A Head-Spinning Debut – The New York Times
Breaking is a new sport at this year’s Summer Olympics — at least we’ll call it a sport for the sake of the Games. You probably know it as break dancing, the art form in which performers spin, pose, glide and dance across the floor with incredible athleticism and charisma. The event debuted yesterday in Paris with the women’s, or B-Girls’, competition. Ami Yuasa of Japan, known as B-Girl Ami, bested Lithuania’s Dominika Banevic, or B-Girl Nicka, to win breaking’s first gold medal. The men, or B-Boys, are competing today.
This week, I published an article that explores the history of breaking. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain how breaking made its way from the streets of New York to the Olympic stage, and what you can expect from the competition. I’ll also show three moves that are at the core of many breakers’ routines.
Three questions
1. How did breaking get into the Olympics?
Innovative Black and brown youth in the Bronx invented breaking in the 1970s as one of the core elements of hip-hop, along with lyricism, graffiti and D. J.ing. The dance spread nationally and globally through movies like “Beat Street” and pioneering crews providing demonstrations in countries like Japan and England.
Breaking has always centered on competition. Individuals and crews battled with dances that involved style, flair, confidence and one-upmanship. Competitions grew more popular in Europe in the 1990s, and the art form took a turn toward sports in 2001, when Red Bull sponsored the first Lords of the Floor, a tournament featuring crews from around the world.
The International Olympic Committee has not hidden its intent to attract a younger and more diverse audience with new events like breaking and skateboarding. It added breaking to the Paris program in 2021, after the sport made a splashy introduction at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Still, some pioneers and purists are skeptical about breaking at the Olympics.
2. How is the competition being judged?
How to objectively assess an art form was one of the most vexing questions around bringing breaking to the Olympics. The answer? With judges. A lot of them.
Nine judges score the competition, using five criteria: execution (the ability to land moves cleanly), musicality (syncing the moves with the beat), originality (capacity for improvisation and creativity), technique (maintaining physiological control) and vocabulary (the range and quality of moves). The breakers do not know what music they will be dancing to beforehand, which allows for spontaneity.
The battles are divided into best of three rounds, which last up to a minute each. Win and advance. Lose and you’re out.
The scoring does not resemble anything else we’ve previously seen at the Games. Judges use sliders to decide the leaders of a battle. And they have “misbehavior buttons” that can deduct up to 10 percent of the final score for a severe infraction like overt crassness.
3. Who is competing?
You might expect that, having invented the sport, the U.S. would be at the forefront, as it was in basketball with the Dream Team in 1992.
Not necessarily. Within the U.S., breaking has dipped and risen in popularity since its birth nearly 50 years ago. Globally, though, it has remained more popular, especially in countries like the Netherlands, Japan and France.
The field is diverse, reflective of breaking’s reach. Banevic, a 17-year-old prodigy from Lithuania, learned breaking from YouTube videos. The veteran Korean B-boy Hong 10, who is 40, has been around long enough to have moves named after him. Some of the American competitors began in other sports — Sunny Choi was a gymnast — while others, like Victor Montalvo, have been breaking since they can recall.
Three moves
Top Rock: The opening salvo of a routine, in which breakers stand and dance before getting to the meat of their routine. The moves were originally meant to clear space on the dance floor and allow room to operate.
Freeze: When a breaker stops on a dime in a difficult, gravity-defying pose and holds the shape for a few seconds. Freezes usually signify the end of a combination of moves and coincide with the music’s beat.
Windmill: If you know one power move, it’s likely this popular one, where breakers rotate their body in a constant circular motion with their legs splayed in a V-shape while supported by their back, arms and shoulders.
WEEKEND OLYMPICS GUIDESaturday
Women’s 4×400-meter relay: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who set a world record in the 400-meter hurdles, said she was ready to run in this final, “if they need me.” They might not; the U.S. was by far the fastest team in the qualifying heat.
Men’s 10-meter platform: There have been seven diving events so far, and China has won gold in all seven. A win today would complete the sweep.
Men’s basketball: After a thrilling comeback against Serbia in the semifinals, the star-studded U.S. squad goes for gold against the home team, France, and its 7-foot-4 center, Victor Wembanyama.
Sunday
Women’s volleyball: The U.S. won its first-ever gold in this event at the Tokyo Games. To make it two in a row, they’ll have to get past the world’s top-ranked team, Italy.
Women’s basketball: It’s not just that the U.S. team has won every gold medal since the 1996 Games; it hasn’t lost an Olympic game since then. The team faces France in the finals.
THE WEEK IN CULTURE
Music
CULTURE CALENDAR
📺 ‘Bad Monkey’ (Wednesday) Carl Hiaasen’s comic novels set in Florida are bright and caustic, the literary equivalent of a daiquiri laced with DEET. They make for ideal beach reads (if your beach allows for occasional alligators), but the TV and film adaptations have mostly failed. Cue Bill Lawrence, the sitcom whiz behind “Scrubs,” “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking.” His 10-episode version of Hiaasen’s “Bad Monkey,” for AppleTV+, is perhaps less grotesque than the source material, but just as wildly atmospheric in its tale of fraud, greed and some very bad chowder. Vince Vaughn stars as a Keys detective bumped down to restaurant inspector.
RECIPE OF THE WEEKGrilled Salmon
August is not the time to be indoors next to your stove. You should be outside, grilling, soaking up these last carefree summer evenings. (You are signed up for our August Grilling Challenge, yes?) Ali Slagle’s grilled salmon is clever and considerate: The skin is coated with mayonnaise to both insulate your fish and keep it from sticking. And there’s no flipping involved — really!— so you don’t lose any fish to the fiery grates.
REAL ESTATE
The Hunt: A couple wanted to downsize, with a $700,000 budget, on the East Side of Manhattan. Which home did they choose? Play our game.
What you get for $800,000: A Queen Anne Revival house in Galveston, Texas; a midcentury-modern bungalow in West Palm Beach, Fla.; or an 1890 house in Iowa City.
Life and art: Mental health professionals say the success of the “Inside Out” movies has been helpful for their practice.
Style secrets: Debbie Harry took inspiration for a new collection from her personal wardrobe.
Fefé: Dolce & Gabbana has released a fragrance specifically for dogs. Veterinarians are raising red flags.
Feeling cool: Portable fans are the accessory of the summer.
ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTERHow to find a good laptop
Shopping for a computer can be overwhelming. Wirecutter experts suggest starting with a few considerations: how often you’ll use it, what you’ll use it for and your budget. From there, narrow down whether you’re looking for a Windows PC, a Mac or a Chromebook. (It’s too soon to upgrade for fancy A.I. features, our experts say.) And you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a great laptop. Our top picks range from bare-bones models under $500 to high-end, thin ultrabooks with all-day battery life that cost between $800 and $1,500. — Kimber Streams
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