Kool DJ Herc is considered the founding father of breakdancing. He would extend the instrumental "break" sections of songs using two turntables to allow dancers to showcase their moves. Breakdancing originated in the Bronx among Black and Latino immigrant communities in New York City in the 1970s. It grew in popularity due to influences from James Brown's dancing and music as well as depictions in media and sponsorship from brands like Adidas that commercialized the culture for profit. While competitive breakdancing lost popularity in the 1980s, Asian communities helped revive the style in the 2000s through new media platforms that again commercialized the art form.

1. B-Boys and Girls
Rojal myers

4. history/characteristics
• Founding Father: Kool DJ Herc (Jamaican) extended the breaks in
the tracks by using two copies of the songs on turntables.
• Vast majority were Black or Latino who were immigrants in Ney
York.
• B-Boy B-Girl stands for Break-Boy/Girl (sometimes Bronx or boogie)
as they would dance to the breaking of the track which would be
put on a loop by the DJ
• The term Breakdance was created by the media
"fight with creativity not with
weapons"

5. Influences
• James Brown’s dancing and music
• All genres of music
• Other styles of dances: Popping, Charlie Rock, Salsa

6. Fashion/symbolic icons
• Sportswear: Adidas, Nike, Flia, Ellesse
• Hats
• Big buckle belts
• Gold chains
• Boom box
• Turntables
• Tracksuits

9. Famous Icons/Media
• James Brown
• Run DMC x Adidas
• Media played on the fact that breakdancing was on the up
and realised they could make a profit from it. Started making
TV shows adverts, films. Companies like Adidas and Pepsi took
advantage of this.

12. Present Day
• As TV shows where made for break dancers etc., people lost
interest as the contests where mainly decided on the judges
decisions rather than the best man/crew win. Which led to
breakdancing dying out until the early 2000’s when the
Asians brought it back. The media pounced on the
opportunity to make profit on it and made shows such as
America’s Best Dance Crew, The Redbull BC etc.
• Films have also been made like Step Up (terrible acting, semi
decent dancing) , Battle Of the Year (cringey acting but ok
dancing)