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Breaking

Breaking is an urban battle dance sport from hip-hop culture. B-Boys and B-Girls face each other in rounds; musicality, vocabulary, originality, technique and execution are judged rather than time or goals.

LevelMain sport FamilyDance Sport CategoryDance sport

AI-generated illustration: Breaking — AI-generated illustration

Classification

Category Dance sport

Family Dance Sport

Level Main sport

Getting started

Kurzbeschreibung Battle dance sport with toprock, footwork, power moves, freezes and musical response.

Geeignet für Suitable for people who like music, body control, creativity and direct battles.

Cost Low: clean sneakers, comfortable clothes and access to a class/jam are enough for basics. Class fees, workshops, travel to jams/battles and possible physio/mobility work. Breaking crew, dance studio, youth centre, hip-hop community or DanceSport programme. Do not describe it as a generic dance class without battle and judging logic.

First progress First basics immediately; battle-ready safety takes months.

Fitness level medium to high

Was du brauchst

smooth dance floor
sneakers
comfortable clothing
music/DJ
coach or crew
warm-up

First steps

warm up
learn toprock
practise six-step/footwork
build a safe freeze
respect cypher etiquette

Breaking crew, hip-hop dance studio, youth centre, jam or DanceSport federation.

Train power moves progressively with space, warm-up and stable neck/shoulder control.

Weitere Angaben

Aliases breakdance, b-boying, b-girling, Breakdance, B-Boying, B-Girling

Tags dance, urban, competition, breaking, dance-sport, breaking-battle-dance, tanzsport, breaking-battle

Rules and format

Die Grundlagen

Ziel

Outperform the opponent musically, technically and originally in battle rounds.

Teilnehmer

B-Boy/B-Girl solo or crew by format.

Teamgröße

usually 1v1; crew formats possible.

Spielfeld

battle floor/cypher.

Dauer

Depends on format and event.

Wertung

comparative judging by breaking criteria.

Gewinnbedingung

Best valid time, placing or score in the announced format.

Ausrüstung

dance floor
music/DJ
sneakers

Wichtige Regelpunkte

misconduct
touching/intimidation
rule/time breach
unsafe action

Regelquellen

Federations and sources

Federations

World DanceSport Federation (WDSF)
World DanceSport Federation (WDSF)

WDSF rules, documents and forms World DanceSport Federation · official-rules-index · high
Everything you need to know about Breaking World DanceSport Federation · official-sport-guide · high
WDSF Title Competition Grantings for 2026 World DanceSport Federation · official-competition-list · high
How Breaking Is Scored JudgeMate · judging-guide · medium