Amid the dynamic head spins, twirling windmills and athletic airflares that will be on display at the Place de la Concorde during breaking’s Olympic debut, one question looms large: When dance is crammed into the category of sport, how is a winner determined?
All subjectively judged sports, especially those that reward artistry, face some form of the same question. But few arise from the battle-centric beginnings of breaking — never “break dancing,” a term disdained by pioneers and practitioners — where spontaneous crowd response and the reaction of peers were the ultimate rewards.
Sixteen B-girls will compete on Aug. 9, followed by 16 B-boys on Aug. 10, all of whom will be measured by a panel of nine judges from around the world. Here’s how they’ll determine which breakers will win medals.
How will it work?
Breakers will face off in head-to-head battles, similar to the competitions at parks and parties when breaking originated in the Bronx during the 1970s.
The competitors will be separated into four groups in an opening round-robin round and will not know the music ahead of time. A D.J. will spin, and the breaker will try to marry their moves to the music.
Each battle will consist of three rounds, or throwdowns, with the breakers alternating one-minute turns. The breaker who wins the best of three will advance.
Eight winners — two from each group — will advance to the knockout or quarterfinal phase, where they will be ranked in a bracket according to their opening-round scores. The No. 1 ranked breaker will battle No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, and so on, eliminating competitors through a final four and gold medal battle.
What’s the scoring system?
The judges will score breakers on five criteria: vocabulary, technique, execution, originality and musicality.
During most cyphers, the circles where breakers battle informally, the applause of invested audiences declares a winner in real time. Likewise in the Olympic competition, viewers won’t have to wait until after a battle ends to know who is ahead. Judges will use digital sliders, like the faders on a D.J.’s mixing board, to represent each of the scoring criteria, moving a slider toward the breaker they believe is ahead in, say, originality at that moment. There are penalties for crashes, wipeouts and falls.
Breaking will also be the only Olympic sport with a misbehavior button. At its core, breaking is a battle of one-upmanship. But a judge can hit three different misbehavior buttons if a competitive act crosses the line into crassness.
The buttons range in the severity of the transgression, with the third reserved for the most overt ones like inappropriate moves or comments. In that case, the athlete’s total score will be reduced by 10 percent.
Who came up with it?
Breaking in Paris is overseen by the World DanceSport Federation, which ushered it into the Olympics.
The umbrella organization governs a wide range of dances, including Caribbean and disco. Nearly 30 years ago, it tried to introduce ballroom dancing to the Olympics.
The federation has no ties with breaking’s roots, raising eyebrows for those wary that the art form would be appropriated. In 2017, more than 2,000 people signed an online petition titled “Get the WDSF’s Hands Off Hip-Hop,” which accused the federation of trying “to exploit breaking as a Trojan horse to get its foot in the door of the Olympics.”
But the organization worked with breakers in mapping the journey to Paris. The DanceSport Breaking Committee, the organized branch of U.S.A. Breakers, includes Zack Slusser, a founding member of the Pro Breaking Tour who goes by B-boy Cracker Zacks, and Zahra Hamani, known as B-girl Jeskilz, a member of Rock Steady Crew.
“They want to pick different opinions, different styles to be as fair as possible, because all these dancers come from different places,” said Beta Langebeck, a B-girl who has judged breaking competitions for Red Bull. “The good thing is they have that option. They have options to get judges from all different styles to make it as fair as possible.”
Who’s going to win?
On the men’s side, medal favorites include: Victor Montalvo, known as B-boy Victor, the first American to qualify for the Games and a two-time Red Bull BC One world champion; Menno van Gorp (B-boy Menno) and Lee-Lou Demierre of the Netherlands; and Japan’s Shigeyuki Nakarai (B-boy Shigekix).
Leading contenders among the women include: Dominika Banevic, a Lithuanian B-girl who just turned 17; Ami Yuasa and Ayumi Fukushima of Japan; Sya Dembele (B-girl Syssy) of France; and Logan Edra (B-girl Logistx) of the United States.
Read More: How Will Breaking Be Scored at the Olympics?
