COLORADO, USA — Breaking debuted at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday. The dance form is popular in Paris and is now on the biggest sports stage as a competition.
Breaking, or breakdancing, is the only completely new sport at the Paris Games — but the artform is not new. Breaking has been around for decades, and some call it the cultural dance of hip-hop.
"I always felt that the world would embrace this dance," said Ian Flaws, owner and founder of Bboy Factory, a dance studio in Denver. "Even in the last 20 years it has grown so much globally, and that’s why you see dancers from all over the world in the Olympics. It is a universal language and it allows us to connect despite language barriers or cultural barriers, we share this beautiful movement and that allows our people to connect."
Even Flaws can admit that the news of it being added as an Olympic sport was bittersweet.
"Honestly, I have had mixed feelings about it to be just truthful," he said. "I’m super excited, I think breaking is such a dynamic expression of spirit and soul and I think it’s beautiful to see it reach this level. I just hope that we’re able to preserve the traditions of our culture."
For many in the breaking scene, the culture is just as important as the moves.
"When you separate and just make it breakdancing, we’re talking about acrobatics, but when you’re talking about b-boy and b-girl culture, there’s a whole other things that comes a lot with that," said Rennie Harris, the co-director of Hip-Hop Studies at CU Boulder. "It was the breakers who were the MCs and dancers, the DJs, the graffiti artist at the time, they were the ones who did and so you’re discounting all of that, the cultural aspect of it."
> Olympic Breaking: Owner of Colorado breakdancing studio explains what you'll see during competition
"We are missing the 'why,' the why one person can stand on one hand and spin around or spin on their head for 200 rotations, so we’re missing the 'why' part of it when we’re sort of separating it to competition, and for us and it wasn’t a competition," Harris said.
But both Harris and Flaws agree that watching the historic art genre on a worldwide stage is exciting and can bring some major exposure to the scene.
"The opportunities that will come with this to further promote our culture," Flaws said. "I think hopefully promote the other aspects that make this beautiful and not just the highest level of top athletes but the communities, the arts, the DJs, all the other people that make breaking such a special thing."
Flaws knows a number of people involved in the competition debut in Paris. His studio is covered in photos of some of the Olympic dancers that have visited his studio.
"So this is Victor Montalvo. He’s one of the U.S. Athletes at the Olympics and a gold medal hopeful," he said as he pointed at a group picture with some of his students.
Flaws knows next generation may be the key to preserving an important piece of history.
"We have a lot of really talented kids here and so we're absolutely at the forefront of the next generation," Flaws said.
Bboy Factory will be performing at McGregor Square on Saturday, Aug. 9, as the breaking finals air on the big screen. Performances will begin at 11:30.