Bboy stands for "beat boy", because we dance to the beat. Bboy stands for beatk boy and is the dance of hip hop culture. The name was givin first by Dj Kool Herc to his dancers at one of his famous parties. Bboying started with top rocking and dancing at parties, then was taken to the floor. Now, over time, it has progressed and became more acrobatic and has added new style. Bboying is an element
of hip hop and is it's own dance, but a lot of moves came from a variety of places including tap, jazz, gymnastics, capoeira, and yoga, and it keeps on growing and evolving. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four kinds of movement: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop and especially breakbeats, although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns. There are four primary elements that form breaking. These include toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes/su***des. Toprock generally refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, though dancers often transition from other aspects of breaking to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps which can each be varied according to the dancer's expression (ie. aggressive, calm, excited). A great deal of freedom is allowed in the definition of toprock: as long as the dancer maintains cleanness, form and the b-boy attitude, theoretically anything can be toprock. Toprock can draw upon many other dance styles such as popping, locking, tap dance, or house dance. Transitions from toprock to downrock and power moves are called "drops". Downrock (also known as "footwork" or "floorwork") is used to describe any movement on the floor with the hands supporting the dancer as much as the feet. Downrock includes moves such as the foundational 6-step, and its variants such as the 3-step. The most basic of downrock is done entirely on feet and hands but more complex variations can involve the knees when threading limbs through each other. Power moves are acrobatic moves that require momentum, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. The breaker is generally supported by his upper body while the rest of his body creates circular momentum. Some examples are the windmill, swipe, and head spin. Some power moves are borrowed from gymnastics and martial arts. An example of a power move taken from gymnastics is the Thomas Flair which is shortened and spelled flare in b-boying. Freezes are stylish poses, and the more difficult require the breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength in poses such as the pike. They are used to emphasize strong beats in the music and often signal the end of a b-boy set. Freezes can be linked into chains or "stacks" where breakers go from freeze to freeze to the music to display musicality and physical strength. Suicides, like freezes, are used to emphasize a strong beat in the music and signal the end to a routine. In contrast to freezes, su***des draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to a controlled final position. B-boys or b-girls will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the su***de appears, the more impressive it is, but breakers execute them in a way to minimize pain.
