Participants in a breaking class at Destiny Breakers Dance School in Visakhapatnam.
| Photo Credit: KR Deepak
In a slender lane winding right into a residential colony in Visakhapatnam, a room throbs to the beats of hip-hop music. Here, a small crew of dancers in the age group of eight to twenty flip, freeze and sway in swag and take laps inside a circle of hooting dancers. An intensifying battle unfolds inside the subsequent one hour, stuffed with head spins and handstands.
In Visakhapatnam, a primary era of B-boys and B-girls are nurturing the Olympic dream and readying their strikes. Most of them have grown up practising in streets, parks, and now, in rented studios. The entry of breaking as a medal occasion in the Olympics has given a lift to a kind that has remained away from limelight regardless of its recognition amongst city youth.
Sohail Gill was drawn to breaking by way of the movie Step Up 2. “When I first saw the crazy breakdance moves, I right away knew I wanted to learn something like this,” says Sohail. He stepped into the world of B-boying by studying strikes from YouTube movies. But his dance kind was formed by a proper coaching from Mumbai-based B-boy Soulsonic (Shailesh Agre). In 2011, Sohail alongside together with his mates and different breaking fans shaped the Destiny Breakers Crew and began doing avenue performances in Visakhapatnam to unfold consciousness about this artwork kind. He began the Destiny Breakers International School in 2017 providing dance certification programs in breaking and hip hop. From a handful of individuals conducting free workshops at the RK Beach in 2011, the numbers have grown. Today, Sohail’s institute has about 25 breaking fans, a few of whom have made a mark in national-level competitions.
Break dancers with their medals received in varied competitions.
| Photo Credit:
KR Deepak
D Shreya (B-girl Shreya) has been coaching there since 2015 and has introduced many laurels to the metropolis. Currently ranked amongst the high eight B-girls in India, she is eyeing the nationals developing subsequent month. “The dance floor is where I found myself and faced my fears,” says the 21-year-old. In the recently-held second National Breaking Championship at Tirupati, Shreya was the solely particular person from Andhra Pradesh to compete and made it to the quarterfinals in the B-girl senior class. The occasion was judged by B-boy Bojin from World Dance Sport Federation, B-boy Bobby from Malaysia Dance Sport Federation and B-boy G1 from Thailand. The competitors was intense, says Shreya. “Sometimes in a battle, you may see a strong opponent. It is in such moments that I push myself and overcome self-doubts. This has helped me work on my moves,” says Shreya, who was the solely participant from Andhra Pradesh to be chosen for the BRICS Games 2022 in China and was ranked ninth in the world championship.
B-boy Chaitanya (P Chaitanya), who has been practising since 2017 underneath Sohail and attending ‘battles’, says quite a lot of assist has to return from dad and mom. ”Parents have to belief their kids’s ardour for it. Most individuals consider breaking as a dance kind or an extracurricular exercise. Its entry in the Olympics ought to change the notion now,” he provides. Chaitanya, 12, received in the youngsters class at the nationwide stage breaking championship (Original Street Dance Championship) held in IIT Madras in Chennai in January this yr.
The entry
Breaking made its Olympic debut at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018. Following its profitable entry, it was chosen for the Paris 2024 Olympics as a brand new sport.
According to the Paris 2024 official web site, breaking competitors will comprise two occasions — one for males and one for ladies — the place 16 B-boys and 16 B-girls will go head to head in smashing solo battles.
In December final yr, when the first Andhra Pradesh State Breaking Championship was held, dance sports activities athletes from Visakhapatnam district received 4 golds, one silver and a bronze. “So far, we have represented Andhra Pradesh at two national breaking championships and are training hard for the third national, which is expected to happen in March or April 2023. Along with the senior B-boy and senior B-girl category, we might also see the under-16 category for upcoming B-boys and B-girls, which is great news for all the kids in my class,” says Sohail.
Breakdancing as a dance kind originated in New York in the early Nineteen Seventies. It is believed to have been began by Latin American and Black American youths. In the 80s, it began gaining recognition with Michael Jackson adopting breaking and hitting the moonwalk in 1983. Over the years, it has gained recognition worldwide.
“The transformation of breaking from a streetdance form to an Olympic sport has definitely given a major shift in the perception of people. Breakers are not just being recognised as athletes, but are also training like athletes to prepare for the Olympics,” says Sohail. In Visakhapatnam, the coaching schedule includes dedicating at the very least two hours for breaking on daily basis for six days every week, one hour of health coaching and an hour of yoga. “This is the only dance style where you have to use your entire body and is very athletic in its techniques,” says Sohail, including: “Our goal now is to make a mark at the international level.”
