We often hear the phrase that the street has a bad influence on upbringing and development. Many people have a stereotype in their heads: behind the doors of our apartments there is only crime, bad companies and bad habits behind the garages. In fact, it’s different. There is a lot of creativity, music and sports outside. Sports that originated there now have Olympic status. But let’s get back to something that very well conveys the atmosphere of the underground, emotions and sense of freedom. Today we’re talking breakdancing with the head coach of the national team and leader of the Predatorz team.
Battle – a duel in which two athletes determine who is the best through dance.
Komunitas – A community of everyone involved in a sport or subculture.
B-boy and b-girl – guys and girls who breakdance.
Aslan Nyrov
senior coach of the Russian national breakdancing team, leader of the Predatorz team
Breakdancing is a dance that has its roots in the street culture of hip-hop. It originated in the early 70’s in New York. At first it was uncomplicated movements to “break” – broken music DJs of those years. That’s why it was actually called “break” – to break, to break. Originally it was called biboing – from the word b-boy (breakboy).
Now breakdance is commonly referred to as breaking. This dance has become an Olympic discipline and will appear at the Games-2024 in Paris.
Naturally, entering the sports movement, all dancers have to get used to the new terms and regulations. But at the same time visually and technically nothing has changed. We also remained all our rules in battles, guys dress in comfortable clothes, no one imposes anything.
Everyone understands that first of all breaking – it is a dance with a bias in creativity.
Aslan Nyrov
From backyard playgrounds to the status of a prestigious sport
The news that breaking has entered the Olympic movement came to us unexpectedly. It is still not clear exactly how it happened. And then it became known that the Olympic Games along with our dance took under its wing and skateboarding. Thus they showed that they are ready to urbanize.
In addition to skateboarding and breaking in the Olympic disciplines included surfing and bmx-freestyle. The competition took place in the summer of 2021 in Tokyo.
When we found out that we entered the Olympic Games, we realized – this is our chance for a new breath of fresh air for the whole community.
In the beginning, opinions were divided into pros and cons. But then everyone realized that with the transition break in the sport, we have new opportunities, tasks and goals. Formed larger battles, prize money increased, and the system of interaction between participants, coaches and judges became structured.
Russian b-boys and b-girls – one of the strongest in the world
Yes, we have entered the world top. Russian teams like Predatorz and Top Nine have contributed to raising the country’s status. Apart from them, there are a lot of singles guys who have also contributed to the development.
Why? This is a difficult question to answer.
Simply, we are a country with an interesting mentality. We have a very developed creativity, which is combined with great physical capabilities.
The future of Russian breaking
Now breaking in Russia is developing quite rapidly and extensively. We have about 60 regions that have sports federations of breaking. We hold about five to seven All-Russian and several regional competitions a year, two international title competitions, as well as the championship and championship of Russia. We also organize sports training camps with the Russian national breakkicking team.
What is missing in the break
Break – a fairly self-sufficient kind of dance. It has a physical load and the creative part. I would not say that he as a dance lacks something.
As a sport and competitive discipline, probably lacks trips abroad to not “cool down” and continue to gain useful experience in battles.
Do not be skeptical of the “street”. See bad can be anywhere, since it is the first thing we can notice. But street culture has a flip side. Brotherhood, a sense of responsibility, support and real emotion that doesn’t cover masks. On the street all people become who they really are, and dancing is one of the ways to express yourself. Probably one of the easiest.