No this is not a joke and NO, it is not called ‘breakdancing’. That term was coined by the media in the late 80s and has stuck around to the general public. It’s called Breaking.
The IOC has announced on the 7th of December that Breaking, along with skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing to be included in the 2024 Paris Olympics to appeal to a younger audience. The inclusion of breaking has caused much controversy amongst the general populous, with many questioning the ‘past-time’ being a sport or it being undeserving to other sports.
But the Breaking community has pushed back, with many leaders and figures within the scene coming out to defend the inclusion. In Australia alone, top ranking Bgirl Dr Rachael Gunn aka Bgirl Raygunn, has been able to voice her opinion to the Australian media. “Breaking is extremely athletic – the dancers are athletes,” “You have to be strong, you have to be explosive, you have to have endurance. To those people that say it’s not a sport, I just wonder if they’ve ever seen any contemporary breaking.” This sentiment is being felt at large by the majority of the global breaking community, with advocates around the world talking to their respective media outlets to explain Breaking and why the inclusion is deserved.
Breaking may have been thought of a past time or something kids still did, but the global Breaking culture continues to grow strong, with many ‘battles’ and events still happening to this day. Australia’s largest street dance festival Destructive Steps just ran its 12th annual event with 1v1 Breaking as one of its categories along with many other jams happening across the nation as rules slowly ease from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Australian Breaking Association (ABA) was formed in 2019 to help the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) facilitate Australian representation at the Paris Games and find the top Breaking contenders who will compete for Australia. Visit https://www.ausbreak.org/ to keep up to date with all the… Breaking news.
