How To Breakdance

Bboying or breakdancing is a extremely fun, yet difficult dance that bboys and bgirls participate in. It takes it's own steps from the foundations of the first bboys, and then the dancer adds whatever they want to their dance. It's a tool for self expression, creating visual art, and a lot of fun.




Where Do I Start?

One of the first things any bboy should learn is the difference between "breakdancing" and "bboying". Bboying is the first term made to describe the dance; it's usually the term used when in the community. The term the general media uses to describe the dance is breakdancing, which was conjured up by a reporter back when the dance was gaining it's recognition.

Bboys & Bgirls

The dance is called bboying whether you're a boy or a girl, it's as simple as that. But when describing a certain individual, there's bboy and bgirl.
Bboy: A male breaker.
Bgirl: A female breaker.

All breakers have a nickname, such as Bboy Darkness, Bboy Cloud, Bboy Plur, etc. At first, this shouldn't be too important, but it is in the long run when you want to gain a better hold of who you are as a dancer and your style.

Where Did Bboying Come From?

BBoying was created in the Bronx in New York sometime around 1973.

What moves should I learn first?

The basics of bboying are very important and really shouldn't be glossed over or skipped. Start off with this stuff, and you can become a better dancer quicker than you could by going straight to the harder and more impressive moves.

Toprock

The stand-up part of the dance. Very important. This is where you can really let loose and enjoy yourself. It's this part of the dance that you can play with the music a lot. "If you don't toprock before you go down and do footwork, you're not really bboying." - Popmaster Fabel (Rock Steady Crew)
The main foundational moves of the toprock are the basic rock, indian step, and running man variations.

Drops / Go downs

This gets you from your toprock, down into your footwork. The four basic drops are: The kneedrop, sweep, corkscrew, and suicides (half turned flips).

Footwork / Downrock

This is what most people know bboying as. When you are down on the floor (usually on hands and feet) doing a lot of complex looking steps. This is probably the most creative part of the dance. As a starter, you should learn 6-step, 3-step (learn them BOTH ways)and helicopter. Then when you have perfected them, start to move onto more technical stuff.

Freezes

This is the traditional way to finish your throwdown (a throwdown is what we call it when you visit the floor to take your turn) The basic freezes to learn are: Baby freeze, turtle, shoulder, side chair.
These are the most fundamental freezes and it is very important that you learn them early on as a lot of other moves build on them.

General tips

* Have fun and express yourself. There's no reason to learn how to dance when you're not enjoying it; if you don't enjoy dancing, find something else to express yourself.

* Watch as many videos as you can. The more you watch breaking videos, the more styles you'll be exposed to and the more moves you can see.

* Have style. Don't just be a robot, express yourself.

* Have a notebook to keep track of all the moves you learn and come up with. It'll help a LOT in the long run, as there's an endless amount of moves, you're bound to forget them in the long run if you don't write them down.

* Be safe. Buy at least knee pads or elbow pads when learning how to break; knee pads more suggested.

Warnings

Bboying is a dangerous dance in some areas, be sure to protect yourself and use your head. Don't try to backflip unless you KNOW you can do it.