breakdancing

noun

break·​danc·​ing ˈbrāk-ˌdan(t)-siŋ 

variants or break dancing or less commonly break-dancing

: a style of hip-hop dance in which soloists perform acrobatic moves that often involve touching various parts of the body (such as the back or head) to the ground

Breakdancing takes incredible athleticism and energy, but it's also personal and highly artistic …

—Jessica Mason

The sweat suit became a B-boy uniform partly because disco gear did not lend itself to the gymnastics of break dancing.

—Tony Karon

The Rock Steady Crew popularized break-dancing in the early 1980s, thanks to troupe member Richard Colón—dubbed "Crazy Legs" for his acrobatic feats.

—Raquel Laneri

With enough space to move, dancers … combine hip-hop and breakdancing moves with their own variations to produce their own unique forms of movement.

—Kevin Griffin

called also breakdance, breaking, B-boying

Examples of breakdancing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Standouts for me included the breakdancing and skateboarding kits. —Adrienne So, WIRED, 17 Apr. 2024

Food, arts, cultural performances and other small business events running from day into night — plus singing, Kpop and breakdancing competitions. —Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2024

Such a statement is an audacious fallacy, considering that breakdancing, one of the tenets of hip-hop culture, was already in full swing by the time Silberg’s film went into production, capitalizing on themes and communities portrayed in earlier titles like Wild Style (1983). —Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 19 Dec. 2023

Meanwhile, the Asian Games will feature 40 sports including swimming, archery, athletics, badminton, equestrian, fencing, soccer, hockey, judo and kabaddi, with e-sports and breakdancing debuting as full medal sports after being approved by the Olympic Council of Asia. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 Jan. 2022

The Place de la Concorde, for example, will host the first-ever breakdancing event, along with other sports like skateboarding and three-on-three basketball, while beach volleyball will be played on the Champ de Mars, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. —Lindsey Tramuta, Travel + Leisure, 12 Nov. 2023

The two artforms are, if not brothers, at least cousins, both kin from the four corners of the hip-hop world, along with breakdancing and DJing. —Hazlitt, 6 July 2022

The video, which also stars British electro pop-punk singer Luciana, features a lot of cheesecake, beefcake and even some breakdancing. —Leslie Richin, Billboard, 31 Dec. 2021

As hip-hop marks its 50th anniversary, ABC News is taking a look back at the history of the culture through the lens of some of its most recognizable aspects, including the emergence of West Coast rap, breakdancing and graffiti art. —Osej Serratos, ABC News, 14 Aug. 2023

Word History

Etymology

break entry 2 (in sense "solo instrumental passage") + dancing (from dance entry 1 + -ing entry 1; from the performance of acrobatic dances during a cued series of instrumental breaks in pop songs

First Known Use

1982, in the meaning defined above