Breaking Will Finally Debut at the Olympics. How Will Competitors Be Judged?

PARIS (AP) — A brand new sport requires latest rules at the Olympic level. And while breaking — commonly called breakdancing — has been around for a long time, it remains to be latest to the world of Olympic judging.

The fights, moves and culture are nothing latest — breaking is certainly one of the 4 fundamental elements of hip-hop, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary last yr. International competitions are nothing latest either — the Red Bull BC One World Final has been around for twenty years, and the sport resonated with younger audiences at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Still, many remain skeptical about adding anything Olympic as they watch the final days of the Paris Games.

“I think critics have the misconception that breaking is still something from the ’80s or something that’s just in the streets, and I don’t think they realize how much it’s evolved,” said Ronnie Abaldonado, a b-boy Ronnie, a breakdancer who has been competing, judging and teaching for 31 years. Abaldonado is certainly one of the official commentators for NBC’s breaking competitions.

“It will be undeniable when they see it on the big stage and see the spectacle, the level of talent, even the high level of difficulty,” he said. “You can compare it to gymnastics.”

At its core, breaking is an art form that unites mind, body, and soul. Judges will rating breakers using the Trivium scoring system, created for breaking’s debut at the Youth Games in Buenos Aires. A panel of nine judges will evaluate each breaker based on technique, vocabulary, execution, musicality, and originality—each accounting for 20 percent of the final rating.

Breaking is scored qualitatively as a result of its roots as an art form, with judges using a sliding scale to attain each round and battle, adjusting the scale to the breaker who wins in each of the above criteria. Throughout, a hoop announcer will provide commentary and hype the crowd. The judges for the Olympic events haven’t yet been revealed.

“What looks so appealing to the naked eye are the power moves, like the ‘in the air’ moves, the head spins, the ground power that are like windmills and the freezes,” Abaldonado said. “It’s the power, control and speed that are also visually appealing.”

The judge will, nonetheless, search for the technical side, “which is like the footwork and dancing to the music or the beat, because that’s like the DNA of breaking,” Abaldonado said. In addition, he said, there needs to be a component of improvisation, which affects the rating for originality. The DJ selects the music — and the breakdancers won’t know what soundtrack they’ll be competing to until they hit the dance floor.

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“We practice and practice everything, but we also have to adapt and improvise,” said Victor Montalvo, a b-boy for Team USA. “We try not to have a fully practiced round because it tends to look robotic.”

For Tony “Mr. Wave” Wesley, a Bronx breaking pioneer who rose to stardom a long time ago with the New York City Breakers, seeing breaking make its mark on the world stage has been validating. Now he’s attempting to pass on his institutional knowledge by making a virtual lesson plan that features flashcards on breaking elements and terminology for the digital learning platform Quizlet.

“I always felt like we didn’t do enough for the new generations. And then I saw my peers die, leave us, and all we had was their stories, and they took them with them. So someone has to write that story,” Wesley said.

Below is a breakdown of the five criteria that judges will use to guage the breakers:

Technique

Maintaining physiological control while specializing in physical fitness, form and spatial awareness.

Vocabulary

A spread of movements that exhibit variation, and the variety of times they occur, preferably with a minimum variety of repetitions.

Execution

The ability to land and move easily, without falling or slipping, while maintaining consistency and fluidity.

Musicality

The ability to maintain rhythm and synchronize movements with the rhythm of the music.

Originality

Ability to improvise, creativity, spontaneity, style and personality.