What is the history of break dancing?

Answer 1

In 1969 James Brown was doing an almost acrobatic dance in ‘Get on the Good Foot’. All the kids started copying it. By the time the Good Foot became a style of dance, a thing called ‘Dance Battle’ was created. Dancers would go to a place and Battle dance wise. Battling is were two or more dancers do tricks and try to impress the audience. This type of dance gained attention by young men who were very athletic. The Name Good foot was soon changed to B-boy and shortly after that Break Dancing (or breaking). Break Dancing back then is very different to the Break Dancing seen today. There were no Head spins. No Windmill. No Hand glides or Backspins. This is now called old-style Breaking. Old-style breaking only consisted of floor work, this is preformed very fast. It didn’t take long before where were a lot of Break Dancing battles happening. Break Dancing was very popular with the gangs in South Bronx and it was in those streets where breaking really started. The best Breakers in each gang would battle dance wise instead of fighting. They would battle over turf, to show they were better, for respect or because someone stepped on someone’s shoes and even sometimes they would make a contract that the loser can’t go around to the winner’s neighbourhood anymore. Breakers who practiced and performed together were formed into ‘crews’ and started to develop their own dance routines. Some crews would spend hours practicing and developing more and more complex moves, improving their form and increasing their speed. Afrika Bambaataa a legendary master D.J. who is the person most responsible for the successful growth of Break Dancing. In 1969, Afrika Bambaataa saw Break Dancing as more than just dancing. He saw it as a way to achieve something. He saw the potential of Break Dancing, and encouraged the dancers to keep doing it. To work hard, and to believe that if they keep doing it, something good would come of it. Bambaataa then started one of the first Break Dancing crews, the Zulu Kings. The Zulu Kings won a lot of battles and talent shows and preformed in various clubs in New York. At the same time they won a lot of adherents for the Zulu Nation. Old-style breaking remained popular until about 1977. Then around 1979 and the early 1980s a new Break Dancing crew started ‘Rock Steady Crew’. Rock Steady Crew was very talented but a lot of people thought of them being old-fashioned. But Bambataa told them that if they stuck with it, something good would happen. Then they performed many times in different cities and states around the world. People started taking them seriously. Break Dancing was in again. The new-style breaking was different from the old. Rock Steady added a lot of acrobatic moves. Breaking now included Head spins, Back spins, Hand glides, and Windmills. In 1981, Charles Ahearn made his Hip-Hop movie ‘Wild Style’ this movie was about singing, graffiti, scratching, and Break Dancing in the Bronx. Rock Steady was called in to do the breaking of ‘Wild Style’. Breaking and Rock Steady became the finest Break Dancing crew and new-style breaking became even more popular. In 1982 Roxy was a well-established New York roller-staking rink. But the popularity of roller skating began to fade. So Roxy begin to turn the roller-staking rink into a Break Dancing floor on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The Roxy quickly became the Break Dancing centre were rappers D.J’s and Breakers would perform and hang out. If you wanted to discover, watch or learn some new moves, you would go to Roxy. Roxy started to sponsor Break Dancing contests (which made the winners get more recognition). In June, 1983, Pat Fuji hired professional Jazz dancer Rosanne Hoare to run the Street Arts Consortium, which was a house Break Dancing, rapping, and graffiti art. Rosy not only provided a place where they could feel at home, but she worked with them as a choreographer, helping to extend their dance possibilities. Well that's it in short XD Some people speculate that breakdancing originated from rival gangs in the South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. They would settle arguments and disagreements by having breakdancing (also called b-boying) contests, where the contestants try to "out-do" each other by doing more complicated and creative moves.

Others think that it originated from gang fights. Ex-gang members would join music groups and bboy. Most parents would approve bboying because it was a positive alternative to gang-related activity.