- Diamond D, “Stunts, Blunts, & Hip-Hop”
Breaking is more than the physical performance itself, the body-control and the style. It is the everlasting story of a streetculture going against all odds. Where aggressivness and frustration are transformed into constructive and powerfull battles on creativity, style, technique and nerve. It is the story about the individal dancers fame and skills within the b-boy community. And it is the story about strong and close relations which exists within the hip-hop culture.
Breakdance, aka Breaking or B-boying, started out among streetkids in the 1970ies Bronx, the poorest area in New York City. Many dancers was gangmembers who competed against eachother, for the simple reason that gangmembership was a necessity to survive. In the 70ies the number of gangs exceeded 300 including app. 20.000 members. That is why the structure and organisation of the b-boys to begin with was through the gangs of New York.
Breaking pioneer Crazy Legs says in 1984:
Earlier every kid in the ghetto was in a gang, and we fought against eachother with knives, chains and steel clubs. But at one point we all had a feeling of being trapped in a dead end alley. All this crazy violence! Breaking gave us an opportunity of being ourselves. Now we fight with dance instead.
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| 1984, New York |
Dynamic Breakers in a battle against Rock Steady Crew in Lincoln Center, New York |
1981 Rock Steady Crew...'pre-fame' |
Rock Steady Crew in a battle against Dynamic Breakers in Lincoln Center, New York |
Afrika Bambaataa and his organisation Zulu Nation, played an imporetant role defining hip-hop in these early stages. Originally Baambaataa was a leading gangmember of the Black Spades who controlled the area surrounding Bronx River.
The turning point for Baambaataa came when a good friend of his was shot by the police. He did not want to continue this way and he travelled to Africa to seek his roots - also explaining his african inspired name. He came back with a vision of how to change the negative development in the ghetto into a positive movement.
Through his DJ activities he had a close contact to creative tools of expression that was popular in his milieu, all of which was developed in the ghetto. The physic of the dancers met the art of Graffiti, the words from the rappers and the DJ's music. Now Baambaataa gathered these 4 elements and named it hip-hop - inspired by af word from one the friend Lovebug Starskis nonsens-rhymes.
The sources of inspiration for Baambaataa was black civil-rights figures like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The idea was to organise the gangs of New York to cooperate. The values of the still existing Zulu Nation is: "peace, competition, respect, originality, party and unity". Thats why the focus of the dancers practice and mentality is to top the opponent by having more creative and better moves and freezes, and the b-boys teamed up in crews to develop own routines and stand out from the other dancers.
The first known Breaking crew was the Nigger Twins and other crews from the same period was The Seven Deadly Sinners, Shanghai Brothers, Rockwell Association and Rock Steady Crew. These were the pioneers, the first generation.
Already by the mid-70ies there was dancers around with amazing skills. It was the rivalry between the crews that led to very dedicated b-boys who competed on Freezes, Footworks og Toprocks. When the 70ies became the 80ies the early pioneers was either quiting b-boying or passed it on to a new generation who took the known basic moves and combined them with spins on almost all parts of the body. This new generation of breakers were skilled acrobats who developed the headspin, windmill, the glides etc..moves that are now the Brand of Breaking.
By the early 80ies the crews who stood out in New York was Rock Steady Crew, NYC Breakers, Dynamic Rockers, Floor Lords, Floor Masters, Incredible Breakers, Magnificient Force. The toughest rivalry was between Rock Steady Crew and NYC Breakers and Rock Steady Crew VS Dynamic Rockers. The amazing battles between these crews was drew the attention of the media
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| Ty Fly, Rock Steady Crew |
1980 High Times Crew |
1983 Dynamic Breakers |
1981 Jamming... |
In 1981 the TV channel ABC showed a performance by Rock Steady Crew in Lincoln Center. In 1982 a battle between Rock Steady Crew and Dynamic Rockers was recorded to the film/documentary "Style Wars" which later was aired on national TV in USA. In '83 the breakthrough for Breaking was a reality as the movie "Flashdance" came up in the movietheaters. The highlight of the film is a short, but 'electric' clip feat. Rock Steady Crew in action. At the same time Rock Steady Crew was guest stars in Malcolm McLarens musicvideo "Buffalo Gals" which was was shown on TV. Rock Steady Crew appeared in both productions and was seen worldwide because of the succes of this film and the song.
This was the beginning of the media explosion which took place in most countries all over the world. Breaking was new for everybody, something which had never before been seen, something which was really spectacular and fascinating. Still in the same year the movie "Wild Style" came out. To promote the movie a "Wild Style" – tour was set up. This was the first international tour with hip-hop culture. MCs, DJs, Graffiti artists and Breakers went to Paris and London, and for the frst time Breaking could be seen ’live’ in Europa. In 1984 the movie "Beat Street" which included Rock Steady Crew, NYC Breakers and Magnificent Force came out. And at the closening-ceremony for the LA Olympic Summer Games more than 100 B-Boys and B-Girls performed!
Breaking was increasingly turning into a trend and B-Boys performed in commercials for milk, Burger King, etc) amd TV shows (Fame, David Letterman,..). B-Boys was gests at the Prince of Bahrain and visiting Queen Elizabeth. In '86 the UK FRESH took place at the Wembley Arena (London). UK Fresh was one of the biggest historic events of that period.
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| 1984 Venice Beach, Californien |
1985 Rock Steady Crew |
Dynamic Rockers |
1981 Crazy Legs & Doze, Rock Steady Crew |
Also in Scandinavia Breakdance became a trend and was exploited to give a charisma of 'street' to american and japanese electronic goods - breakdance was ideal to promote new inventions like 'walkman' and 'ghettoblaster', but also sunglasses and chewing gum was best seen in the face of a b-boy.
Competitions was held all over the country and many dance-studios started up breakdance classes without having qualified teachers. Most boys between 13-17 was dancing, and the streets were full of breakdancers. By '87 breaking was passé for most people, especially the media. It was a fad that had now seen its end. Only a few dancers kept practicing. It was kept alive in small milieus around Europe through the last part of the '80ies.
This meant that the dance came back to USA again in the beginning of the '90ies via Europe, transformed, mutated and updated. In the Motherland the scene was surprised and inspired by the development that had taken place and breakdance was slowly coming back. Now b-boying is a strong and globally grounded dance-culture which is stronger than ever and fast developing. Big events are taking place worldwide and the global community is coming together...
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