Buenos Aires, 6-18 October
18 Feb 2019 15:22
Almost two years have gone since Breaking was recognized by the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation as a sport discipline of DanceSport. It was a turning point for Breaking to become a sport developed and promoted by the All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll (FDSARR) alongside with Standard, Latin and Rock’n’Roll.
Breaking is one of the very spectacular disciplines of DanceSport with many successful Russian B-boys, B-girls and crews, and with a huge fan base in all regions of the Russian Federation. B-boy Bumblebee (Sergey Chernyshov) became the first ever gold medalist in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (ARG) opening a new page in the history of DanceSport; while B-girl Matina (Kristina Yashina), who is featured in the latest issue of Olympic Review Magazine, won the silver medal at the 2018 WDSF World Youth Breaking Championship in Kawasaki (JPN).
The first international Breaking competition hosted by the FDSARR – the Russian Open Breaking Championship 2018 (ROBC) – was a great success featuring incredible battles amongst the world’s top breakers. More than 250 kids took part in the ROBC Kids and Kids Show groups, and about 600 B-boys and B-girls representing 11 countries joined the event for three days in Moscow. The event included workshops led by B-boy Junior (FRA), B-boy Dyzee (CAN), B-boy Reveal (USA), B-Boy The End (KOR) and B-boy Thesis (USA).
2018 was a year of new prospects opened for Breaking, and the FDSARR is developing a strategy aimed at attracting new athletes into the federation by giving them an opportunity to take part in high-level international sports competitions. Thus, the Russian National Breaking Championships will be held this year for the first time from 28th February to 1st March in the city of Kazan. The Russian National Breaking Team will be nominated based on the results of this National Championship and will take part in all WDSF’s international Breaking events. The first one being the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship in Nanjing (CHN) on the 23rd of June.
The FDSARR will also organize the Sochi Open 2019 (June 23-30), a global DanceSport event which will unite Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll, Standard, Latin and Breaking into one big and friendly family on the Black Sea side. The Sochi Open will feature international competitions in all these disciplines culminating with the FDSARR Cup on June 30th, 2019.
Following the success of 2018, the Russian Open Breaking Championship 2019 (ROBC), will be held again on October 18-20, 2019 in Moscow.
Today, Breaking is gaining more and more fans and making the Olympic prospects for our sport closer to its ultimate goal.
The All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll (FDSARR) invites all WDSF National Member Bodies to the FDSARR Breaking events to be held in the Russian Federation this year.
23 Jan 2019 17:03
Following fantastic and exciting Hip Hop and Breaking competitions in the 2013 World DanceSport Games in Kaohsiung (TPE), further to the 2018 World Youth Breaking Championship in Tokyo (JPN), and after making its successful Olympic debut at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (ARG), the World DanceSport Federation continues to promote Breaking alongside with the other disciplines in the worldwide DanceSport family by announcing the WDSF World Breaking Championship to be organised in Nanjing (CHN) on June 23rd, 2019. The Championship will be held as one of the qualifier events for the first GAISF World Urban Games in Los Angeles (USA) in September 2019.
At the press conference held in Nanjing Hengda Conference and Exhibition Centre on January 18th, 2019, Mr. Ken Swift, one of the legends in Breaking, was present to answer the questions with his wide expertise pertaining to Breaking. The press conference was attended by many newspapers, TV channels and magazine publishers, and it was also streamed live.
The 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship is granted by the World DanceSport Federation, Social Sports Guidance Centre of the General Administration of Sport of China, and Chinese Dance Sport Federation. The local organisers are Social Sports Administration Centre of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Sports Bureau, and Lishui District People’s Government of Nanjing City.
06 Nov 2018 18:06
Russian Open DanceSport Championships has grown to not only a huge but also a multi-disciplined event. Russian Open Breaking Championships, a three days fest of head-spinning Breaking and world top B-boys and B-girls, took place on October 19-21 in Moscow under the aegis of the All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll, and started the ROC-week with a bang! The pioneer WDSF Open Breaking B-boys and WDSF Open Breaking B-girls were held in frames of the ROBC-2018.
On Friday, ROBC opened with workshops, which gathered more than 60 young B-boys and B-girls who got the opportunity to train with real Breaking legends.
On Saturday, selection rounds were held in seven groups: B-boys and B-girls Pro, 5vs5 Crews, B-boys Youth, B-girls Youth, Kids and Kids Show. More than 250 kids took part in the ROBC Kids and Kids Show nominations, about 600 B-boys and B-girls representing 11 countries: Japan, Republic of Korea, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
TOP 8 in each group were selected to continue performances at the ROBC decisive stages. World top B-boys and B-girls were invited to take part in the main events together with TOP 8 selected on Saturday. The first ever Breaking Olympic champion B-boy Bumblebee and YOG participant B-girl Matina who arrived from Buenos Aires on Saturday took part in the Russian Open Breaking Championships on Sunday.
The first ROBC champions and prizewinners:
WDSF Open Breaking B-boys
1 B-boy Jamal/Russian Federation
2 B-boy Khalil /France
3 B-boy Killa-Kolya/Kazakhstan
4 B-boy Alkolil/Russian Federation
WDSF Open Breaking B-girls
1 B-girl Ayumi/Japan
2 B-girl Narumi/Japan
3 B-girl Kastet/Russian Federation
4 B-girl Maxime/Belgium
5vs5 Crews
1 Illusion of Exist/Russian Federation
2 Gamblerz/Republic of Korea
3 Original Breakers Crew (OBC)/Russian Federation
4 Vagabond/France
ROBC B-boys Youth
1 DopeDog/Russian Federation
2 Dyak/Russian Federatio
3 Saffa/Russian Federation
4 D-Way/Russian Federation
ROBC B-girls Youth
1 Uzelok/Russian Federation
2 Belka/Russian Federation
3 Lizzy/Russian Federation
4 Lisa/Russian Federation
ROBC 1vs1 Kids
1 Grom/Russian Federation
2 Denver/Ukraine
3 Pauk/Russian Federation
4 Angry Boy/Russian Federation
ROBC Kids show
1 Kill Joy/ Breakoniers/Russian Federation
3 Dominant/Russian Federation
4 Staff Original/Russian Federation
The first international Breaking competitions hosted by the All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll – the Russian Open Breaking Championships – appeared to be a great success. WDSF Presidium member Lena Arvidsson attended the ROBC as a special guest and took part in the opening and awards ceremonies of the final competition day.
14 Oct 2018 14:14
Photos: Owen Hammond for WDSF
Nobody quite knew how the sport-viewing public or wider Olympic world would react to the inclusion of breaking as part of Buenos Aires 2018.
But over four days at the Parque Mujeres Argentinas, the sport delivered major helpings of everything that modernisers want to bring to the Olympic movement: youthful energy, thrills and a streetwise creativity.
The crowds turned up in large numbers and made an even larger noise. The battling format, with competitors eliminating rivals on their way to winning medals, was immediate and exciting, and gave the art form a genuine sporting feel.
There are not many events where the judges come out and do head spins prior to competition, but breaking is the honourable exception.
Some great prospects emerged, too. Ram (Ramu Kawai, JPN) won gold in the b-girl event and also took top spot in the mixed team event with b-boy B4 (Le Minh Hieu, VIE). B-boy Bumblebee (Sergei Chernyshev, RUS) struck gold in the b-boy category while also taking bronze in the mixed-team event with partner b-girl Ella (Anna Thurner, AUT).
The competitors are in no doubt that they would love to move up to the biggest sporting stage of all.
“I would love to see the event move to the Olympic Games,” Ram said. “It would be a dream to go and compete in that, and I would love to try and win it. I think we all feel that way. The crowds in Buenos Aires have shown how much energy breaking can bring. It would be a really good Olympic sport.”
The event, meanwhile, was not only about discovering whether Breaking would work at an Olympics. It was also about discovering whether the Breaking world was comfortable with a sporting setting.
The need to keep things real was at the forefront of their minds: hence the inclusion of a highly respected panel of judges and top hip-hop DJs. This was no pale imitation of what is going on in Breaking elsewhere. But were they convinced by the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
Judge Richard Colon (USA), better known as Breaking legend Crazy Legs, arrived in Argentina as ‘a gatekeeper’ of the scene, and was very impressed by the experience.
“I would like to see this at the Olympics, it can have a future if the federation and Olympic Committee can come to terms about moving it forward,” he said.
“What’s happened so far in Buenos Aires is amazing. I was open-minded coming here, and I hope my influence from being on the inside has helped. We need to preserve the association with hip-hop.
“I’ve also really enjoyed the mixed-team Breaking. Putting together dancers for the two-on-twos, pairing different countries together - that is totally representative of hip-hop culture.
“Hip-hop has served as a bridge between cultures in the past, creating alliances, and I love that. I think we can inject a whole bunch of new life into the Olympic scene.”
13 Oct 2018 23:04
Photos: Ian Walton for OIS/IOCRussia’s Bumblebee became the first Youth Olympic b-boy champion in history at Buenos Aires 2018. He also won a bronze in the mixed-gender 2vs2 event with Austria’s b-girl Ella. For his father, who was a b-boy against the odds in 1990s Russia, the medals were worth more than gold.
Sergei Chernyshev sparked a peaceful revolution in Voronezh, a provincial town 500 kilometres from Moscow, when he started teaching breaking to local kids at the end of the 1990s. Back then, with no opportunity to travel, Chernyshev pored over video cassettes of foreign dancers to study their moves, and later tested them out on the dance floor.
At Buenos Aires 2018, the name of the man from a little-known Russian province was written in the history books of his beloved sport as his son b-boy Bumblebee - whose real name is also Sergei Chernyshev - became the first b-boy gold medallist at an Olympic event.
“To say what this means to me in two words - it’s the meaning of my life,” said the medallist’s father and coach. “I have been waiting for this Olympic debut for a long time.”
Chernyshev had to give up breaking in 2000 when his son was born. Until that point he was teaching close to 200 children, as breaking gained popularity in the city, which has slightly more than 1 million inhabitants.
Bumblebee was enrolled in artistic gymnastics from the age of 4, but despite showing promise in the sport, he quit unexpectedly when he was 8.
It was then that breaking came into his life.
“I was waiting for this,” said his father of the switch. “I was waiting for the moment when he would realise that breaking appeals more to him.”
Chernyshev taught his son all the moves he knew and even helped him to pick out his b-boy name. Bumblebee initially wanted to call himself ‘Optimus Prime’ after a character in the Transformers, but his father deemed the name too mature and suggested ‘Bumblebee’ - the name of a friendly robot from the same franchise - instead.
Nine years later at Buenos Aires 2018, Chernyshev watched his son make history as he won the gold medal in the first ever breaking competition held at an Olympic event.
“It is an honour for me,” Bumblebee said of his milestone victory. “I had the opportunity to win this gold medal and naturally, I couldn’t not use it. After all, this is the first gold medal in breaking.
“For me it was always very important to leave a mark in history and I think that now, whatever happens, I will be a part of history.”
On 11 October, Bumblebee also won a bronze medal in the mixed team event where he competed alongside Austria’s b-girl Ella.
For his father, just being at the groundbreaking competition in Buenos Aires was a dizzying experience. Here Chernyshev met some of the founders that he spent hours studying on video, including now-judges and jury members Crazy Legs, Storm and Renegade.
The sport has come a long way in Russia since Chernyshev first tried it in what the Russians colloquially refer to as the “wild 90s,” a time of political and economic turmoil. Curiously, it was precisely these challenging times that helped the sport to grow.
“It was fashionable on every street then because a b-boy was, first of all, seen not as a dancer, but as an athlete,” Chernyshev said. “That was very relevant, especially in the 90s in Russia. You could make a name for yourself not only with your fists, but with your talents as well.”
Now having witnessed the debut of his favourite sport at a Youth Olympic Games, Chernyshev hopes it will make it into the senior programme at Paris 2024. For his part, Bumblebee was thankful to be able to give his father that first taste of Olympic glory.
“My parents opened their own dance studio when I was 9 years old. I went there and I fell headfirst into it,” Bumblebee said. “And nine years later, I won the Youth Olympics. This is, first of all, my gift to my father because he used to do this as well so he can fully feel what this means.
“The most important thing in a victory is to have someone to share it with.”