Origin of Break-Dance
“Get on the Good Foot“. James Brown’s blockbuster brought break dance about a breakthrough. Undoubtedly he was the godfather break dancing. In 1969 Mr. Brown entertained a massive success with “Get on the Good Foot” the subsequent hustle, or dance, craze that followed was the “Good Foot” soon to be renamed the “B-Boy“. As anyone who has seen James Brown perform live at concerts or even seen him on television his dance style can only be described as brilliantly energetic. It is this dance style that shaped break dancing and pointed it in new directions. Dance battles were already established when the B-Boy became popular but its high energy and almost acrobatic nature was ideal for the competitive and heated nature of battling.
But the real origin of break dance is hidden else where. Some critic think, emergence of break dance is some where related with Urban Street Jazz or more likely capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art. But the form break dance we know today came in limelight from the downtown of New York. Although there is controversy, many argue that it was also developing in Los Angeles at the same time.
Commercially break dance was first performed in the Bronx in New York in the very late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Top USA media focused it as “A BURST OF ENERGY In the Bronx”. In the early seventies in New York, where break-beat music was first heard, Block parties were often organized. DJ’s carried their turntables and sound equipment outside, tapped the current of a streetlight and the party began. One of the first to introduce break-beat music in this way was DJ Kool Herc. When playing his funk, soul and reggae records, he recognized that the breaks of some records expressed a burst of energy, sometimes lasting not longer than eight bars. He noticed that this was the part where people would go out of their heads and did the craziest dancing. So he outlined an approach to create his moment long-lasting.
From that time more DJ’s choose this style and rappers added their skills to this movement which resulted in the dawn of a new era. Most rappers didn’t have the money to buy the, expensive drum machines in that time, so DJ’s mixed the breaks of identical records endlessly together over which the MC’s rapped their lyrics. Grandmaster Flash, who also was one of founders of scratching, made his specialty of break-mixing. Many DJ’s improved in the skills of break-mixing. In the mean time enormous competition against each other came about a high level performance in this field. Many peoples think there are some factors which influence the popularization of break dance, such as James Brown’s influence also some people relate it with America’s Civil Right movement.
Break dancing lends its tastes to the reggae beats of hip-hop. In the time during the birth of break dancing, break dancers on the street would obtain their music from the radio more than any other means. Interestingly, black radio has been acclaimed to be highly influential in corresponding and voicing black opinions especially in this particularly volatile civil rights era. The topic of black radio has been the topic of numerous speeches from some prominent individuals. In August of 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the Association of Television and Radio broadcasters. This eloquent speech supported and recognized black radio DJ’s for playing an intricate part in helping keep the Civil Rights Movement alive.
However the “James Brown” factor mentioned earlier, another factor remains that is Afrika Bambaataa influence. As time went by, rival gangs would become rival crews who practiced and performed together. “Bambataa’s Universal Zulu Nation” was one such group. Africa Bambaataa is the legendary grand master DJ whom history has marked as the man most responsible for the successful growth of break dancing.
