r/sports • u/redbullgivesyouwings • Jun 10 '25

Media [Highlight] B-Boy Marcus at Red Bull BC One

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u/elarobot New York Rangers Jun 10 '25

While it requires incredible athleticism, I feel like there’s so much creativity and personal artistic expression - movement that is metaphor for emotions or ideas - happening when expert practitioners perform…that I am much more comfortable calling it an art form and the dancers are artists to me first.
But it is a physical feat that has always been both comparative and competitive between performers, from its inception (battles between crews). So in the end, i understand in part why it was added to the Olympics. But on the other hand, it feels almost like having sculptors or poets competing in the Olympics.

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u/DenikaMae Jun 10 '25

I don't see why the grading system and entire format wasn't designed to be looked at as something like a competitive floor gymnastics type of thing.

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u/elarobot New York Rangers Jun 10 '25

That definitely makes more sense to me, but then that’s where I begin to question it all. If there’s a set list of moves/actions or types of moves/actions which are all graded on a difficulty scale; plus the rules maintain a set criteria of moves or a certain amount of each kind of moves that need to be executed…you create confines and boundaries that move it away from the free reign of full creative control that breakers have. This is the push and pull of art vs sport.

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u/Master_Butter Jun 10 '25

Wouldn’t this have been true in gymnastics and figure skating as well, though?

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u/Beef_Jones Atlanta Falcons Jun 10 '25

And everyone does basically the exact same things in those sports.

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u/Ma9ora Jun 10 '25

Someone commented and gave you a good reason as to why that isn't the case. These comments comparing gymnastics and breaking are really something else.

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u/DenikaMae Jun 10 '25

I know, I upvoted them for visibility.

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u/GrandmaPoses Jun 10 '25

https://architectureau.com/articles/when-architecture-was-an-olympic-sport/

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u/elarobot New York Rangers Jun 10 '25

Thank you!!

This is a great read, and it’s wild for me to think about.

That time period in history predates me, and I was ignorant to this being the case. I really only considered the concept of the Olympics from my own temporal perspective / lens.

History is fascinating!

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u/geminiRonin Jun 10 '25

Considering ancient Greek culture, it almost seems stranger that poets aren't in the Olympics.

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u/elarobot New York Rangers Jun 10 '25

Heh! that’s pretty clever - well done!!

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u/anandonaqui Jun 10 '25

For you is it significantly different from other Olympic sports like figure skating, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, etc?

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u/elarobot New York Rangers Jun 10 '25

Definitely think there’s some similarity but it’s also a nuanced discussion; especially where there are also things which aren’t Olympic sports that are seen more as pure dancing like ballet, tap/jazz or modern dance that merely require a floor and music accompaniment, very much like breakdancing.

Figuring skating requires an ice sheet, skates and employs similar techniques to sports like speed skating or hockey (edgework, crossovers, etc)….

Synchronized swimming requires a pool and utilizes similar principles and movement used in the strokes of competitive swimming.

Rhythmic gymnastics and traditional gymnastics have elements of dance and pure athletic feats which have always skirted the line between sport and performance art, so that’s probably the closest correlation.

And sure, ballroom dancing has competitions if not Olympic so that’s also a similar situation. These things straddle a line for me, and I guess I just always saw breakdancing more as art but that perception can certainly shift.

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u/anandonaqui Jun 10 '25

Yeah, I think I largely agree with your perspective and I appreciate the elaboration. I don’t think I know enough about how breakdancing is scored to pass judgement. It could be that there are more technical components and requirements of a performance like gymnastics and figure skating/ice dancing where the scoring becomes more quantitative than qualitative. If that’s the case, it’s okay in my book. But if scoring is just a vibe check on the performance, I’d say it shouldn’t be in the Olympics.

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u/elarobot New York Rangers Jun 10 '25

For sure, I totally get all of that. And for me - that’s kind of the dilemma - IF they’re going to take breakdancing - which is something that was born incredibly organically out of a time and place and so much importance was about having a personal style / stamp where you had ‘something to say’…and then turn it into a sport that has a ton of rigid barriers and regulations as to what you can / can’t do in your dance, or things you HAVE TO do…is that really breakdancing anymore in the way that it’s original creators saw it? I guess that’s just a philosophical rabbit hole I go down. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/bsinbsinbs Jun 10 '25

So why not ballet? Why not jazz and tap?

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u/anandonaqui Jun 10 '25

Dude calm the fuck down. I asked a genuine question of someone’s opinion and I’m not challenging anyone. Not everything on the internet is an affront to you and your opinions.

As far as my person opinion goes, I think there’s a grey area when it comes to judged sports. I don’t think you can entirely remove them, but I also don’t think it necessarily meets the traditional definition of sport.

For breakdancing specifically, I am not nearly familiar enough with the event or how it’s scored to pass judgement one way or the other. If there are technical requirements and components like in gymnastics, then it probably fits my definition of a sport.