A look at the art and sport of breaking as it makes its Olympic debut

An entirely new medal event will debut at the Olympics in about two weeks: breaking, or what’s perhaps more widely known to the uninitiated as breakdancing. What began at block parties in the Bronx will be going for gold in the heart of Paris. John Yang speaks with dancer and choreographer Ivan “Flipz” Velez about the significance of this moment.

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John Yang : About two weeks at the Paris Olympics, the debut of an entirely new medal event breaking or what’s perhaps more widely known to the uninitiated like me as breakdancing.

John Yang (voice-over) : In a Los Angeles dance studio, 21 year old Logan Edra teaches moves she spent two-thirds of her life developing since she was just seven. In the world of breaking, she’s called B Girl Logistx, and is one of the four members of the U.S. breaking team at the Paris Games. She can also be called Olympian.

Logan Edra, Team USA Breaker : I see any title or a championship or win or metal it’s more for me like a microphone to amplify any message I want. I represent the peace, love unity and having fun and also being a student of the game and, and caring about the evolution of like where this is going and keeping it alive.

John Yang (voice-over) : The first Olympic breaking competition was at the 2018 Youth Games in Buenos Aires. The Olympics recognizes it as an urban sport like skateboarding also an Olympic event. Competitors need improvisation, athleticism and coordination, drawing on disciplines like martial arts and gymnastics.

It was created in the 1970s at South Bronx dance parties by black and Latino youths. It said that the name comes from the breaks in hip hop songs when the vocals drop out leaving a steady driving beat. The 1983 film Flashdance help breaking go mainstream with a scene with members of the hip hop group Rock Steady Crew.

Now its popularity is global, from the United Kingdom to France.

Mennon Van Gorp, Breaker : If you think about Paris, maybe you think about the Eiffel Tower and you think about croissants but when I think about Paris, I think about riper.

John Yang (voice-over) : Nigeria, Egypt.

Fouad Ambelej, Breaker (through translator) : Dancing is what makes you stay away from smoking and drinking and all of the self-destructive things. For me, it’s an art but also something that I find myself in.

John Yang (voice-over) : Brazil. Libya, even Iran.

Farid Gorghin , Breaker (through translator): It is Iran and we are dancing. We love to dance as other people do. We want to enjoy our youth.

John Yang : What was born at block parties of the Bronx we’ll be going for the gold at the Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris. Ivan Velez known as Flipz as a actor, TV host and accomplished dancer and choreographer, and he’s been a judge at Olympic qualifying events for breaking. So Flipz, first off, help out this unhip, baby boomer breaking, break dancing.

Ivan “Flipz” Velez, Dancer and Choreographer : So we call it breaking. If you accidentally call it breakdancing, we’ll let you slide on the first time, it was more of a media term that came out in the in the early 80s. But I do understand why people call it break dancing, because they are breaking and it is a dance however we call it breaking.

John Yang : So what’s the significance of having breaking as an Olympic event?

Ivan Velez : Oh, it is the epitome. I know in 2018 it was in Buenos Aires and it was the first with that we got that we could actually hit the main stage braking is finally where it needs to be going for gold.

John Yang : Finally, where it needs to be. Is it to you, is that a dance style? Is that a culture?

Ivan Velez : Oh, to go beyond that, for me, it’s like a religion. So you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe in your talent, you have to go above and beyond the call of duty just to be recognized. So a lot of these breakers, whether they have jobs nine to five, whether they’re in school, no matter what age they are, they are putting in endless, endless hours. And breaking is not just a culture and a phenomenon. But it’s also art, its art and the sport.

So the fusion of both of that is what people are going to see in Paris, almost like Halley’s Comet, you got to catch it while you can.

John Yang : You’re not going to be judging in Paris. I know. But you did judge some of the qualifying events. What’s the criteria? How do you judge this?

Ivan Velez : There’s a couple of criteria and boxes that they have to tick. It’s technique. Right? So it’s how the technique is how good you are at doing everything that you’ve been training to do. You have to definitely put yours in the game or your technique will show. The vocabulary. Vocabulary is what you bring to the table. There’s A’s to Z’s top rock footwork, freezes power combinations. And what you bring to the table is your vocabulary and how many times you can switch things up.

You have originality, right, so you want to be the one and only and in order to do that you have to stand alone, you have to be unique, and you have to show as many original moves as you have learned in the past. You only have 60 seconds before your opponent also answers back.

So you definitely want to execute from the very first second you step on that floor to the end of that 59.9 second and you’re walking off.

Also musicality, I love musicality, and I’ll tell you why. We are dancers, right. So it’s all framed around the music. If you don’t have musicality, and you’re dancing with either two left feet or you’re off beat, we’re definitely going to ding you for that. You definitely have to dance and marry the beat and the music that these DJs are playing. You don’t know the BPM, you don’t know what track, you don’t know if there’s lyrics to the track. So it’s a really cool game of cat and mouse.

John Yang : Tell us a little bit about the Team USA breakers?

Ivan Velez : Oh, yeah, definitely. Team USA all day. You have Victor Montalvo, who made it. He’s half Mexican, half US. He’s from Florida, and he’s the highest rank in the entire world. And we have Sunny Choi, who made it. She’s from New York. She had a full time job six figure salary, and she’s given it all up for the gold.

We also have Logistx, who I met years ago, I worked with her on a Nickelodeon show. She was a kid. A few years later, she was on World of Dance. And now she’s on the world’s biggest stage in the Olympics. The Bboy Jeffro, he’s one of the all style all around can throw anything down and his musicality, which again, I love is so on point. It’s going to be a nail biting couple of days. I’ll tell you that.

John Yang : And Flipz, I know that that breaking has not been approved for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. What do you see the future of this? Where do you want to see this go?

Ivan Velez : So with that news, sadly, it was not accepted for the 2028. And what better way to bring it back right to the U.S. where it all started. Hopefully it’s in Brisbane in 2032. I’m praying for that right now because you don’t want too much time to go by as these dancers are evolving. They’re also getting older so the future looks really, really bright for braking. And you might not see these same competitors again in that next cycle if it is another eight years.

I do want braking to just stay on the road roster. I mean, it’s survived 50 years, you know, whether it was on in the media or in the movies or underground culture or subculture, it’s survived. It’s definitely ready to earn it slot. Permanent slot.

John Yang : Flipz, aka Ivan Velez. Thank you very much.

Ivan Velez : Thank you guys so much for having me. I’m excited.