China News Service, Jinhua, August 16 (Zhang Bin and Fu Feiyang) A few days ago, Chinese girl Liu Qingyi won the women's singles championship in the Outbreak 2022 hip-hop competition, becoming the first Chinese player to win the world's top breakdance championship.
After learning the news, Chen Luofan, who won the breakdance women's A group championship of the 17th Zhejiang Provincial Games (hereinafter referred to as the Zhejiang Provincial Games) in July this year, was very excited.
"My next goal is to go to a higher stage and win gold and silver for the country," she told a reporter from Chinanews.com.
In the 1980s, breakdancing became popular in China, when Sun Honglei was still the "Northeast Dance King".
With the rise of pop music and the like, breakdancing gradually fell silent.
In recent years, breakdancing has been officially included in the competitions of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2022 and the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, making middle-aged people who once danced in the streets and alleys "hot in their hearts" -- breakdancing that has returned to the public eye is a A "young" sport?
What is the story behind its change?
Yang Miaohe, who danced breakdance when he was young.
Photo courtesy of Yang Miaohe
Sports for young people: 6-year-olds already on stage
"In 2018, I came across a breakdance video on the Internet. The girl in the video was doing all kinds of difficult movements on the floor, very handsome. At that moment, I was deeply attracted by the sport." said Chen Luofan from Jinhua, Zhejiang.
Breakdance is a competitive event, and it is common for athletes to endure hardships and injuries during training.
Chen Luofan said that he once hit his toe while practicing skills, but for competition, he still wears slippers to the dance room to practice some skills that do not require feet.
A reporter from Chinanews.com noticed that both Liu Qingyi and Chen Luofan were under the age of 17, but they were both passionate about breakdancing.
And breakdancing seems to always appear together with labels such as "young people" and "teenagers".
Taking the recent Zhejiang Provincial Games held in Jinhua as an example, there were more than 90 young athletes participating in the breakdancing competition, and most of them were about the same age as Chen Luofan.
The youngest of the contestants is only 6 years old and has already completed a complete set of dance moves.
"There are many fans of breakdance among young people in China, and various folk competitions and activities are also frequent. At present, there are more than 10,000 street dance students in Jinhua alone, most of them are young people. If things go on like this, there will be talents who are willing to engage in related occupations. There will be more and more, and it is expected to form a virtuous circle." said He Jingjing, vice president of Zhejiang Street Dance Association and coach of Chen Luofan.
Memories of middle-aged people: The trendy sports that are all the rage
According to the data provided by the Zhejiang Hip-hop Sports Association, breakdancing has a relatively good public base in Zhejiang. There are more than 20,000 registered hip-hop athletes. This number is still increasing, showing a younger and more professional trend.
It can be said that today's breakdancing is a movement led by young people.
But is it really "young"?
it's not true.
Yang Miaohe, a 55-year-old breakdance enthusiast, currently runs her own breakdance training class.
To this day, he still remembers every story about himself and breakdancing.
Yang Miaohe told a reporter from Chinanews.com that he was from Fuyang, Hangzhou, and was the first local person to contact breakdancing.
"In 1987, the movie "Breakdance" was all the rage, and young people would get together to break dance. It was very popular. Before breaking dance, I learned martial arts dance. The basic skills are better, and the entry is faster."
"At that time, there were few dance halls there, so everyone could only find an open space nearby to break dance. Some older people thought we were 'indecent' and called us 'hooligan'." Yang Miaohe said that the times gradually changed from conservative to conservative. Trendy.
It didn't take long for Fuyang to hold a breakdance competition, and he won the first place. At the same time, he was allowed to join the local song and dance troupe and become a professional dancer.
However, the good times did not last long.
"Around 1995, breakdance 'this gust of wind' seems to have passed. Life was hard in the song and dance troupe, so I could only teach dance everywhere, but at that time, breakdance teaching was not a good idea, and not many people were willing to learn it, and it was impossible to make a living." Yang Miao He said that because he had experienced the period when breakdancing was "no one cared about", he was very happy that breakdancing was now showing a "second spring".
Current Situation: Opportunities and Challenges
In addition to having many fans among young people, what does breakdance use to "jump" on the "stage" of professional competition?
"Break dance not only shows the beauty of dance, has a certain artistry, but also has strong sports attributes and competitiveness. Therefore, break dance can move from the 'small circle' to the public's vision, and from personal hobbies to the professional competitive stage. It's not unexpected." Meng Changqing, president of the Zhejiang Street Dance Association, told a reporter from Chinanews.com.
He said that breakdancing is a small item of hip-hop. It belongs to sports dance in sports events, similar to figure skating. It is also a scoring event in sports competitions, and the results are well-founded and quantifiable.
Taking this Zhejiang Provincial Games as an example, in breakdance-related competitions, the judges will use the skills, diversity, performance, musicality, creativity and personality of the contestants as indicators to score.
In recent years, the breakdance movement has developed rapidly, but it has also encountered corresponding challenges.
Meng Changqing said frankly that at present, the coaches related to hip-hop events have not been able to assess professional titles, and athletes do not have national rank. The development of related projects is more dependent on social forces, causing problems such as brain drain.
"Some young breakdance enthusiasts are still not supported and recognized by their parents, and some people gradually give up breakdance because of this. But I think this kind of situation will improve as breakdance takes on a bigger stage." Yang Miao He said.
It is summer vacation now, Chen Luofan has not let up, he still maintains his own rhythm, and the training plan is arranged from morning to night.
Through the sweat left by "Chen Luofans", people can predict that breakdancing is carrying many young dreams, "writing" new stories after going through ups and downs.
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