Breakdancing

The breakdancing movement that originated among African American and Latin American youths in the South Bronx of New York City during the early 1970s. Breaking was born when street corner DJ's (in legend it is DJ Kool Herc who was first) would take the breakdown sections ("breaks") of dance records and string them together or loop them without any elements of the song per se. This provided a raw rhythmic base for improvising and further mixing, and it allowed dancers to display their skills during the break. Breakdancing has a variety of influences, there is no tradition in breakdancing, dancers picked elements from other dances and sports including but not limited to gymnastics, martial arts, ballet... The most common feature of breakdance music exists in breaks, or compilations formed from samples taken from different songs which are then looped and chained together by the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135 beats-per-minute with shuffled sixteenth and quarter beats in the percussive pattern. History credits Kool DJ Herc for the invention of this concept, later termed breakbeat.