The untold story of how breaking - one of the most widely practiced
dance forms in the world today - began as a distinctly African American
expression in the Bronx, New York, during the 1970s.
Breaking is the first and most widely practiced hip-hop dance in the
world, with around one million participants in this dynamic,
multifaceted artform - and, as of 2024, Olympic sport. Yet, despite its
global reach and nearly 50-year history, stories of breaking's origins
have largely neglected the African Americans who founded it. Dancer and
scholar Serouj "Midus" Aprahamian offers, for the first time, a detailed
look into the African American beginnings of breaking in the Bronx, New
York.
The Birth of Breaking challenges numerous myths and misconceptions
that have permeated studies of hip-hop's evolution, considering the
influence breaking has had on hip-hop culture. Including previously
unseen archival material, interviews, and detailed depictions of the
dance at its outset, this book brings to life this buried history, with
a particular focus on the early development of the dance, the
institutional settings where hip-hop was conceived, and the movement's
impact on sociocultural conditions in New York City throughout the
1970s.
By featuring the overlooked first-hand accounts of over 50 founding
b-boys and b-girls alongside movement analysis informed by his embodied
knowledge of the dance, Aprahamian reveals how indebted breaking is to
African American culture, as well as the disturbing factors behind its
historical erasure.
