop dance in general comes from. "Sometimes a dance was enough to settle the beef
, sometimes the dance set off more beef."
Toprock generally refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, though dancers often transition from other aspects of breaking to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps which can each be varied according to the dancer's expression (ie. aggressive, calm, excited). A great deal of freedom is allowed in the definition of toprock: as long as the dancer maintains cleanness, form and the b-boy attitude, theoretically anything can be toprock. Toprock can draw upon many other dance styles such as popping
, locking
, or house dance
. Transitions from toprock to downrock and power moves are called drops.
Downrock (also known as "footwork" or "floorwork") is used to describe any movement on the floor with the hands supporting the dancer as much as the feet. Downrock includes moves such as the foundational 6-step
, and its variants such as the 3-step or other small steps that add style. The most basic of downrock is done entirely on feet and hands but more complex variations can involve the knees when threading limbs through each other.
Power moves are acrobatic moves that require momentum
, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. The breaker is generally supported by his upper body, while the rest of his body creates circular momentum. Notable examples are the windmill, swipe, and head spin. Some power moves are borrowed from gymnastics and martial arts. An example of a power move taken from gymnastics is the Thomas Flair
which is shortened and spelled flare in b-boying.
Freezes are stylish poses, and the more difficult require the breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength in poses such as the pike. They are used to emphasize strong beats in the music and often signal the end of a b-boy set. Freezes can be linked into chains or "stacks" where breakers go from freeze to freeze to the music to display musicality and physical strength.
Suicides like freezes are used to emphasize a strong beat in the music and signal the end to a routine. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to a controlled final position. Breakers will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, but breakers execute them in a way to minimize pain.
This debate however is somewhat of a misnomer. The classification of dancing as "style" in b-boying is inaccurate because every b-boy or b-girl has their own unique style developed both consciously and subconsciously. Each b-boy or b-girl's style is the certain attitude or method in which they execute their movements. A breaker's unique style does not strictly refer to just toprock or downrock. It is a concept which encompasses how a move is executed rather than what move is done.
as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. Breaking can be readily adapted to different music genres with the aid of remix
ing. The original songs that popularized the dance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz
, soul
, funk
, electro, and disco
. The most common feature of b-boy music exists in musical breaks
, or compilations formed from samples
taken from different songs which are then looped and chained together by the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135 beats per minute with shuffled sixteenth
and quarter
beats in the percussive pattern. History credits DJ Kool Herc for the invention of this concept later termed the break beat.
, MCing, and DJing, males are generally the predominant gender within breaking. However, this is being challenged by the rapidly increasing number of b-girls. Critics argue that it is unfair to make a sweeping generalization about these inequalities because women have begun to play a larger role in the breaking scene.
Despite the increasing number of female breakers, another possible barrier is lack of promotion. As Firefly, a full-time b-girl, says "It's getting more popular. There are a lot more girls involved. The problem is that promoters are not putting on enough female-only battles." More people are seeking to change the traditional image of females in hip-hop culture (and by extension, b-boy culture) to a more positive, empowered role in the modern hip-hop scene. The lower exposure of female dancers is probably caused not by any conscious discrimination, but simply by the fewer number of female breakers compared to the number of male breakers. However, both males and females do practice this art form equally together and are competitively judged only by skill and personal expression, not gender.
, Flashdance
, Breakin'
, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
, Delivery Boys
, Krush Groove, and Beat Street
. The 1983 PBS documentary Style Wars
chronicled New York graffiti artists, but also includes elements of b-boying. In 1985, at the height of b-boying's popularity during the 80s, Donnie Yen
starred in a Hong Kong
hip hop film called Mismatched Couples
.
The 2000's saw a resurgence of films documenting or utilizing b-boying. The 2002 documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy provides a comprehensive history of b-boying including its evolution and its place within hip-hop culture. The 2007 documentary Planet B-Boy
follows crews from around the world in their journeys to Battle of the Year
International 2005. The award-winning (SXSW Film Festival audience award) 2007 documentary "Inside the Circle" (2007) goes into the personal stories of three b-boys (Omar Davila, Josh "Milky" Ayers and Romeo Navarro) and their struggle to keep dance at the center of their lives. The 2010 German
documentary Neukölln Unlimited
depicts the life of two b-boy brothers in Berlin
that try to use their dancing talents to secure a livelihood. Most recently Step Up 3D, a 2010 hip hop dance movie, features b-boying as the main type of dance performed. Saigon Electric
is a 2011 independent film focused on the b-boying culture in Vietnam
.
premiering in 2008, arguably exposed b-boying back to the forefront of America's hip hop scene, similar to the popularity it had in the 80's.
Since b-boying's popularity surge in Korea, it has been featured in various TV dramas and commercials. Break
is a 2006 mini series from Korea about a b-boying competition. Over the Rainbow (Drama series 2006) centers on different characters who are brought together by b-boying.
Street dance
Street dance, more formally known as vernacular dance, is an umbrella term used to describe dance styles that evolved outside of dance studios in any available open space such as streets, dance parties, block parties, parks, school yards, raves, and nightclubs, etc...
that was created and developed as part of hip-hop culture among African Americans and Latino
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
youths in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves and freezes. It is danced to both hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and other genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s of music that are often remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ed to prolong the musical breaks
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
. The musical selection for b-boying is not restricted to hip-hop music as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. These dancers often participate in battles, formal or informal dance competitions between two individuals or two crews. Although the term "breakdance" is frequently used, "b-boying" and "breaking" are the original terms used to refer to the dance. These terms are preferred by the majority of the art form’s pioneers and most notable practitioners.
Terminology
Although widespread, the term "breakdancing" is looked down upon by those immersed in hip-hop cultureHip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
. "Breakdancer" may even be used disparagingly to refer to those who learned the dance for personal gain rather than commitment to hip-hop culture. The terms 'b-boys' (or break-boy), 'b-girls', and 'breakers' are the preferred terms to use to describe the dancers. The "b-boys" and "b-girls" were the dancers to DJ Kool Herc
DJ Kool Herc
Clive Campbell , also known as Kool Herc, DJ Kool Herc and Kool DJ Herc, is a Jamaican-born DJ who is credited with originating hip hop music, in The Bronx, New York City...
's breaks, who were described as "breaking". The obvious connection is to the breakbeat, but Herc has noted that "breaking" was also street slang of the time meaning "getting excited", "acting energetically" or "causing a disturbance". B-boy London of New York City Breakers
New York City Breakers
The New York City Breakers is a B-boy or breakdancing crew and hip-hop group that was established in the Bronx borough of New York City...
and filmmaker Michael Holman refer to these dancers as “breakers”. Frosty Freeze
Frosty Freeze
Wayne "Frosty Freeze" Frost , also known as The Freeze To Please, was a Puerto Rican old school hip hop b-boy known as a member of the second generation of the hip hop/breakdancing group, Rock Steady Crew....
of Rock Steady Crew says, “we were known as b-boys”, and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...
says, “b-boys, [are] what you call break boys... or b-girls, what you call break girls.” The term breaker is gender neutral. In addition, Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres (co-founder of Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew is a b-boying crew and hip hop group that was established in the Bronx, New York City in 1977. The group was initially formed by b-boys named Jimmy D and Jojo. In subsequent years, Rock Steady Crew became a franchise name for groups in other locations. The Manhattan branch was...
), Mr. Freeze of Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew is a b-boying crew and hip hop group that was established in the Bronx, New York City in 1977. The group was initially formed by b-boys named Jimmy D and Jojo. In subsequent years, Rock Steady Crew became a franchise name for groups in other locations. The Manhattan branch was...
and hip-hop historian Fab 5 Freddy use the term “b-boy”, as do rappers Big Daddy Kane
Big Daddy Kane
Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
and Tech N9ne
Tech N9ne
Aaron Dontez Yates , better known by his stage name Tech N9ne , is an American rapper from Kansas City, Missouri. In 1999, Yates and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. Throughout his career, Yates has sold over one million albums and has had his music featured in film,...
.
The dance itself is properly called "breaking" according to rappers such as KRS-One
KRS-One
Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...
, Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
, Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
, and Darryl McDaniels
Darryl McDaniels
-Video game appearances:*The Warriors - Scopes*Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - Himself- External links :* * * * * http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/12/entertainment/la-et-people-speak12-2009dec12...
of Run-DMC in the breaking documentary The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy. Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, Michael Holman, Frosty Freeze, and Jo Jo use the original term "b-boying". Purists consider "breakdancing" an ignorant term invented by the media that connotes exploitation of the art.
| Source | Quote |
|---|---|
| Crazy Legs; Rock Steady Crew Rock Steady Crew Rock Steady Crew is a b-boying crew and hip hop group that was established in the Bronx, New York City in 1977. The group was initially formed by b-boys named Jimmy D and Jojo. In subsequent years, Rock Steady Crew became a franchise name for groups in other locations. The Manhattan branch was... |
"When I first learned about the dance in ’77 it was called b-boying... by the time the media got a hold of it in like ’81, ’82, it became ‘break-dancing’ and I even got caught up calling it break-dancing too." |
| Action; New York City Breakers New York City Breakers The New York City Breakers is a B-boy or breakdancing crew and hip-hop group that was established in the Bronx borough of New York City... |
"You know what, that’s our fault kind of... we started dancing and going on tours and all that and people would say, oh you guys are breakdancers - we never corrected them." |
| Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres; Rock Steady Crew | "B-boy... that’s what it is, that’s why when the public changed it to ‘break-dancing’ they were just giving a professional name to it, but b-boy was the original name for it and whoever wants to keep it real would keep calling it b-boy." |
| NPR | "Breakdancing may have died, but the b-boy, one of four original elements of hip hop (also included: the MC, the DJ, and the graffiti artist) lives on. To those who knew it before it was tagged with the name breakdancing, to those still involved in the scene that they will always know as b-boying, the tradition is alive and, well, spinning." |
| The Boston Globe The Boston Globe The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993... |
"Lesson one: Don't call it breakdancing. Hip-hop's dance tradition, the kinetic counterpart to the sound scape of rap music and the visuals of graffiti art, is properly known as b-boying." |
| The Electric Boogaloos | "In the 80's when streetdancing [sic] blew up, the media often incorrectly used the term 'breakdancing' as an umbrella term for most the streetdancing [sic] styles that they saw. What many people didn't know was [that] within these styles, other sub-cultures existed, each with their own identities. Breakdancing, or b-boying as it is more appropriately known as, is known to have its roots in the east coast and was heavily influenced by break beats and hip hop." |
| Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon | "Break dancing is a term created by the media! Once hip-hop dancers gained the media’s attention, some journalists and reporters produced inaccurate terminology in an effort to present these urban dance forms to the masses. The term break dancing is a prime example of this misnomer. Most pioneers and architects of dance forms associated with hip-hop reject this term and hold fast to the original vernacular created in their places of origin. In the case of break dancing, it was initially called b-boying or b-girling." |
| Benjamin "B-Tek" Chung; JabbaWockeeZ JabbaWockeeZ Jabbawockeez is a Bay-Area-based Urban dance group formed initially by members Kevin " KB" Brewer, Phil "Swagger Boy" Tayag, & Joe "Punkee" Larot under the name "3 Muskee". They were the winners of season 1 of the show America's Best Dance Crew... |
"When someone says break dancing, we correct them and say it’s b-boying." |
| Timothy "Popin' Pete" Solomon; Electric Boogaloos | "An important thing to clarify is that the term 'Break dancing' is wrong, I read that in many magazines but that is a media term. The correct term is 'Breakin', people who do it are B-Boys and B-Girls. The term 'Break dancing' has to be thrown out of the dance vocabulary." |
| Excerpt from the book New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone | "With the barrage of media attention [breaking] received, even terminology started changing. 'Breakdancing' became the catch-all term to describe what originally had been referred to as 'burning', 'going off', 'breaking', 'b-boying', and 'b-girling'... Even though many of hip hop's pioneers accepted the term for a while in the 1980s, they have since reclaimed the original terminology and rejected 'breakdance' as a media-fabricated word that symbolizes the bastardization and co-optation of the art form." |
| Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory is a not-for-profit organization and the only conservatory for hip-hop dance in the world. HDC trains students year-round in the different styles of hip-hop dance as well as in academics related to both hip-hop culture and dance, such as Anatomy and Physiology,... |
"Breaking of B-boying is generally misconstrued or incorrectly termed as 'breakdancing'. Breakdancing is a term spawned from the loins of the media's philistinism, sociolism, and naivete at that time. With no true knowledge of the hip-hop diaspora but with an ineradicable need to define it for the nescient masses, the term breakdancing was born. Most breakers take great offense to the term." |
| Jeff Chang Jeff Chang (journalist) Jeff Chang is an American journalist and music critic on hip hop music and culture. His 2005 book, Can't Stop Won't Stop, which chronicles the early hip hop scene, won an American Book Award in 2005... |
"During the 1970s, an array of dances practiced by black and Latino kids sprang up in the inner cities of New York and California. The styles had a dizzying list of names: 'uprock' in Brooklyn, 'locking' in Los Angeles, 'boogaloo' and 'popping' in Fresno, and 'strutting' in San Francisco and Oakland. When these dances gained notice in the mid-'80s outside of their geographic contexts, the diverse styles were lumped together under the tag 'break dancing.' |
The term "breakdancing" is also problematic because it has become a diluted umbrella term
Umbrella term
An umbrella term is a word that provides a superset or grouping of concepts that all fall under a single common category. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. For example, cryptology is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis, among other fields...
that incorrectly includes popping, locking, and electric boogaloo. Popping, locking, and electric boogaloo are not styles of "breakdance". They are funk styles that were developed separately from breaking in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
History
Origin
Elements of breaking may be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1980s, but it was not until the 1980s that breaking developed as a street danceStreet dance
Street dance, more formally known as vernacular dance, is an umbrella term used to describe dance styles that evolved outside of dance studios in any available open space such as streets, dance parties, block parties, parks, school yards, raves, and nightclubs, etc...
style. Street corner DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s would take the rhythmic breakdown section
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
s (or "breaks") of dance record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
s and loop them one after the other. This provided a rhythmic base for improvising and mixing and it allowed dancers to display their skills during the break. In a turn-based showcase of dance routines the winning side was determined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves while maintaining to hit specific beats of the break.
Korea
B-boying was first introduced to South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
by American soldiers shortly after its surge of popularity in the US during the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the culture and dance really took hold. 1997 is known as the "Year Zero of Korean breaking". A Korean-American hip hop promoter named John Jay Chon was visiting his family in Seoul and while he was there, he met a crew named Expression Crew
Expression crew
Expression crew is a South Korean b-boying crew that is famous for winning Battle of the Year 2002, making it the first ever Korean crew to win the title. The crew is also famous for its "Marionette" performance, a show it used to tour around the world performing.-History:Expression Crew was formed...
in a club. He gave them a VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
of a Los Angeles b-boying competition called Radiotron. A year later when he returned, Chon found that his video and others like his had been copied and dubbed numerous times, and were feeding an ever-growing b-boy community.
In 2002, Korea's Expression Crew won the prestigious international b-boying competition Battle of the Year
Battle of the Year
Battle of the Year, commonly referred to as BOTY, is an annual international b-boying series that began in 1990. It is a crew competition...
, exposing the skill of the country's b-boys to the rest of the world. Since then, the Korean government has capitalized on the popularity of the dance and has promoted it as part of Korean culture. R-16 Korea
R-16 Korea
R-16 Korea is an annual international b-boy tournament and urban arts cultural festival sponsored primarily by the Korea Tourism Organization and the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism...
is the most well-known government-sponsored event, and is hosted by the Korean Tourism Organization and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
Japan
Shortly after the Rock Steady Crew came to JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, b-boying within Japan began to thrive. Each Sunday b-boys would perform breaking in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
's Yoyogi Park. One of the first and most influential Japanese breakers was Crazy-A, who is now the leader of the Tokyo chapter of Rock Steady Crew. He also organizes the yearly B-Boy Park which draws upwards of 10,000 fans a year and attempts to expose a wider audience to the culture.
Uprock
A separate but related dance form which influenced breaking is UprockUprock
Uprock, or Rocking as it was originally referred to, also known as Rock, is a soulful and competitive urban street dance, performed in synchronization to the beats and rhythms of soul, rock and funk music, but was mostly danced to a specific and exclusive collection of songs that contained a hard...
also called Rocking or Brooklyn Rock. Uprock is an aggressive dance that involves two dancers who mimic ways of fighting each other using mimed weaponry in rhythm with the music. Uprock
Uprock
Uprock, or Rocking as it was originally referred to, also known as Rock, is a soulful and competitive urban street dance, performed in synchronization to the beats and rhythms of soul, rock and funk music, but was mostly danced to a specific and exclusive collection of songs that contained a hard...
as a dance style of its own never gained the same widespread popularity as breaking, except for some very specific moves adopted by breakers who use it as a variation for their toprock. When used in a b-boy battle, opponents often respond by performing similar uprock moves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle. Some dancers argue that because uprock was originally a separate dance style it should never be mixed with breaking and that the uprock moves performed by breakers today are not the original moves but poor imitations that only show a small part of the original uprock style
It has been stated that breaking replaced fighting between street gangs. On the contrary, some believe it a misconception that b-boying ever played a part in mediating gang rivalry. Both viewpoints have some truth. Uprock has its roots in gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
s. Whenever there was an issue over turf, the two warlords of the feuding gangs would uprock. Whoever won this preliminary battle would decide where the real fight would be. This is where the battle mentality in breaking and hip-hop dance in general comes from. "Sometimes a dance was enough to settle the beef
Hip-hop feud
A hip hop feud, also known as a beef or a rivalry, is a controversy in which two or more rappers create a rivalry that is manifested by each slandering and confronting the other in a number of ways.- Background :...
, sometimes the dance set off more beef."
Dance techniques
Four elements
There are four primary elements that form breaking. These include toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes/suicides.Toprock generally refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, though dancers often transition from other aspects of breaking to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps which can each be varied according to the dancer's expression (ie. aggressive, calm, excited). A great deal of freedom is allowed in the definition of toprock: as long as the dancer maintains cleanness, form and the b-boy attitude, theoretically anything can be toprock. Toprock can draw upon many other dance styles such as popping
Popping
Popping is a street dance and one of the original funk styles that came from California during the 1960s-70s. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit...
, locking
Locking (dance)
Locking is a style of funk dance, which is today also associated with hip hop. The name is based on the concept of locking movements, which basically means freezing from a fast movement and "locking" in a certain position, holding that position for a short while and then continuing in the same...
, or house dance
House dance
House dance is a social dance primarily danced to house music that has roots in the clubs of Chicago and of New York. The main elements of House dance include Footwork, Jacking, and Lofting...
. Transitions from toprock to downrock and power moves are called drops.
Downrock (also known as "footwork" or "floorwork") is used to describe any movement on the floor with the hands supporting the dancer as much as the feet. Downrock includes moves such as the foundational 6-step
6-step
The 6-step is the basic sequence of b-boying footwork. The b-boy uses his arms to support his body above the floor while his legs walk around in a circle.-Description:...
, and its variants such as the 3-step or other small steps that add style. The most basic of downrock is done entirely on feet and hands but more complex variations can involve the knees when threading limbs through each other.
Power moves are acrobatic moves that require momentum
Momentum
In classical mechanics, linear momentum or translational momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object...
, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. The breaker is generally supported by his upper body, while the rest of his body creates circular momentum. Notable examples are the windmill, swipe, and head spin. Some power moves are borrowed from gymnastics and martial arts. An example of a power move taken from gymnastics is the Thomas Flair
Kurt Thomas (gymnast)
Kurt Bilteaux Thomas is an American Olympic gymnast.While at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, Thomas became a member of the US Olympic team at the 1976 Summer Olympics. In 1978, Thomas was the first American male gymnast to win a gold medal in floor exercise in a world championship...
which is shortened and spelled flare in b-boying.
Freezes are stylish poses, and the more difficult require the breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength in poses such as the pike. They are used to emphasize strong beats in the music and often signal the end of a b-boy set. Freezes can be linked into chains or "stacks" where breakers go from freeze to freeze to the music to display musicality and physical strength.
Suicides like freezes are used to emphasize a strong beat in the music and signal the end to a routine. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to a controlled final position. Breakers will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, but breakers execute them in a way to minimize pain.
Power versus style
Multiple stereotypes have emerged in the breaking community over the give-and-take relationship between technical footwork and physical power. Those who focus on dance steps and fundamental sharpness are labeled as "style-heads." Specialists of more gymnastics-oriented technique and form—at the cost of charisma and coordinated footwork—are known as "power-heads." Such terms are used colloquially often to classify one's skill, however, the subject has been known to disrupt competitive events where judges tend to favor a certain technique over the other.This debate however is somewhat of a misnomer. The classification of dancing as "style" in b-boying is inaccurate because every b-boy or b-girl has their own unique style developed both consciously and subconsciously. Each b-boy or b-girl's style is the certain attitude or method in which they execute their movements. A breaker's unique style does not strictly refer to just toprock or downrock. It is a concept which encompasses how a move is executed rather than what move is done.
Music
The musical selection for breaking is not restricted to hip-hop musicHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. Breaking can be readily adapted to different music genres with the aid of remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ing. The original songs that popularized the dance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, electro, and disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
. The most common feature of b-boy music exists in musical breaks
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
, or compilations formed from samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
taken from different songs which are then looped and chained together by the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135 beats per minute with shuffled sixteenth
Sixteenth note
thumb|right|Figure 1. A sixteenth note with stem facing up, a sixteenth note with stem facing down, and a sixteenth rest.thumb|right|Figure 2. Four sixteenth notes beamed together....
and quarter
Quarter note
A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...
beats in the percussive pattern. History credits DJ Kool Herc for the invention of this concept later termed the break beat.
Gender inequality
Like the other aspects of hip-hop culture, graffiti writingGraffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
, MCing, and DJing, males are generally the predominant gender within breaking. However, this is being challenged by the rapidly increasing number of b-girls. Critics argue that it is unfair to make a sweeping generalization about these inequalities because women have begun to play a larger role in the breaking scene.
Despite the increasing number of female breakers, another possible barrier is lack of promotion. As Firefly, a full-time b-girl, says "It's getting more popular. There are a lot more girls involved. The problem is that promoters are not putting on enough female-only battles." More people are seeking to change the traditional image of females in hip-hop culture (and by extension, b-boy culture) to a more positive, empowered role in the modern hip-hop scene. The lower exposure of female dancers is probably caused not by any conscious discrimination, but simply by the fewer number of female breakers compared to the number of male breakers. However, both males and females do practice this art form equally together and are competitively judged only by skill and personal expression, not gender.
Film
In the past 30 years since b-boying's creation, various films have depicted the dance, mainly as either a main aspect of the film or in a documentary. In the early 1980s several films depicted b-boying including Wild StyleWild Style
Wild Style is a 1983 hip hop film produced by Charlie Ahearn. Released theatrically in 1983 by First Run Features and later re-released for home video by Rhino Home Video, it is regarded as the first hip hop motion picture...
, Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
, Breakin'
Breakin'
Breakin', released as Breakdance: The Movie in some countries, is a 1984 breakdancing-themed film directed by Joel Silberg. The film setting was inspired by a German documentary entitled Breakin' and Enterin set in the Los Angeles multi-racial hip hop club Radiotron, based out of Macarthur Park in...
, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo is the 1984 sequel to the breakdancing film Breakin. It was first released in the same year as its predecessor by TriStar Pictures, and by Cannon Films the year after...
, Delivery Boys
Delivery Boys
Delivery Boys is a 1984 film directed by Ken Handler. It concerns a group of pizza delivery boys who start a break dancing team.Mario Van Peebles, Scott Thompson Baker, Samantha Fox and Annabelle Gurwitch have cameo roles....
, Krush Groove, and Beat Street
Beat Street
Beat Street is a 1984 drama film, following Wild Style in featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s; breakdancing, DJing, and graffiti.-Plot:...
. The 1983 PBS documentary Style Wars
Style Wars
Style Wars is a 1983 documentary on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent...
chronicled New York graffiti artists, but also includes elements of b-boying. In 1985, at the height of b-boying's popularity during the 80s, Donnie Yen
Donnie Yen
Donnie Yen is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film director and producer, action choreographer, and world wushu tournament medalist...
starred in a Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
hip hop film called Mismatched Couples
Mismatched Couples
Mismatched Couples is a 1985 Hong Kong film directed by Yuen Woo-ping starring him and martial artist Donnie Yen....
.
The 2000's saw a resurgence of films documenting or utilizing b-boying. The 2002 documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy provides a comprehensive history of b-boying including its evolution and its place within hip-hop culture. The 2007 documentary Planet B-Boy
Planet B-Boy
Planet B-Boy is a 2007 documentary film that focuses on the 2005 Battle of the Year while also describing B-boy culture and history as a global phenomenon. This documentary was directed by Canadian-American Korean filmmaker Benson Lee, shot by Portuguese-American filmmaker Vasco Nunes, and...
follows crews from around the world in their journeys to Battle of the Year
Battle of the Year
Battle of the Year, commonly referred to as BOTY, is an annual international b-boying series that began in 1990. It is a crew competition...
International 2005. The award-winning (SXSW Film Festival audience award) 2007 documentary "Inside the Circle" (2007) goes into the personal stories of three b-boys (Omar Davila, Josh "Milky" Ayers and Romeo Navarro) and their struggle to keep dance at the center of their lives. The 2010 German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
documentary Neukölln Unlimited
Neukölln Unlimited
Neukölln Unlimited is a 2010 German documentary. The film follows three Lebanese siblings - Hassan, Lial and Maradona - through their daily lives in Berlin's district of Neukölln....
depicts the life of two b-boy brothers in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
that try to use their dancing talents to secure a livelihood. Most recently Step Up 3D, a 2010 hip hop dance movie, features b-boying as the main type of dance performed. Saigon Electric
Saigon electric
Saigon Electric also known as Saigon Yo! is a 2010 Vietnamese hip hop film directed by Stephane Gauger. It will be released on December 17, 2010 in big cities and provinces in Vietnam such as Hanoi, Saigon, Da Nang and Can Tho.-Director's notes:...
is a 2011 independent film focused on the b-boying culture in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
Television
In the US, the shows So You Think You Can Dance premiering in 2005 and America's Best Dance CrewAmerica's Best Dance Crew
America's Best Dance Crew, often abbreviated as ABDC, is an American competitive dance reality television series that features street dance crews from the United States and around the world. It is produced by American Idol judge Randy Jackson and airs on MTV...
premiering in 2008, arguably exposed b-boying back to the forefront of America's hip hop scene, similar to the popularity it had in the 80's.
Since b-boying's popularity surge in Korea, it has been featured in various TV dramas and commercials. Break
Break
Break may refer to:* Break * Recess , a general term for a period of time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties* Break , time off during a shift...
is a 2006 mini series from Korea about a b-boying competition. Over the Rainbow (Drama series 2006) centers on different characters who are brought together by b-boying.
Commercial
B-boying is widely referenced in TV advertising, titling and program-linking, as well as news, travelogue and documentary segments, as an indicator of youth/street culture. From a production point of view the style is visually arresting, instantly recognizable and adducible to fast-editing, while the ethos is multi-ethnic, energetic and edgy, but free from the gangster-laden overtones of much rap-culture imagery. Its usability as a visual cliché benefits sponsorship, despite the relatively small following of the genre itself beyond the circle of its practitioners.- In 2005, a Volkswagen Golf GTi commercial featured a partly CGIComputer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
version of Gene Kelly breaking to a new version of "Singin' in the RainSingin' in the Rain (song)"Singin' In the Rain" is a song with lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown, published in 1929. However, it is unclear exactly when the song was written with some claiming that the song was written and performed as early as 1927. The song was listed as Number 3 on AFI's 100 Years.....
", remixed by Mint RoyaleMint RoyaleMint Royale is a big beat electronic music act from Manchester, England. They were originally founded by the duo Neil Claxton and Chris Baker in 1997; the latter left the band in 2004, but Claxton continues to produce music using the Mint Royale name.-Career:...
. The tagline was, "The original, updated."
Literature
- In 1997, Kim Soo Yong began serialization of the first b-boying themed comic,Hip Hop. The comic sold over 1.5 million books and it helped to introduce breaking and hip-hop culture to Korean youth.
- The first b-boying themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden DaleckiLinden DaleckiLinden Dalecki is an American author. He writes novels for children and young adults.- Writing :His first novel, Kid B, is set in the world of Texas hip-hop and was influenced by S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders...
, was an amateur b-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas b-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel was inspired by Dalecki's b-boy-themed short story "The B-Boys of Beaumont", which won the 2004 Austin ChronicleAustin ChronicleThe Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly, tabloid-style newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic...
short story contest. - Breakin' the city, a photo book by Nicolaus SchmidtNicolaus SchmidtNicolaus Schmidt is a German artist and photographer. He studied at the Hamburg Art Academy in the 1970s. In 1975, he founded ROSA, one of Germany’s first gay-themed magazines. From 1980-89, Schmidt was an art teacher in Hamburg...
, is portraying b-boys from the Bronx and Brooklyn wheeling around on subway cars, in city plazas and sidewalks of New York City. Published in 2011 it is based on a cooperation between six New York based groups and the German photographer in the years 2007 to 2009.
Video gaming
There have been few video games created throughout history focusing on b-boying. The main deterrence for attempting to create types of games like these is the difficulty of translating the dancing into something entertaining and fun on a video game console. Most of these attempts have had low to average success.- Break DanceBreak DanceBreak Dance is a Commodore 64 computer game that relies on players making dancing moves that resemble the classic game Simon says.-Gameplay:...
was an 8-bit computer game by EpyxEpyxEpyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983...
released in 1984, at the height of breaking's popularity. - B-boy is a 2006 console game released for PS2 and PSPPSPPSP most commonly refers to the PlayStation Portable, a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment.PSP may also refer to:-Computing and programming:*Corel Paint Shop Pro, a graphics editor...
which aims at an unadulterated depiction of breaking. - Bust A GrooveBust a GrooveBust a Groove is a hybrid music/fighting game for the Sony PlayStation released in 1998. The game was published by the Japanese video game developer Enix in Japan and brought to the U.S...
is a video game franchise whose character "Heat" specializes in breaking. - Pump It UpPump It UpPump It Up, commonly abbreviated as PIU or shortened to just Pump, is a music video game series currently developed by Nexcade and published by Andamiro, a Korean arcade game producer. The game is typically played on a dance pad with five arrow panels: up-left, up-right, bottom-left, bottom-right,...
is a Korean game that requires physical movement of the feet. The game involves b-boying and many people have accomplished this feat by memorizing the steps and creating dance moves to hit the arrows on time. - Breakdance Champion Red Bull BC One is an iOSIOSiOS is an operating system for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple TV.IOS may also refer to:-Companies and organisations:* Illinois Ornithological Society, American state-based bird club...
rhythm game that focuses on the actual b-boying competition Red Bull BC OneRed Bull BC OneRed Bull BC One is an annual international b-boy competition organized by the energy drink company Red Bull. It is an individual b-boy competition...
.
Pop culture
B-boying moves are often incorporated into the choreography of many films featuring martial arts. This is due to the visually pleasing aspect of the dance, no matter how ridiculous or useless it would be in an actual fight.- The 2001 comedy film ZoolanderZoolanderZoolander is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the...
depicts Zoolander (Ben StillerBen StillerBenjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
) and Hansel (Owen WilsonOwen WilsonOwen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
) performing b-boy moves on a catwalk. - In the 2003 film Shanghai KnightsShanghai KnightsShanghai Knights is a 2003 action-comedy film. It is the sequel to Shanghai Noon. It was directed by David Dobkin and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.-Plot:...
, Donnie YenDonnie YenDonnie Yen is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film director and producer, action choreographer, and world wushu tournament medalist...
implements a windmill in a fight against Jackie ChanJackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
. - The 2004 animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
TV series Samurai ChamplooSamurai Champloois a Japanese anime series created and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. It was broadcast in Japan from May 20, 2004 through March 19, 2005 on Fuji TV. Samurai Champloo has earned Watanabe a renowned title in the anime and Japanese television communities...
features one of the main characters, Mugen using a fighting style based on b-boying. - The 2009 Thai martial arts film Raging PhoenixRaging PhoenixJeeja Due Suai Du , also known as Raging Phoenix, is a 2009 Thai martial arts film starring Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda, in her second film performance...
incorporates b-boying in its fight scenes, along with capoeiraCapoeiraCapoeira is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences, probably beginning in the 16th century...
. - The 2010 martial arts film True LegendTrue LegendTrue Legend is a 2010 martial arts film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, starring Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Jay Chou, Michelle Yeoh, Andy On, David Carradine, Guo Xiaodong, Feng Xiaogang, Cung Le, Gordon Liu, Bryan Leung and Jacky Heung....
features a scene where Drunken God, played by Jay ChouJay ChouJay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...
performs windmills, flares, and airflares in a restaurant.