Rise of a new generation of B-boys and B-girls as breaking is set to debut at Paris Olympics

Last month, in a dance competition held in Hong Kong, Japanese dancers won first and third place in both the boys’ and girls’ categories.

The event was called the WDSF Breaking for Gold Series. Many of the competitors from this event hoped to get to the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be the first Games to have breaking.

Breaking is a special kind of dance that usually goes with hip-hop music. These dancers are called breakers; B-boys stands for “break-boys” and B-girls for “break-girls”.

The two-day competition in Hong Kong saw 77 B-boys and 58 B-girls doing acrobatic poses, spins on their heads and hands and other impressive moves.

In the final for the boys’ category, Japanese 18-year-old Issin, whose real name is Issin Hishkawa, defeated 35-year-old Wing of South Korea. The men’s third-place finisher was Japan’s Hiro10, who is 19.

On the women’s side, Riko of Japan (her real name is Riko Tsuhako), who is just 16, defeated 29-year-old Stefani of Ukraine in the finals. Ayane, who is also from Japan, claimed the bronze over Italy’s Anti.

The future of breaking

Half of the podium spots at this event went to teenagers, showing the rise of a new generation of breakers.

Hiro10, whose real name is Hiroto Ono, said breaking was getting more popular in Japan. “A lot of children started breaking, and we have a lot of opportunities to teach them [and] more sponsorships,” he said.

Some breakers said they were expecting more young people to join the sport thanks to its debut at the Olympics.

B-boy Lorenzo of the Netherlands, who finished in Breaking for Gold’s top 16, said: “Breaking will definitely become more popular because it’s in the Olympics.”

“A lot of people that don’t know breaking are going to see [it], and hopefully, we leave a good impression, and the people are going to like it. Hopefully, it spreads our culture.”

Use the crossword below to test your knowledge of the vocabulary words in the story.

Suggested answers

• Stop and consider: Teenagers made up half of the podium spots at the WDSF Breaking for Gold Series, and Hiro10 said he also noticed more children becoming breakers in Japan.

• Think about it: Breaking might become more popular this year after it makes its debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

• Quick question: Yes, I would definitely try breaking because it is a dynamic and energetic dance style that requires strength, creativity and rhythm. It would be cool to dance to the music and show off my own moves. (accept other reasonable answers)