After Paris Olympics, breaking gets a spotlight in New Jersey

Steven Stylez was 14 when a friend got him into a nightclub where he saw dance moves that would shape the direction of his life.

"In the back room, I saw this dude, and he was wearing a baseball glove on one hand, and he did a '1990' and also did head spins, and this other boy broke into some windmills," Stylez said. "That moment, I was amazed."

The man was breakdancing.

Breaking in the 2024 Summer Olympics — its preferred name by those who compete — recently showed how this acrobatic and improvisational dance form has come a long way since its origins, which corresponded with the birth of hip hop.

After a whirlwind of attention was paid to it — including an apology this week by the Australian breaker Raygun after her performance went viral because of intense criticism of her moves — we wanted to hear from breakers like Steven. How did they become breakers? What did they think of breaking in the 2024 Olympic? And how do they feel about it not being included in the 2028 Olympics?

Nearly three decades after that night in the club, Stylez, a Clifton resident whose real name is Steven Rosa, has kept the dance form alive as a practitioner and as the operator of an entertainment company Dance Stylez Entertainment that books breakdancers and DJs.

And he still remembers how he got started.

"I told (my friend), 'This is really dope.' He was like, 'You know Steve, I know how to break, by the way.' I was like, 'For real.' He was in my living room. He said, 'Yeah','' Stylez recalled. "We put some music on, and he started breaking right there in my living room ... He showed me a few moves. I literally never stopped since that day."

Breaking dates back to the 1970s at New York City block parties when African American and Latino youth would engage in dance battles during "breaks" created by DJs spinning instrumental sections of records while switching from one LP to the next. Breakdancing would come into the mainstream in the 1980s in movies such as Beat Street and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo before fading away by the 1990s, then making a comeback in the 2000s.

The Olympics brought it back again. A new generation of children are learning how to do it. And Stylez is not the only veteran breaker from North Jersey who has been with it the whole time.

What is breakdancing?

The street dance comes out of four different kinds of movement:

• Toprock : A foot movement performed while standing that warms up the performer for more complicated moves
• Downrock : Floorwork performed where the body is supported on the hands and feet.
• Power moves : Athletic moves influenced by such activities as gymnastics and martial arts. Some power moves include the "1990" and "windmill."
• Freezes : Poses made by breakdancers suspending themselves off the ground using their upper body strength.

Male breakers are known as b-boys, and female breakers are known as b-girls. B-boys such as Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quinones and Kenneth "Ken Swift" Gabbert and b-girls like Ana “Rokafella” Garcia helped grow the dance.

Breaking has always featured dance sessions called "cyphers", where participants compete against each other in front of a crowd. That was how the participants in the Summer Olympics competed. Japanese b-girl Ami Yuasa won the first gold medal in breakding for women and Canadian b-boy Phillip "Phil Wizard" Kim won the men's breaking gold medal, which demonstrated the international growth of the dance and its evolution into a sport.

Breakdancing in the Olympics

Stylez said breaking being featured for the first time in the Olympic Games was incredible. He was happy to see Florida b-boy Victor Montalvo receive the bronze medal in breaking, the only American to medal.

"I feel like we made history. Hip-hop, breaking, we got an Olympic medal. That's a great accomplishment," Stylez said. "Breaking is one of the elements of hip-hop. So, hip-hop got gold, silver and bronze medals."

Henry "Rival" Vijande, 42, founder of the Jersey City-based organization B​BOY BGIRL LIFESTYLE has been breaking since around the age of 14. Vijande said he was excited to see the breakers who competed in the Olympics coming from various parts of the world.

“Seeing everyone come together and everyone being supportive of everyone being on that platform and seeing the back-end communications of everyone just supporting in their own way our dance," Vijande said. "It's impactful. It's a very happy moment.

Rossana Villaflor and Kushan Patel are the founders of CUDA Culture , an organization based in Jersey City that teaches art and dance, including breakdancing classes. They started breaking in their teens and would hone their skills when both were classmates at Dickinson High School in Jersey City.

Villaflor, aka B-girl GI Jane, 39, and Patel, aka B-boy Dhalsim, 40, had hosted a community watch party in Jersey City for the breaking competition during the Summer Olympics. Villaflor said seeing this dance in the spotlight at the Olympics was like a dream come true for both her and Patel.

"When we were breaking as kids, that was just something that we just dreamed about, just fantasized about," Villaflor said. "To see it come into fruition and to be a reality was a huge deal for us."

What about Raygun?

Australian b-girl Rachael Gunn made some history at the Summer Olympics, but not in a good way. The Australian academic, who goes by the moniker of Raygun, received criticism on social media for moves that were seen as not as athletic as her competitors such as hopping like a kangaroo and rolling on the floor. And for failing to score a point during her dance battles.

Gunn, in her first interview since her performance in the Olympics, which aired on the Australian TV show The Project Wednesday, apologized to the breakdancing community, saying “I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can’t control how people react." However, Gunn defended herself in the interview when asked if she is Australia's best breakdancer, by responding, "I think my record speaks to that."

Vijande said Raygun's performance reminded him of past dance battles where one breaker would be applauded for showing off moves considered worthy of mockery.

"The person that's considered in everyone's eye as the weirdest or funniest style dance, all of a sudden that person actually gets the most recognition out of everyone," Vijande said. Not being good or bad, but because it left such an impactful moment, the idea of the dance is still in everyone's mind."

Patel said the heightened attention on Raygun takes away from the overall event, and highlights that she did her best.

Villaflor hopes that the organizers of the Summer Olympics will change their minds and include breaking in 2028.

"It's not how we saw it. For us, it was more like, 'Look at all the great individuals that actually were on the stage'," Patel said. "Singling one person out ... We didn't look at it like that. She did what did. She didn’t make it. Move on.”

Stylez said that while Gunn’s appearance in the Olympics was "questionable," it still helped bring more attention to breaking.

No breaking in 2028 Olympics

Vijande said he accepted the decision of the organizers of the 2028 Summer Olympics, and doesn't think it diminishes breaking.

"It's someone's event, and this is what they want at their event. That's it," Vijande said. "Breaking is still going to exist, and we, the practitioners, keep pushing forward the movement of our dance."

Stylez, too, said he was unhappy about the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles, not featuring breakdancing.

"I've been to LA numerous times and I have been breaking battles in LA, and there is a huge breaking scene in Los Angeles and the California area, and some of the most talented dancers are in Los Angeles," Stylez said.

"I'm personally hoping they could change that because it would really mean a lot for the U.S. to host it because that's where it began," Villaflor said.

How do you become a breaker?

Villaflor said when teaching novice breakers, she requires students to "come with an open mind" and to follow a code of conduct that she developed so they are kind and respectful to their fellow breakers.

"Because of her, it got more people who didn't know about breaking interested in breaking," Stylez said. "They wound up watching the videos, they shared a laugh or two, but then they were like, 'Oh, let me go ahead and look at her battle.' So, when they looked up her battle and they see her going up against another b-girl and then they see what a breaking battle is like."

Stylez offers two pieces of advice for someone to be able to become a breaker who can compete in any dance battle, whether locally or on a championship level: find someone better than yourself to practice with and work on breaking at least three times a week.

Vijande said there's one quality that anyone who wants to take up breaking should possess.

"First and foremost, they definitely have to be willing," Vijande observed. "If the individual is not willing to go through the ups and downs of learning, then it will be challenging for them to be proficient."

Vijande was teaching some willing breaking students during an outdoor class in the gazebo in Jersey City's Lincoln Park on a Thursday afternoon. Secaucus resident Buddy Baker and Jersey City resident Amari Wong, both 10 years old, and Mylan Makhija, 6 years old, who trekked from Queens, were following Vijande's instruction as their parents looked on.

Vijande led the young ones through an hour-long session that started with stretching and other warm up exercises, continued with practicing various moves, and ended with an impromptu competition between the students to see who could do the most freezes.

After the session, the rising b-boys spoke about breaking in the Olympics. Baker enjoyed the performance of the American bronze medalist Victor Montalvo, who had some "great styles of breaking." Makhija was won over by Japanese gold medalist Ami Yuasa and Montalvo.

As far as doing breaking, Wong said, "I feel excited because I really enjoy doing it."

Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com

Twitter: @ricardokaul

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: After Paris Olympics, breaking gets a spotlight in New Jersey