Everything you need to know for breaking’s Olympic debut

At last, the B-boys of summer — and B-girls — are here, and they’re bringing their unique blend of dancing, gymnastics, and hip-hop culture to Paris. On August 9, breaking — don’t call it breakdancing — makes its hotly anticipated Olympics debut in the sport’s highest-profile moment to date. The entrance of breaking into the Olympics is a huge milestone for a sport and a dance style that has fought long and hard for social acceptance. After all, you don’t get to be an Olympic athlete without approaching a mindblowing level of physical stamina and ability. And when you match that with the level of agility required of great dancers, plus the heady competitiveness of a sport that was honed through street battles, you have the recipe for a truly unique, groundbreaking Olympic sport — and the mainstreaming of this American-born street dance on a whole new global level. What is breaking? To understand breaking, you have to understand the roots of hip-hop culture. On the sidewalks and back yards of the Bronx, where hip-hop was born in the late ’60s and ’70s, there were four main streams, or elements, of hip-hop artistry: DJ-ing, emceeing, graffiti art, and breaking. All...