Why This Olympic DJ Does Not Consider Breaking a Sport

O ne of the men behind the music at the Olympic breaking competition in Paris, which begins at Place de la Concorde on Friday with the women’s event, wants to settle a debate that has percolated ever since breaking’s inclusion in the Paris Summer Olympics was announced in late 2020.

What you’re about to watch at the Olympics is not a sport.

“I consider it an art and a dance,” says New York City-based Stephen Fleg, a.k.a. DJ Fleg, who along with DJ Plash1 of Poland will be spinning and scratching the records that the breakers will move to. “Don't get me wrong, there is incredible athleticism to it. But that doesn't make it a sport per se. The only reason that I like to make that distinction is to make sure that we keep the integrity of it. Because if it becomes pure athleticism, you will lose one of the biggest elements in it, which is creativity, personality, things that generally aren’t part of sports in the same way.”

The results-centric nature of sports, says Fleg, can encroach on dance as an art form. “The main thing is just the goal-oriented status and goal-oriented nature of sports, where it's like, ‘You need to put this ball in this hoop,’” says Fleg. “I love sports, so don't get me wrong. But at the same time, when breaking becomes goal-oriented in that sense only, you lose the drive to express or create in the same way that has built the dance from its foundation. It’s a dance. Any other dance wouldn't be considered a sport. Dance is its own category, its own plane of things.”

“That's pretty much the objective truth, because breaking will die if you start treating it strictly as the moves,” says Fleg. “Moves don't encompass the entirety of it. I’d like to say that's my opinion, but I really don't think it's an opinion. I think that's the fact.”

At the Olympics, the breaking DJ is considered a “technical official,” which understates the role. The person who measures how far someone throws the javelin, or makes sure the swimmers stay in their lane... now that’s a technical official. The breaking DJ is integral to the whole affair. Unlike, say, figure skaters, who carefully choreographed routines going into a competition, the breakers don’t know what music the DJ will play.

The DJs are sort of like pitchers in baseball. Fleg will offer something up:It’s up to the Olympians to react spontaneously and hit it out of the park.

“Not to self-aggrandize too much here, but the role of what I'm doing has never been something that has existed in the Olympics or major sports,” says Fleg. “I'm not an idle player that's sitting back watching to see what is happening, to make a judgment. I have an active role, a very active role, in how dancers get down.”

Fleg insists none of the breakers have contacted him with song requests. “They know better,” he says. “Even in a regular competition, that's a great way for me to definitely not play that. I don't want to be blatantly biased.”

Fleg, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore and started breaking when he was 13. He’s been deejaying since his early 20s, at both competitions and clubs, and he’s also a music producer and event organizer.

He promises a variety of beats at breaking. “You're going to hear African rhythms, Latin rhythms, fun, psychedelic stuff,” says Fleg. “James Brown, hip hop. It's good to come in with an open mind about the music and just enjoy it.”

He expects to correct misperceptions. “People kind of mock breaking,” says Fleg. “They do the worm. Look, this dance has had 40 years of evolution. And most people still don't know what that looks like. They're about to know. When you see some of these moves, where the athleticism does kick in, these guys are incredible. They're geniuses, They're physical geniuses.”

Is Fleg nervous?

“People asking me if I'm nervous makes me more nervous than I need to be,” says Fleg. “But in general, I'm fine. I'm just focusing on what I have to do here.”

I point out to him that this will be the first time he’s deejaying in front of millions of people around the world.

Am I not helping?

“Once again, yes,” says Fleg.  “The answer is yes.”

Write to Sean Gregory at sean.gregory@time.com .