B-boying

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"Breakdance" redirects here. For other uses, see Breakdance (disambiguation).

"B-girl" redirects here. For other uses, see B-girl (disambiguation).
B-boying
A b-boy performing outside
Faneuil Hall, Boston, MA,
United States
Genre

Hip-hop dance

Invento Street dancers

r
Year

1970

Origin New York City

Breakdancing (originally B-boying or breaking) is a style of street dance that originated
primarily among African American but also Puerto Rican youth, many former members
of the Black Spades , the Young Spades, and the Baby Spades during the mid 1970s.
Breakdancing was further developed by Puerto Rican youth in New York City in the late
1970s to the early 1980s.[1] The dance spread worldwide due to popularity in the media,
especially in regions such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Germany, France,
Russia, and South Korea. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance,
b-boying consists of four kinds of movement: toprock , downrock , power moves , and
freezes . B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop , funk music , and
especiallybreakbeats , although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music
along certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns.
A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term
"breakdance" is frequently used to refer to the dance in popular culture and in the more
mainstream entertainment industry, "b-boying" and "breaking" are the original terms.
These terms are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners.
[2][3]
Contents
[hide]

1 Terminology

2 History
1

2.1 Uprock

3 Worldwide expansion
2
3
4
5
6
7

3.1 Brazil
3.2 South Korea
3.3 France
3.4 Japan
3.5 Cambodia
3.6 Canada
4 Dance elements

5 B-boy styles
1
2

5.1 Downrock styles

5.2 Power versus style
6 Music
7 World championships
8 Female presence

9 Media exposure
1
2
3
4

9.1 Film
9.2 Television
9.3 Literature
9.4 Video gaming
10 References
11 External links

Terminology[edit ]
The terminology used to refer to b-boying (break-boying) changed after promotion by the
mainstream media. Although widespread, the term "breakdancing" is looked down upon
by those immersed in hip-hop culture. Purists consider "breakdancing" an ignorant term
invented by the media[2][4] that connotes exploitation of the art is used to sensationalize
breaking. The term "breakdancing" is also problematic because it has become a diluted
umbrella term that incorrectly includes popping , locking , and electric boogaloo ,
[4]:60[5]which are not styles of "breakdance", but are funk styles that were developed
separately from breaking in California.[6] The dance itself is properly called "breaking"
according to rappers such as KRS-One , Talib Kweli , Mos Def , and Darryl
McDaniels of Run-DMC .[7]

breakdancing, 2013
The terms "b-boy" (break-boy), "b-girl" (break-girl), and "breaker" are the original terms
used to describe the dancers. The original terms arose to describe the dancers who
performed to DJ Kool Herc 's breakbeats. DJ Kool Herc is a Jamaican-American DJ
who is responsible for developing the foundational aspects of hip-hop music. The obvious
connection of the term "breaking" is to the word "breakbeat ", but DJ Kool Herc has
commented that the term "breaking" was slang at the time for "getting excited", "acting
energetically" or "causing a disturbance".[8] Most breaking pioneers and practitioners
prefer the terms "b-boy", "b-girl", and/or "breaker" when referring to these dancers. For
those immersed in hip-hop culture, the term "breakdancer" may be used to disparage
those who learn the dance for personal gain rather than for commitment to the culture.
[4]:61 B-boy London of the New York City Breakers and filmmaker Michael Holman
refer to these dancers as "breakers".[2] Frosty Freeze of the Rock Steady Crew says, "we
were known as b-boys", and hip-hop pioneerAfrika Bambaataa says, "b-boys, [are]
what you call break boys... or b-girls, what you call break girls."[2] In addition, cofounder of Rock Steady Crew Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres, Rock Steady Crew member
Marc "Mr. Freeze" Lemberger, hip-hop historian Fab 5 Freddy , and rappers Big Daddy
Kane [9] and Tech N9ne [10] use the term "b-boy".[2]
Source

Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon;

Rock Steady Crew

"When I first learned about the dance in '77

media got a hold of it in like '81, '82, it beca
calling it break-dancing too."

Action;
New York City Breakers

"You know what, that's our fault kind of... w

that and people would say, oh you guys are

Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres;

Rock Steady Crew

"B-boy... that's what it is, that's why when th

were just giving a professional name to it, b
whoever wants to keep it real would keep ca

NPR

"Breakdancing may have died, but the b-boy

(also included: the MC, the DJ, and the graf
before it was tagged with the name breakda
they will always know as b-boying, the trad

The Boston Globe

"Lesson one: Don't call it breakdancing. Hip

to the sound scape of rap music and the visu
boying."

The Electric Boogaloos

"In the 80's when streetdancing [sic] blew u

'breakdancing' as an umbrella term for most
What many people didn't know was [that] w
each with their own identities. Breakdancing
known as, is known to have its roots in the e
break beats and hip hop."

Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon

"Break dancing is a term created by the med

attention, some journalists and reporters pro

present these urban dance forms to the mass

example of this misnomer. Most pioneers an
hip-hop reject this term and hold fast to the
origin. In the case of break dancing, it was i
Benjamin "B-Tek" Chung;
JabbaWockeeZ

"When someone says break dancing, we cor

Timothy "Popin' Pete" Solomon;

Electric Boogaloos

"An important thing to clarify is that the ter

many magazines but that is a media term. T
are B-Boys and B-Girls. The term 'Break da
vocabulary."

Excerpt from the book New York Ricans from the Hip Hop
Zone

"With the barrage of media attention [break

changing. 'Breakdancing' became the catchreferred to as 'burning', 'going off', 'breaking
many of hip hop's pioneers accepted the term
reclaimed the original terminology and rejec
that symbolizes the bastardization and co-op

Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory

"Breaking or b-boying is generally miscons

Breakdancing is a term spawned from the lo
navet at that time. With no true knowledge
ineradicable need to define it for the nescien
Most breakers take great offense to the term

Jeff Chang

"During the 1970s, an array of dances pract

inner cities of New York and California. The
in Brooklyn, 'locking' in Los Angeles, 'boog
in San Francisco and Oakland. When these
of their geographic contexts, the diverse sty
dancing.'

American Heritage Dictionary

*"b-boy (bboi) n. A man or boy who enga

BREAK (from the danceable breaks in funk
breakbeat music to which b-boying is done

History[edit ]

A b-boy practicing downrock at astudio in

Moscow.
Many elements of b-boying can be seen in other
antecedent cultures prior to the 1970s. B-boy
pioneers Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon and Kenneth
"Ken Swift" Gabbert, both of Rock Steady Crew,
cite James Brown and Kung Fu films as

influences to b-boying.[19][20] Many of b-boying's acrobatic moves, such as the flare ,

show clear connections to gymnastics. A young street dancer performing acrobatic
headspins was recorded by Thomas Edison in 1898.[21] However, it was not until the
1970s that b-boying developed as a defined dance style in the United States.
Beginning with DJ Kool Herc , Bronx-based DJs would take the rhythmic breakdown
sections (also known as the "breaks") of dance records and prolong them by looping them
successively. The breakbeat provided a rhythmic base that allowed dancers to display
their improvisational skills during the duration of the break. This led to the first battles
turn-based dance competitions between two individuals or dance crews judged with
respect to creativity, skill, and musicality. These battles occurred in cypherscircles of
people gathered around the breakers. Though at its inception the earliest b-boys were
"close to 90 percent African-American", dance crews such as "SalSoul" and "Rockwell
Association" were populated almost entirely by Puerto Rican-Americans.
Uprock[edit ]
A separate but related dance form which influenced b-boying is uprock also called
rocking or Brooklyn rock. Uprock is an aggressive dance that involves two dancers
mimicking ways of fighting each other using mimed weaponry in rhythm with the music.
[13] Uprock as a dance style of its own never gained the same widespread popularity as
b-boying, except for some very specific moves adopted by breakers who use it as a
variation for their toprock.[22]:138 When used in a b-boy battle, opponents often respond
by performing similar uprock moves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle. Some bboys argue that because uprock was originally a separate dance style it should never be
mixed with b-boying and that the uprock moves performed by breakers today are not the
original moves but imitations that only show a small part of the original uprock style.[23]
It has been stated that b-boying replaced fighting between street gangs.[11] 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 gangs .[22]:116,
138 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.
[24]
Worldwide expansion[edit ]
Brazil[edit ]
Ismael Toledo was one of the first b-boys in Brazil.[25] In 1984, he moved to the United
States to study dance.[25] While in the U.S. he discovered b-boying and ended up
meeting b-boy Crazy Legs who personally mentored him for the four years that followed.
[25] After becoming proficient in b-boying, he moved back to So Paulo and started to
organize b-boys crews and enter international competitions.[25] He eventually opened a
hip-hop dance studio called the Hip-Hop Street College.[25]
South Korea[edit ]
B-boying was first introduced to South Korea by American soldiers shortly after its surge
of popularity in the U.S. during the 1980s, but it was not until the late 1990s that the
culture and dance really took hold.[26] 1997 is known as the "Year Zero of Korean

breaking".[17] 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 tape 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 alongside Korean culture. R-16 Korea is the most well-known governmentsponsored b-boy event, and is hosted by the Korean Tourism Organization and
supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
France[edit ]
B-boying took off in France in the early 1980s with the creation of groups such as the
Paris City Breakers (who styled themselves after the well-known New York City
Breakers ). In 1984, France became the first country in the world to have a regularly and
nationally broadcast television show about Hip Hop--hosted by Sidney Duteil --with a
focus on Hip Hop dance.[27] This show led to the explosion of Hip Hop dance in France,
with many new crews appearing on the scene.[28]
Japan[edit ]
Shortly after the Rock Steady Crew came to Japan, b-boying within Japan began to
thrive. Each Sunday b-boys would perform b-boying in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park .[29] 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.[29] 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.[30]
Cambodia[edit ]
Born in Thailand and raised in the United States, Tuy "KK" Sobil started a community
center called Tiny Toones in Phnom Penh , Cambodia in 2005 where he uses b-boying,
hip-hop music, and art to teach Cambodian youth language skills, computer skills, and
life skills (hygiene, sex education, counseling). His organization helps roughly 5,000
youths a year. One of these youths include Diamond, who is regarded as Cambodia's first
b-girl.[31][32]
Canada[edit ]
There are several ways Breaking came to Canada. During the late 70's and early 80's,
films like Breakin' (1984), Beat Street (1984), and the overall influence of Hip-Hop
culture brought many people over from Chicago , New York , Detroit , Seattle , Los
Angeles , which in the process, brought over their style from the U.S.. Before we knew
it, crews were growing in almost every city. Breaking expanded in Canada from there,
with crews like Canadian Floormasters taking over the 80's scene. Leading into the 90's,
crews like Bag of Trix, Rakunz, Intrikit, Contents Under Pressure, Supernaturalz, Boogie
Brats and Red Power Squad, led the scene throughout the rest of the past two decades and
counting.

Dance elements[edit ]

Gravity Benders crew showcasing the four elements of b-boying toprock,

downrock, freezes, and power moves some crew choreography, and a short battle.
There are four primary elements that form b-boying. They include toprock, downrock,
power moves, and freezes.
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 b-boying to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps which
can each be varied according to the dancer's expression (i.e. aggressive, calm, excited). A
great deal of freedom is allowed in the definition of toprock: as long as the dancer
maintains cleanliness, form, and the b-boy attitude, theoretically anything can be toprock.
Toprock can draw upon many other dance styles such as popping , locking , tap dance ,
Lindy hop , or house dance . Transitions from toprock to downrock and power moves
are called "drops".[33]
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. 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. Some examples are the windmill ,
swipe , back spin, 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 that 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 freeze in order to hit
the beats of the music which displays musicality and physical strength.
B-boy styles[edit ]
There are many individual styles used in b-boying. Individual styles often stem from a
dancer's region of origin and influences. However, some people such as b-boy Jacob
"Kujo" Lyons feel that the Internet inhibits individual style. In an 2012 interview with BBoy Magazine he expressed his frustration:

B-boys performing on San Francisco's Powell Street in 2008.

B-Boy performing hand hops in Washington

D.C.
...

because everybody watches the same videos online,

everybody ends up looking very similar. The
differences between individual b-boys, between
crews, between cities/states/countries/continents,
have largely disappeared. It used to be that you
could tell what city a b-boy was from by the way he
danced. Not anymore. But I've been saying these
things for almost a decade, and most people don't
listen, but continue watching the same videos and dancing the same way. It's what I call
the "international style," or the "Youtube style."[34]
B-boy Luis "Alien Ness" Martinez, the president of Mighty Zulu Kings, expressed a
similar frustration in a separate interview three years earlier with "The Super B-Beat
Show" about the top five things he hates in b-boying:
Oh yeah, the last thing I hate in breakin'... Yo, all y'all m**********n' Internet b-boys...
I'm an Internet b-boy too, but I'm real about my sh*t. Everybody knows who I am, I'm
out at every f****** jam, I'm in a different country every week. I tell my story dancing...
I've been all around the world, y'all been all around the world wide web... [my friend]
Bebe once said that s***, and I co-sign that, Bebe said that. That wasn't me but that's the
realist s*** I ever heard anybody say. I've been all around the world, you've been all
around the world wide web.[35]
Although there are some generalities in the styles that exist, many dancers combine
elements of different styles with their own ideas and knowledge in order to create a
unique style of their own. B-boys can therefore be categorized into a broad style which
generally showcases the same types of techniques.
Power: This style of b-boying is what most members of the general public
associate with the term "breakdancing". Power moves comprise full-body spins and
rotations that give the illusion of defying gravity. Examples of power moves include
head spins, back spins, windmills, flares, air tracks/air flares, 1990s, 2000s,
jackhammers, crickets, turtles, hand glides, halos, and elbow spins. Those b-boys who
use "power moves" almost exclusively in their sets are referred to as "power heads".
Abstract: A very broad style of b-boying which may include the incorporation of
"threading" footwork, freestyle movement to hit beats, house dance, and "circus"
styles (tricks, contortion, etc.).

 Blow-up: A style of b-boying which focuses on the "wow factor" of certain power
moves, freezes, and circus styles. Blowups consist of performing a sequence of as
many difficult trick combinations in as quick succession as possible in order to
"smack" or exceed the virtuosity of the other b-boy's performance. The names of
some of these moves are air baby, hollow backs, solar eclipse, and reverse air baby,
among others. The main goal in blow-up style is the rapid transition through a
sequence of power moves ending in a skillful freeze or "suicide". Like freezes, a
suicide is used to emphasize a strong beat in the music and signal the end to a routine.
While freezes draw attention to a controlled final position, suicides draw attention to
the motion of falling or losing control. B-boys or b-girls 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.
Flavor: A style that is based more on elaborate toprock, downrock, and/or freezes.
This style is focused more on the beat and musicality of the song than having to rely
on power moves only. B-boys who base their dance on "flavor" or style are known as
"style heads".
Downrock styles[edit ]
In addition to the styles listed above, certain footwork styles have been associated with
different areas which popularized them.[36]
Traditional New York Style: The original style of b-boying from the Bronx, based
around the Ukrainian Tropak dance. This style of downrock focuses on kicks called
"CCs" and foundational moves such as 6-steps and variations of it.
Bronx Style: This style is characterized by the energy put into the footwork, also
known as "Going-off". This style focuses more on sporadic footwork steps such as
"shuffles" and "CCs".
Latin Style: The Latin style is the bronx style with some Latin dance influence
such as Salsa Dancing. On the floor, this style focuses more on circular steps such as
the "2-step, 3-step, 4-step and 6-step".
Euro Style: Created in the early 90s, this style is very circular, focusing not on
steps but more on glide-type moves such as the pretzel, undersweeps and fluid sliding
moves.
Toronto Style: Created in the mid 90s, also known as the 'Toronto thread' style.
Similar to the Euro Style, except characterized by complex leg threads, legwork
illusions and footwork tricks. This style is attributed to three crews, Bag of Trix
(Gizmo), Supernaturalz (Leg-O & Dyzee) and Boogie Brats (Megas).
Power versus style[edit ]
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 format the cost of charisma and coordinated
footworkare 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[edit ]
The musical selection for breaking is not restricted to hip-hop music as long as the
tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. Breaking can be readily adapted to different
music genres with the aid of remixing . 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[22]:79 later termed the
break beat .
World championships[edit ]
See also: Hip-hop dance International competitions and International B-Boy
Championships
Battle of the Year (BOTY) was founded in 1990 by Thomas Hergenrther in
Germany.[37] It is the first and largest international breaking competition for b-boy
crews.[38]BOTY holds regional qualifying tournaments in several countries such as
Zimbabwe, Japan, Israel, Algeria, Indonesia, and the Balkans . Crews who win these
tournaments go on to compete in the final championship in Montpellier , France.[37]
BOTY was featured in the independent documentary Planet B-Boy (2007) that
filmed five b-boy crews training for the 2005 championship. A 3D film Battle of the
Year: The Dream Team is scheduled for commercial release in January 2013. It was
directed by Benson Lee who also directed Planet B-Boy.[39]
The Notorious IBE is a Dutch-based breaking competition founded in 1998.[40]
IBE (International Breakdance Event) is not a traditional competition because there
are not any stages or judges. Instead, there are timed competitive events that take
place in large multitiered cipherscircular dance spaces surrounded by observers
where the winners are determined by audience approval.[40] There are several kinds
of events such as the b-girl crew battle, the Seven 2 Smoke battle (eight top ranked bboys battle each other to determine the overall winner), the All vs. All continental
battle (all the American b-boys vs. all the European b-boys vs. the Asian b-boys vs.
Mexican/Brazilian b-boys), and the Circle Prinz IBE.[40] The Circle Prinz IBE is a bboy knockout tournament that takes place in multiple smaller cipher battles until the
last standing b-boy is declared the winner.[40] IBE also hosts the European finals for

the UK B-Boy Championships.[41]

Chelles Battle Pro was created in 2001 and it is held every year in Chelles,
France . There are two competitions. One is a kids competition for solo b-boys and
b-girls who are 12 years old or younger. The other competition is a knock-out
tournament for eight b-boy crews. Some crews have to qualify at their country's local
tournament; others are invited straight to the finale.[42]
Red Bull BC One was created in 2004 by Red Bull and is hosted in a different
country every year.[43] The competition brings together the top 16 b-boys from
around the world.[43] Six spots are earned through six regional qualifying
tournaments. The other 10 spots are reserved for last year's winner, wild card
selections, and recommendations from an international panel of experts. A past
participant of the competition is world record holder Mauro "Cico" (pronounced
CHEE-co) Peruzzi. B-boy Cico holds the world record in the 1990s. A 1990 is a move
in which a breaker spins continuously on one handa hand spin rather than a head
spin. Cico broke the record by spinning 27 times.[44][45] A documentary based on
the competition called Turn It Loose (2009) profiled six b-boys training for the 2007
championship in Johannesburg.[46] Two of these b-boys were Ali "Lilou " Ramdani
from Pockmon Crew and Omar "Roxrite " Delgado from Squadron.

A b-boy does an air-flare in a cypher at R16

Korea 2014.
Floor Wars is a three-on-three breaking
competition founded in 2005 in Denmark. Eight
top ranked international crews, referred to as the Great 8, are automatically invited to
participate in the final. The other eight crews qualify for the final through regional
tournaments.[47]
R16 Korea is a South Korean breaking competition founded in 2007 by Asian
Americans Charlie Shin and John Jay Chon.[48] Like BOTY and Red Bull BC One
put together, Respect16 is a competition for the top 16 ranked b-boy crews in the
world.[49] What sets it apart from other competitions is that it is sponsored by the
government and broadcast live on Korean television and in several countries in
Europe.[48] In 2011, R16 instituted a new judging system that was created to
eliminate bias and set a unified and fair standard for the way b-boy battles should be
judged.[50] With the new system, b-boys are judged against five criteria: foundation,
dynamics (power moves), battle, originality, and execution. There is one judge for
each category and the scores are shown on a large screen during battles so that the
audience can see who is winning at any given moment.[51]
World B-Boy Classic is a two-on-two Dutch breaking competition founded in
2009 in Rotterdam.[52] An hour before the competition begins all the participating bboys are randomly assigned a partner. They may or may not know each other. The
purpose of the competition is to judge which duo has the best chemistry when

working with someone they have not trained with. World B-Boy Classic takes place
during Rotterdam's annual Street Science Festival.[53]
Female presence[edit ]
Similar to other hip-hop subcultures, such as graffiti writing , MCing and DJing , men
are the prevailing figures in breaking, but this is not to say that women breakers, b-girls,
are invisible or nonexistent. Female participants, such as Daisy Castro (also known as
Baby Love of Rock Steady Crew), attest that females have been breaking since its
inception.[54]
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.[55][56] Both bboys and b-girls practice the art together, and are judged on their skill and personal
expression rather than their gender.
Some people have pointed to a lack of promotion as a barrier, as full-time b-girl Firefly
stated in a BBC piece: "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."[57][58]
Growing interest is being shown in changing 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.[59][60][61]
Media exposure[edit ]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007
Film[edit ]
In the past 40 years since b-boying's creation, various films have depicted the dance. In
the early 1980s several films depicted b-boying including Wild Style , 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 some b-boying. In 1985, at the height of b-boying's popularity, Donnie
Yen starred in a Hong Kong hip-hop film called Mismatched Couples .
The 2000s saw a resurgence of films featuring 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 five crews from around the world in their journey to the international
breaking competition Battle of the Year . The award-winning (SXSW Film Festival
audience award) 2007 documentary "Inside the Circle"[62] 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
Neuklln Unlimited depicts the life of two b-boy brothers in Berlin that try to use their
dancing talents to secure a livelihood. B-boying moves are sometimes incorporated into
the choreography of 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 Zoolander depicts Zoolander (Ben Stiller ) and Hansel
(Owen Wilson ) performing b-boy moves on a catwalk.
The 2004 anime TV series Samurai Champloo features one of the main
characters, Mugen using a fighting style based on b-boying.
The 2009 Thai martial arts film Raging Phoenix features a fictional martial art
called meiraiyutth based on a combination of Muay Thai and b-boying..
The Step Up films (200614) are dance movies that focus on the passion and
love of dance. B-boying is featured mainly along with isolation, flips, formal dancing
and other dances.
Television[edit ]
In the United States, the dance shows So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best
Dance Crew arguably presented b-boying back to the forefront of America's pop
culture, similar to the popularity it had in the 80s. B-boying is widely referenced in TV
advertising, 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 clich 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 CGI version of Gene Kelly popping and bboying to a remix of "Singin' in the Rain ", by Mint Royale . The tagline was, "The
original, updated."
Since b-boying's popularity surge in South 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.
Literature[edit ]
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 Dalecki , 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 Chronicle short story contest.
Breakin' the city, a photo book by Nicolaus Schmidt , portrays b-boys from the
Bronx and Brooklyn wheeling around on subway cars, in city plazas, and on
sidewalks in New York City.[63] Published in 2011, it features six New York based bboy crews photographed between 2007 and 2009.[64]
Breakdancing: Mr. Fresh and the Supreme Rockers Show You How (Avon
Books , 1984) was an introductory reference for newcomers to the "breakin'" style of
dance as it evolved in North America in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 2013, Wojciech Dziedzic B-Boy Foundation, the first Polish book on the

philosophy of B-Boying.
Video gaming[edit ]
There have been only few video games created that focus on b-boying. The main
deterrence for attempting to create games like these is the difficulty of translating the
dance into something entertaining and fun on a video game console. Most of these
attempts had low to average success.
Break Dance was an 8-bit computer game by Epyx released in 1984, at the
height of breaking's popularity.
B-boy is a 2006 console game released for PS2 and PSP which aims at an
unadulterated depiction of breaking.[65]
Bust a Groove is a video game franchise whose character "Heat" specializes in
breaking.
Pump It Up is a Korean game that requires physical movement of the feet. The
game involves b-boying and people can accomplish this feat by memorizing the steps
and creating dance moves to hit the arrows on time.
Breakdance Champion Red Bull BC One is an iOS and Android rhythm game
that focuses on the actual b-boying competition Red Bull BC One .[66]
In The Urbz: Sims in the City , an urban game based on The Sims franchise,
inside the game, you can use the hip hop truck in the district Cozmo Street, and your
character will start breakdancing.
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Popping is a street dance and one of the original funk styles that came from California
during the 1960s1970s. 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.