By Anne Deslauriers
If you were around in the 1980s (recall the fluorescent socks, teased hair and red leather jackets) you’ll remember breakdancing from its first wave of popularity. Well, it’s time to pull out your Pumas because breakdancing is back.
The signature dance of the ’80s, breakdance was known for its robotic moves, synchronized arm waves and head and back spins.
While those moves disappeared from the club scene at the end of the ’80s, hardcore Bboys (a term coined in the ’80s for guys who breakdance) insist breakdancing was never dead.
“Break never really disappeared, it only went underground,” says Ben Davidson, also known as Ben Jammin.
Jammin is the manager and member of the Ottawa break crew, Canadian Floor Masters. Crews like the Floor Masters get together as often as six days a week to practice their moves.
Now, breakdancing is enjoying a resurgence, particularly in the capital where a breakdancing summit and classes are drawing in a new audience.
Jammin credits the popularity of the hip hop culture and The Gap’s advertisements for the return of breakdancing to the mainstream. He says Bboys have been dancing in gyms, basements and parks since the 1980s.
Now Bboys can dance in clubs again because the hard beat of hip hop music is just what they need to do their acrobatics.
While many of the moves have remained the same, this new wave of breakdancing is even more creative and acrobatic than before.
Jammin says today’s dancing includes more combinations and power moves. By power moves, he means that even fewer body parts than before are touching the ground as Bboys spin into a blur.
“It’s hard for an old-schooler like me to keep with these new moves,” says Jammin, 27, who started breaking in 1985.
People who were only children in the ’80s are now catching on to the trend. Mario Bojorquez, 17, joined the Canadian Floor Masters just over a year ago. He says he turned to break because it was more intense and physical than most dancing done in clubs.
“It’s another way of using your body to express yourself,” says Bojorquez.
The break scene is so strong in Ottawa that a major international competition called Bboy Summit North was held in the heart of Centretown on March 4. Bboys from Toronto, Montreal and even Los Angeles gathered at Babylon on Bank Street to compete against one another and learn from old-school breakers.
Adam Kronick, owner of Babylon, says breakdancing is amazing because it unifies people of all ages.
“It’s such a unique form of art because it’s so visual, musical and it brings together such a wide variety of people,” says Kronick.
Summit attendants ranged in age from five- to 60-year-olds. While most breakers tend to be young men in their teens and twenties, there are some pretty talented Bgirls as well.
Christine Lamothe, 22, is part of an all Bgirl crew called the Upside Down Squad. She has been breakdancing for about two years and recently began teaching it at the Sandy Hill Community Centre.
She says girls tend to have more style moves than power ones. Lamothe says Bgirls are coming on strong but admits that sometimes it’s intimidating competing against the guys.
Lamothe says fear of injury is one thing that should not intimidate those who want to learn these floor acrobatics. While injuries like bruises, sprained wrists and sore knees are par for the course, serious injuries are rare. One caution to men though — Lamothe says bald spots can occur after too many headspins. This would explain why so many guys wear winter tuques indoors.
To Bboys, breakdancing is more than just a look or a hot new trend.
“It’s about spirit, freedom of expression and most of all a love to dance,” says Jammin.