"Break" means crazy

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What is "break": fashion dance or lifestyle? Let's try to understand this article.

Break history

In the mid-70s of the last century, the Break Dance fashion movement entered the streets of American cities. At first, it was just entertainment for young people from poor neighborhoods, a kind of competition when you need to impress your opponent with the originality of dance movements and elements of acrobatics. They say that then some kind of battles (battles) were arranged and the one whose movements were distinguished by originality won, and no one could repeat them.

Very soon, "break dancing" will spread throughout the world and become part of the dance culture, winning the hearts of millions. Translated from English, “break” is to break, it turns out “broken dance”. In slang, “break” means crazy, which very accurately conveys the essence of this dance, because its movements cannot be confused with anything. With the light hand of DJ Kool Herc, the dance itself began to be called B-boying, and the dancers of B-boys and B-girls - broken beat dancers. Yes, yes, there were and are many girls among the fans of this dance. And even though it is considered more difficult than other types of dances, as it requires excellent physical fitness, big gels are not inferiorguys. Initially, the dance used elements of rotation on the ground (Get on the Good Foot). And in 1977, the Rock Steady Crew from the Bronx edited the dance, adding a lot of acrobatic movements and plasticity.

Main destinations

Conventionally, "break" dances are divided into two directions:

• lower "break" (style, power moves and power tricks) consists of complex acrobatic stunts requiring good physical condition;
• top "break" is a free style of dance moves and lots of improvisation.

Each of them has a number of characteristic differences. The lower one mainly uses acrobatic combinations and power tricks, mainly on the floor.

The upper "break" is unrealistically plastic, it is unique, from the point of view of physics, movement in space, incredible control of one's own body, it's just surprise and delight. But that's not all. It is divided into 5 more styles: electric boogie, king tat, robot, locking and pops. And these five can be further divided into two groups: street and stage. "Street dance", street dances, "locking" and "pop" are more lively, they have fewer rules, more improvisation. The other three are already stage "break" dances, each of which has its own basic elements.

A little about styles

"Electric Boogie" is basically waves, "waves": broken, shaking, discrete,passing one into another. An important element for body waves is "gliding" or sliding over the floor, like on skates or in a circle, like compasses. "Explosion" - explosions that carry the body forward, backward, from side to side, from one point. "Snap" (click "break") is bouncing from one sphere to another with the whole body, from one mood to the next. "Twist of flex" - flexible rotation around its axis from top to bottom and vice versa. It seems that the dancer is suspended in the air, moving in a viscous mass.

"King tat" resembles wushu. There are right angles everywhere, straight hands, plus soft snake movements and waves. It is sometimes considered the "dance of the pharaohs."

"Robot break" is a very hard style. It's vibration, shaking, static. One of the founders of this style is Eddie Addison, who outlined the main elements of "breaking" in the film "Breakit". According to his version, the robot moves with straight outstretched arms, legs, body, with a wide-open chest. A little later, this style is modified, elements of smoothness and lightness are introduced. As an example, Michael Jackson's robot with his moonwalk. It seems that he does not move on solid ground, but in lunar gravity or moves in something viscous.

This style also has sub-styles: "cyber-robot", "bio-robot", "jack-robot", "plastic man", "puppet-robot", etc. If it is "breakdance" for children, it is very important to convey the gait, the character. So, the robot jack is hard, the bio-robot is much softer, the robot policeman is a little aggressive., moonwalk… There are those when you move forward and go back, with a small shaking, as from electric shocks, with raising your legs with your hands, etc. Modern b-boys combine "break" dances of several styles, which makes the performance much more interesting.

Hip-hop music

The development of "break dance" is closely related to electronic music. A lot has changed since then, but the style remains the same. "Breakdance" refers to hip-hop culture, so it requires musical accompaniment in the style of funk, rap, soul. One of the unspoken rules of "break dancing": never dance unless hip-hop is playing!

What a beginner needs to know

When starting to practice, it is important to know that this type of dance is very traumatic. After all, it contains complex ligaments and acrobatic elements.

Especially the "break" for beginners - you can't master it without special physical training. Here you need endurance, the ability to breathe properly and control your own body, the ability to properly distribute loads.

Sport for B-Boys

Before you try headstand or somersault, it is important to strengthen all muscle groups. You need to start with sports activities: pump up the press, do running and jumping. Breakdance is no exception.for kids. It’s good if these are not only classes in the gym, but also daily exercises at home: running, jumping, pull-ups, push-ups, squats, stretching, abs. Indeed, without daily training, the likelihood of injury only increases. And only a few months after the start of hard training, you can start "break dancing". For starters, it’s a good idea to learn how to stand and move on your hands, on your head (“balbs”, “candle”, “friezes”, “cricket”, various “tatls”), do stretching, and even better, sit on a twine (“dalasal” and all kinds of "heliks".