The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are a way for all sports fans, but also for the curious who wish to take a closer look, to attend a great sports festival over several weeks. Both awaited and feared by the French, this competition promises to be colorful.
In 2024, four sports are added to the more traditional disciplines of the Olympic Games, and Sortir à Paris offers you to know more about them, so that you don't get lost on D-day! Every month, we present you a sport rather unknown of the general public, until the deadline, in July 2024. Today, we're taking a closer look at breaking, a style of urban dance from the hip hop culture, straight from the United States!
Developed in the 1970s, breaking, better known as breakdance, was born in the Bronx, during neighborhood parties. This street dance is particularly acrobatic and very visual, with its figures on the ground, inseparable from the hip hop environment. The discipline is distinguished from other dance styles by the roles of the DJ and the master of ceremonies during the breaking battles.
Very recent, these dance battles developed particularly in the 90s, when international battles were organized and popularized breaking. During the competitions, the athletes, named B-Boys and B-Girls, compete in 1vs1 or in crew, improvising on the music, in order to obtain the judges' vote. It is a discipline of the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), founded in 1957.
It is the very first time that breaking makes its appearance at the Olympic Games. It enters as an additional sport, along with surfing, skateboarding and climbing, for a test, to see if the discipline pleases the public. It is therefore not certain to see it again in the future in the program of the Olympics. This arrival of breaking was motivated by its success at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, in 2018. The history of breaking at the Games is yet to be written!
France is one of the leading nations in breaking, with the United States of course, and Japan. Mounir Biba, three times world champion of breaking, has particularly distinguished himself in the field, a decade ago.
For Paris 2024, only 32 athletes will be selected, 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls, from September 23, 2023 to June 2024. As the host country, France receives two spots automatically . France expects to support Danis Civil, also called "Danny Dan", Marlone Alvarez and Carlota Dudek. Who will win the first Olympic breaking title?
Where can you learn and practice breaking in Paris and the Paris region?
If you'd like to learn this urban dance style, the capital has a few places where you can practice breakdance. So, why not try out this physical sport, the new Olympic discipline, which requires flexibility? [Read more]
