[Video] From the Bronx to China: Breaking and street dance get the Chinese grooving
With its debut at the Paris Olympics 2024, breaking is making its mark on the global stage, sparking excitement among B-Boys (Break-Boys) and B-Girls worldwide. In China, breaking and other street dance genres have gone from niche subculture to mainstream. What’s the charm of street dance? Join ThinkChina’s Yi Jina for an audio-visual immersion into this vibrant art form.
Breaking, together with graffiti, MCing, DJing and knowledge, make up the five elements of hip-hop. This cultural movement emerged in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York, as a vibrant form of expression for African American, Latino and Caribbean youth. In China, despite a later introduction to breaking and other street dance styles like jazz, Afro, locking and popping, there has been rapid advancement in mastering the various art forms.
The School of Cultural Industries Management at the Communication University of China and the China Hip-Hop Union Committee (CHUC) published a comprehensive report commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2023 on China’s street dance. The report said that CHUC has connected nearly three million street dancers and almost 10,000 training institutions nationwide. Annually, street dance enthusiasts engage in over ten million lessons and participate in more than 200,000 street dance exams, underscoring the immense enthusiasm and commitment within the community.
Street dance has transcended its origins to become a significant part of China’s cultural landscape, celebrated for its openness, freedom and inclusivity. Dancers have fused martial arts, traditional Chinese dance, folk art and more with street dance, each contributing their unique cultural touch while promoting both street dance and their heritage.
So what’s the charm of street dance? For many dancers, it’s the freedom to express themselves, the exhilaration of movement, and the passionate drive that makes this art form so compelling.
