B-boying

 B-boying is a popular style of street dance that was created and developed as part of hip-hop cultureamong African Americans and, later, among Latino youths in New York City.^{[1]:125, 141, 153} The dance consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves and freezes/suicides. It is danced to both hip hop and other genres of music that are often remixed to prolong the musicalbreaks. The musical selection for b-boying is not restricted to hip-hop music, as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. These dancers often participate in battles, formal or informal dance competitions between two individuals or two crews. Although the term "breakdance" is frequently used, "b-boying" and "breaking" are preferred by the majority of the art form’s pioneers and most notable practitioners.^[2][3]

          

There are four primary elements that form breaking. These include toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes/suicides.   

Toprock generally refers to any string of steps performed from a up right, standing position. It is usually the opening move, although dancers often transition from other aspects of breaking to toprock and back. Toprock has a variety of steps that varies according to a dancer's attitude (ie. aggressive, funky, comical). The variety of Toprock moves are often drawn from many other dance styles such as popping, locking, house dance, or tap dance. Transitional toprocks, upright steps that links to downrock, freezes, suicides, and power moves are known as get-downs.  

Downrock (also known as "footwork" or "floorwork") is used to describe any movement on the floor where the dancer have a low proximity to the floor, often supported by their hands, while executing dance steps with his or her feet. The foundational 6-step and its variants (3-step, 4-step, 5-step, 7-step, or personal variations) generally define Downrock. Other downrock moves involve the dancer utilizing his/her arms and legs to create loop motions (also known as threads) or his/her whole body while laying on the floor (also known asbackrock).   

Power moves are acrobatic moves that require momentum, speed, endurance, strength, and control. The dancer is generally supporting himself or herself using upper body, while showing movements of circular momentum. Notable examples are the windmill, swipe, head spin, and flare. Numerous variations of power moves have roots in gymnastics and martial arts.  

Freezes are stylish poses. Most freezes require a breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength, such aspike freeze. Freezes are categorized into ground freezes, where the dancer's proximity to the floor is low, and air freezes, where the dancer's proximity to the floor is high. This type of move is used to emphasize strong "breaks" in the music, often signaling the end of a set of moves.Freezes can be chained together, known as "stacking", where breakers change freeze positions from high to low, or vice versa, to display physical strength as well as musicality, if performed with the music.        

Suicides, like freezes, are also used to emphasize a strong "break" in the music, often signaling the end to a set of dance moves as well. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to its motion, usually falling, while freezes draw attention to its stop of motion. When a dancer executes a suicide, he or she will appear as if they have fallen onto their backs, stomachs, or etc. in a painful method. The more painful a suicide move appears, the more impressive the move becomes. Although suicides may appear painful, this type of move does not actually hurt the dancer.