It became popular with its introduction onto the New York street scene. When a record was changed, or a break in the music of the New York disco scene occurred, dancers would feel the air with movements corresponding to the break.

The predecessors of this dance are unusual. In the history of break dancing it is possible that this dance comes partially from the lindy hop, and also from the Charleston. Several moves are inspired from Kung-fu, and once or two have support actions that are almost balletic. Breakdancing is associated with the streets of New York, and often when competing teams would dance to win, a real fight would break out. Inherent in the term "break" is an element of the dangerous.

The muscles developed under this kind of dancing are the same used for fighting. The harsh and foolhardy nature of the dance is almost a game of chicken against an assailant. The best breakdancer, in the early 1980's, was often the best fighter or gang member on the street.

Since the history of break dancing a whole genre of dressing is also associated with the breakdancing scene. Breakdancers typically wear low pants, T-shirts and a hat tipped sideways. The dance must be done in sneakers, for the dancer's safety. Breakdancing is known as an especially dangerous sport for several reasons. It is not unusual for a dancer to get something caught, stubbed or stopped while moving in air. This dance is never done on a soft surface. It emphasizes the rough, raw urban feel of fighting. As a consequence, several dancers have broken their necks, and one died notably in 1982, due to a breakdancing move gone wrong.

Since the history of break dancing, breakdancing includes moving the feet sideways and onto the toes, spinning on the knees, head, hands and elbows, mock fighting moves, and pantomime, an element introduced in California in the 1980's. Movies in the 80's made these moves famous, like Beat Street, Spinnin' and Breakin'. The nature of the dance was that it was improvised, never learned, so upon seeing these films, American kids immediately began making up their own breakdancing moves in basements across America. Michael Jackson's famous "moonwalk" and M.C.Hammer's pumped-up dance style are just improvised forms of breakdancing. Elements of this dance are still present today, in rap videos.

Essortment - The history of break dancing article on this page by Genevieve Thiers can be found fully here. www.essortment.com

University of Edinburgh - A brief history of breakdance. Introduction, the origin, James Brown's influence, The Rock Steady Crew and more. www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk

Central Home - History of break dancing. As well as the history, at the bottom of their page they have a link to some online break dancing videos. www.centralhome.com


Snippet of Centralhome.com's history of break dancing
A group of his friends are gathered in a loose circle around him, urging him on to ever greater, more elaborate, gyrations. Bass-heavy music, perhaps something by James Brown, whose 1969 song "Get On The Good Foot" inspired a lot of it, thumps out of a boom box.

We're witnessing the birth of the break dance, right?

Wrong. The spectacular power moves we're seeing are a somewhat recent innovation -- introduced by the legendary break dancers "Rock Steady Crew" in the late '70s and early '80s -- in what is actually a rather ancient art form with roots extending far wider and deeper than circa-1960s Bronx and Brooklyn street people.

In the history of break dancing some experts trace the lineage of the break dance back to the Brazilian Frevo, a Russian folk-dance-influenced form of martial-arts dance/march, it seems more likely that breakin', while it did originate in Brazil approximately 500 years ago, was invented by African slaves rather than native Brazilians or their Portuguese rulers.