History of Break Dancing It was late 60s , early 70s when people started
a sort of b-boying. Their dancing was called "Good Foot"
from James Brown's record of the same name. The "Good Foot"
was the first freestyle dance that incorporated moves involving
drops and spins, and resembled the beginnings of breaking. The
best way to describe the "Good Foot" is, according to
Michael Holman, to imagine a majorette marching in a parade taking
steps raised high at the knee but keeping the leg raised at the
knee in the air for a beat before dropping it down and simultaneously
raising the other leg. Like a stop action drum majorette on beat.
As the D.J.s invented new ways to elongate the break beats in
the records, dancers had more time to invent and experiment. Soon
moves like dropping down to the ground and popping up again on
beat became standard and gave these first generation of b-boys
the nickname of "boie-oie-oings." Footwork came in when
the boie-oie-oings started using their arms and hands to support
their bodies in order to free the feet and legs to do gymnastic
steps, shuffles and sweeps. In Brooklyn a new step inspired by
these drops was being developed and called "Brooklyn Rock"
also known as "Up rocking". Once the first early break
moves had been established, a definite style began to develop.
The famous first generation of b-boys were "Negro Twins",
"Clark Kent", and "Zulu Kings". Around 1977
breaking was losing its popularity with black kids and it was
about to die.
However, breaking came back with a new generation of b-boys. It
was Puerto Rican b-boys who put new life to breaking and took
it into the next level. They started to put many higher levels
of acrobatics and gymnastics into breaking and invented many new
moves. B-boys such as "Crazy Legs" from "Rock Steady
Crew" who were influenced by Jimmy Lee and Joe Joe, members
of original "Rock Steady Crew" developed and invented
the new moves such as backspins and windmills. I want to mention
that there are also other b-boys such as "Lil Lep" from
"New York City Breakers" who should get props by developed
b-boying. Also, media stars like Bruce Lee and other Kung Fu film
stars and martial artists had a major influence on b-boying culture.
The popularity of Kung Fu films during the mid and late 70s around
the world and especially in New York City, has had a great impact
on b-boying style. A large number of martial arts moves were incorporated
into b-boying. For example, windmills came from a kung fu which
is used to get up from the floor. By repeating the getting-up
move, windmills was born.
B-boying became even more popular in the 80s. It was first introduced
to the outside of New York CIty and the rest of the world by a
movie "Flashdance" in 1983. Before "Flashdance",
there were already movies like "Wildstyle" and "Stylewars".
But "Flashdance" was the first major movie which featured
b-boying. Even though it was not a b-boying movie, the short scene
which featured b-boying and popping on a street had a great enough
impact to inspire people to start b-boying all over the world.
After "Flashdance", many breaking movies were made such
as "Breakin'", "Breaking'2", and "Beat
street". "Beat Street" also had a great impact
because it had a scene of battle between "Rock Steady Crew"
and "New York City Breakers". B-boying became very popular
as "break dance" by many media coverages. Because of
this media coverage, when the media stop showing b-boying on TV,
people had a sense that b-boying was only a fad. Many people thought
b-boying was dead. Some b-boys stopped b-boying, influenced by
media, also. Media mistreated b-boying. After 1985 or 86, the
winter period of b-boying came.