The sport of breaking is officially hitting the Olympic stage this year with its debut at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Breaking is a competitive form of breakdancing which combines art, dance and acrobatic moves.
Freddie Munoz is the owner and dance instructor at DL Studio in Darien.
Munoz was introduced to the world of breaking at a young age before eventually opening in his own dance studio where he’s been teaching kids about dance since 2017, specializing in breaking and hip hop.
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“It's awesome to see kids figure stuff out to see them find the passion that I found when I first started,” Munoz said.
With breaking being introduced this year to the world, he broke down the elements it includes.
“It has 5 different elements. It's breaking, graffiti, DJ-ing, emceeing and knowledge being the fifth one.”
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He said the judges will have a lot to keep their eyes on while choosing the winners of each round.
“There’s footwork, there's toprock, there's prime moves and there’s freezes so they’re looking at that vocabulary and how much of an expansion you have on that, musically which is well how well you listen to music, execution which is how well you land a move, without messing up, technique is how well you can do the move technique wise.”
Two of Munoz’s students shared why they became involved in breaking.
“I love it because of how physically taxing it is and it's great for your exercise along with creativity too,” Ryan Coughlin said.
“My dad was a breaker in the Bronx since he was young and it really just inspired me in how athletic and engaging it is,” Oliver Castellanos said.
The two have been dancing together since the first grade at the DL Studio.
They young dancers said it's a big deal for them that breaking will be introduced at the Olympics.
“The Olympics has given a stage that break dancing has never gotten before,” Coughlin said.
In addition to the new sport, the Paris 2024 Olympics will also see the return of climbing, skateboarding and surfboarding.
