Artistes from Bengaluru are stoked about the inclusion of breaking, or breakdancing as many call it, in the Paris Summer Olympics 2024. They hope it will give the street dance style more visibility and respect.
Metrolife attended a cypher, a battle of hip hop artistes, at a college in Basavanagudi on Sunday to understand the community’s Olympic dreams.
Need time, support
The road to the Olympics entails many qualifiers and requires a world ranking within 40. B-Girls Jo, and Sushma from Bengaluru made it to the qualifiers in Japan this February. They clinched the 50th and 64th ranks respectively. Sushma was then invited for the Brazil series last month, but didn’t qualify. She has also been one among the Top 8 from India in the Red Bull Breaking Zonals twice. “The Red Bull BC One World Finals is like a UPSC exam for breakers,” says B-Boy Arjun LX over a laugh.
B-Boy Keshap wants to “bring India a gold medal from the Olympics” but he has to wait. The 17-year-old, who has studied till Class 10, could not clear the India qualifiers that were held in Tirupati.
Others feel breakers in India don’t have the institutional support and funding to rule the world stage as yet. They are, thus, pinning their hopes on the next generation of breakers.
B-Boy Flying Machine (Arif Chaudhary) from Mumbai was the judge at the event. The Mumbaikar says, “Breakers in Bengaluru are very competent. The governments should now come forward to support the breaking community in India.” Madhya Pradesh has started an academy for breakers and the artiste is working with them.
The All India DanceSport Federation is in charge of the Olympic scene in India, but Arjun LX says they are focused on Latin dance. “I wish we get an organisation for breaking,” he says.
Just like cricket, an ecosystem around the new Olympic sport needs to be created. B-Boy Puran Rana hopes the government can generate jobs and hire breakers as trainers.
Public support is also critical. Despite the Internet boom, many people are still unaware about the hip hop culture.
When they practise in parks, people mock them saying ‘Look at the circus’. Keshap has been chased away many times. “Where are these people when a girl is getting molested? But when we practise, minding our own business, they come to police us,” he says.
B-Boy Joon aka Arjun Thomas joins in: “Somehow it is okay when people organise rallies and block the streets but it’s not okay when we play music and practise in our apartments or parks.”
B-Boy Arjun DK, 27, is sure breaking will grow in popularity as a career now. But he advises the young to also prioritise their studies.
Back stories
Most first and second generation breakers in the city haven’t received formal training — they learned by watching videos. Puran says, “I saw someone breaking at a college fest. His moves were different, and energetic. I went back home and did some research.” That was 13 years ago when he was 16.
Even Joon started practising it for fun 14 years ago. He is 29 now. “Later, many colleges started having breaking battles. A lot of sponsors would throw events as well. By now, it was no longer about fun. It was to win competitions,” he recalls.
Arjun LX and Arjun DK found inspiration while attending a DJ night at a college fest. “We saw a group of boys cyphering and pulling off stunts opposite the stage. They went on for four hours. Later, I tried some headstands and handstands while DK tried head spins,” Arjun LX recalls.
B-Boy Cyclone, 26, and B-Boy Wind, 24, were playing on the streets when Sritheren Pillai, the founder of Hip Hop India Dance Co, took them to his studio. They loved the graffiti walls. Thereafter, they started training under Pillai.
Today, Wind, whose real name is Vinay, is on the other side, teaching breaking. “I have a student, B-Girl Veena. She’s 40 and is starting now. Stories like these keep me going,” he says.
Sushma, who has a master’s degree in physics, counts herself lucky. When she forayed into hip hop, the scene had already matured. She discovered breaking in a park six years ago when she saw some dancers flicking their feet and hands, fast but precisely to every micro beat. She is proud to say that she is among the top 100 B-Girls in the world.
Keshap’s story begins as a nine-year-old. “One of my brothers saw a bunch of boys breaking in a park. He learned some and then taught me,” he recalls.
Most breakers recall themselves as shy when they started out. Today, they can break into a dance confidently anywhere.
WHAT IS IT?
Breaking is an improvisational dance marked by fast footwork, spinning, power moves, downrock, top rock and freezes. Hollywood films like the ‘Step Up’ series (2006 and 2008) and Bollywood movies like ‘ABCD: Any Body Can Dance’ show breaking.
It took off on the streets of New York, evolving from the hip hop movement of the 1970s. The trend in India remained largely underground till the early 2000s