This is why you shouldn't call us breakdancers. (2024)

It can be a little confusing for anyone outside of breaking culture, or new to it, as to why they're told the terms breakdancer or breakdancing are incorrect ways of referring to someone who breaks or to the dance style they practise. The correct terms are B-Boy, B-Girl or breaker, and they'e breaking, B-Boying, or B-Girling when they're dancing.

So what's the meaning and history behind the actual names and terms used?

B-Boys, B-Girls and breakers

There are two main definitions of B-Boy and B-Girl.

The first, and most widely known, is that the B stands for Break so B-Boys and B-Girls are break-boys and break-girls. This is because breakers would dance to the part of the track that was the break(down).

In the 1970s, when hip-hop culture began in New York City, DJs like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and others would throw neighbourhood parties. It was at these parties where they started to play two copies of the same record, mixing between both so that they could extend the break of the track. This is what inspired the creation of the dance known as breaking. When the break dropped, people at the parties would hit the floor and go off, dancing wildly to the energising break part of the music. This is why they were called break-boys and break-girls, shortened to B-Boys and B-Girls.

Another story behind the terms is to do with the fact that at the time the Bronx was also very crime--ridden, filled with violence and gangs. Many youths growing up in that situation saw the neighbourhood parties as a release and escape from the frustrations of the situation they lived in. The breakbeats that the DJs played inspired the youths to dance to let go of everything they felt, filling them with so much energy that they came to something of a breaking point on the dance floor – hence breakers, break-boys and break-girls.

There are also some who say that the B stands for Bronx making it Bronx-boy or Bronx-girl. This is in reference to the fact that breaking began in the Bronx, thus representing the location the dancers came from rather than their dance style.

Why is it important to use the correct terms?

When breaking first started it was pretty much all that the kids in the ghetto had. They didn't just do it, they lived it. It was their lifestyle and this is the reason why the use of the correct original terms is important, as it refers to someone who lives the lifestyle of a B-Boy or B-Girl. To be a B-Boy or B-Girl was, and still is, to dress a certain way, to listen to the music of hip-hop culture, to walk and talk a certain way, and also to practise (or at least have an interest in) the other three elements of hip-hop: graffiti, MCing and DJing.

Why not breakdancer or breakdancing?

When breaking became big in the media, and B-Boys and B-Girls got onto TV, they saw these kids dancing, heard the term 'breaking' and so said that they were breakdancing, unaware that the correct term was B-Boying, B-Girling or breaking. With the media and television the ones to put the dance form out to the world, they introduced it as being called breakdancing and so the general public – and those who saw the dance and began to practice themselves – thought that those were the correct names.

Then, when the dance became massively popular all over the world, people started travelling to the Bronx to meet the creators and pioneers, and to learn the history from them. Books and documentaries on hip-hop culture and breaking were also released, containing interviews with the originators of the dance, and this core group started to travel to jams, competitions and events around the world, where they judged battles, gave workshops and spoke.

All of this gave the opportunity to finally educate the new worldwide scene on the true history of the dance, which included correcting everyone on the fact that breakdancing and breakdancer were terms created by the media, and that B-Boy, B-Girl and breaking were the original and correct names.

There was also a period when a breakdancer was seen as someone who only practiced the dance of breaking, but had no knowledge or interest in the actual history of breaking itself and wasn't a part of actual hip-hop culture. But now everyone endeavours to use the original terms of B-Boying, B-Girling and breaking when referring to the dance and those who practise it. The terms breakdancing and breakdancer are still widely used by the media, though, and are usually the first names anyone new to breaking will hear it called.

It's about lifestyle and hip-hop culture

The important thing to note is that the correct terms are names that refer to the cultural essence of the dance itself, and the relationship to hip-hop culture that any breaker has. There's also the important fact that those names came about long before organised competitions. This puts into perspective the fact that you don't have to even enter competitions to be a B-Boy or B-Girl. Battling is a large part of the dance, but competitions on their own don't define someone as being a breaker. A B-Boy and B-Girl are truly defined by their connection to the dance and the lifestyle that they live within hip-hop.

Learn more about breaking and it's culture in the ABC of ... Breaking: