Young Taiwanese break dancers are putting their skills to the test as national athletes
Young Taiwanese break dancers are putting their skills to the test as national athletes
2023-02-05
Break dancing is a popular street dance that combines showy movements that include all sorts of acrobatics. The dance form is set to debut as a sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Taiwan is ready to give it a go. B-boys and b-girls from all over the country have been training for years for a chance to shine on the dance floor. Now, some of them are training with Taiwan’s top athletes at the National Sports Training Center in Kaohsiung in hopes of winning a ticket to Paris. Here’s their story in our Sunday special report.
The b-boy starts with a power move – a move relying on speed, momentum, and acrobatic elements – and then transitions to a freeze. This is the Metro Street Dance Competition 2022, and it’s drawn the best b-boys and b-girls in the country to pit their skills against each other. Spinning on their heads, hands and backs, these breakers put their muscular endurance, balance and energy to the test.
Break dancing – also called breaking or b-boying– originated in the U.S., and people who dance in this style are called b-boys and b-girls, or breakers. The most interesting part of breaking is considered to be the battles, which are turn-based competitions where two breakers are judged on their creativity and skill. During a battle, breakers taunt each other with exaggerated and provocative expressions and movements.
Liu Cheng-te
B-boy
When the music drops, you first listen to the track, and then you express yourself to your opponent. When the music is playing you have to have some back-and-forth. It’s actually a fun process, a bit like arguing or debating.
Hsu Pei-cheng
B-boy
One important point is that you want to overpower or embarrass your opponent. It’s more like that, like a contest.
Breaking is a challenge of limits, and involves coordination with the rhythm of the music. During battles, DJs throw out random tracks, and breakers must adapt on the spot to come out on top.
Sun Chen
B-boy
You don’t know ahead of time. Only when the DJ lays down the track do you know what the music will be, so you have to think fast. You have to figure out how you’ll play with the rhythm, so you have to listen more. Typically you will have an understanding of which DJs tend to play what music.
Lo Kuo-chuan
B-boy
I think that your ability to express yourself and your ability to move during the battle are things that dancers basically place a lot of value on.
Well-known b-boy Liu Cheng-te, who is also on the breaking national team, made it to the semifinals at Metro Street Dance Competition 2022. Liu’s teammate from the national team, Lo Kuo-chuan, judged the competition, and fellow teammate Sun Chen was also on hand to cheer Liu on. The teammates’ enthusiasm spurred the crowd and added to the excitement.
Sun, 23, was born on the day of the 1999 Jiji Earthquake. Therefore, he goes by the alias Quake. At 11, Sun began to learn about breaking, and in recent years has become the new dark horse of Taiwan’s breaking scene, taking everyone by surprise.
In 2021, Sun came out top in Taiwan at breaking’s most respected competition, the Red Bull BC One. He flew to Poland to join 40 other champion breakers from around the world, and took part in the final competition.
Sun didn’t pass the quarterfinals in Poland, but his participation in the event made him known throughout the breaking world. In 2023, breaking is set enter the Asian Games, and in 2024 is expected to be an event at the Olympics. Taiwan is ready, having assembled a breaking national team out of eight of the country’s best breakers and three coaches. The team, which is the country’s first in the sport, practices at the National Sports Training Center in Kaohsiung.
Moving along to the music, Sun spins freely, as if unaffected by gravity. The group of athletes and coaches has an average age of 26, and each of them has been breaking for roughly a decade. Breaking is something they share in their DNA.
Yang Chia-li
B-boy
Dancing is like a religion to me.
Cheng Yu-ning
B-girl
It’s like life itself. I come in contact with it everyday, I provoke it, and it becomes something belonging to me.
Sun Chen
B-boy
Connecting with breaking, and with hip hop, has opened a door for me that connects me with the world.
Over the past seven years, Sun has performed in 12 different countries, and in 2022 he was chosen to compete again at the Red Bull BC One event. In November, he flew to New York to compete in the event’s World Final competition, making him the second person in Taiwan to do so.
Sun Chen
B-boy
I’m very nervous about it, but also very much looking forward to it. After all, it’s my first time at the World Final. When I was younger I dreamed about it, but never imagined I’d make it here. I hope to give the best performance I can. I won’t say I’m going to win, but if I dance my best, that will be enough.
Fellow breaker 25-year-old Cheng Yu-ning was once picked on by classmates for being clumsy. Her b-girl championship win at the 2022 Red Bull BC One competition was a hard-fought achievement, and the scar on her left shoulder from a broken arm proves it.
Cheng Yu-ning
B-girl
This is a keloid scar. The surgery left a relatively deep scar. Every time it gets better, I end up training really hard, putting lots of energy into it, and then the scar tightens up on me. In my journey with breaking I’ve had lots of breakthroughs. I remind myself that I’ve had so many breakthroughs, and so this scar is also something I can be OK with. It will be a force to push me forward.
That impetus continues to push Cheng forward, and now breaking has also moved forward, from being a subculture to becoming an Olympic sport. With no precedent to guide them as their pastime turns national sport, breakers and coaches alike are feeling their way along as they go.
Wang Wei-chih
Coach
There is also the issue of our tactics. For example, what do we play when we encounter opponent A? What do we do when we encounter opponent B? These things we need to predict in advance, and when we know the situation our athlete finds themselves in, we can decide their actions.
Liu Chih-chiang
Coach
We will probably focus on strengthening our creativity and musicality, and then work on our skills at matching the moves and music. That will allow the athletes to improve their abilities.
In transitioning from dancer to athlete, the breakers must adjust their mentality. The training also needs to be adjusted, and weight training now forms a part of their daily routine.
Lin Tai-yu
Physical trainer
Their dancing involves a combination of many repeated moves, and so they train their hands and feet, as well as some special movements. This way it’s much closer to their actual performances.
Adorned in a white dress shirt, dress pants and leather shoes, Hsu Pei-cheng meets with a client for his day job at an insurance company. Seeing him like this, it would be hard to imagine his other identity as a champion b-boy.
Hsu changes into some street wear and heads into the studio. The 31-year-old champion of the Metro Street Dance Competition 2022, heads up the Hsinchu-based breaking group Keep Going Breaking. KGB is also where fellow b-boy Sun got his start.
Sun Chen
B-boy
When I was younger Pei-cheng was like an idol to me. Later on I became a second-place champion, and last year I reached the semifinals at the Red Bull BC One competition. I’ve battled against him. At the time, the significance of that battle to me was so great. Since I was younger I have always followed in Pei-cheng’s footsteps.
Hsu Pei-cheng
B-boy
Breaking will be part of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which I think will be very good for the breaking scene in Taiwan. In the past, break dancing was just an interest, but now dancers can become national team athletes. I really envy Sun, that he could come into it at this opportune time. I’m already 30, and I can’t devote myself wholeheartedly to the sport now like he can, because I have a child, I have a family.
However, whether someone is a professional athlete or not, and regardless of their age or personal identity, all that matters in dance is one’s passion.
It’s the weekend and the national team has left the training center, but for b-girl Yang Chia-li, dance is still the main focus of the day.
Intensely rehearsing their dance moves, recording their rehearsals and reviewing the footage – this was all part of a larger plan for the 10-member KGB. In November, the group traveled to L.A. to take part in the Freestyle Session competition, a 10-on-10 group battle.
Sun Chen
B-boy
This really reflects what breaking is about, it’s closer to a team competition. It’s a bit like a fight between gangs. We get embarrassed, and tempers flare up, but there’s no physical conflict. Instead, we communicate through our dance moves, we use our dance skills to persuade each other. I think it’s really fun.
Taiwan’s b-boys and b-girls are stepping out into the world, and are all set to make waves at the Paris Olympics. Breakers like those at KGB are setting the stage for future generations to have battles of their own.
霹靂舞進軍亞奧運 運動新時代正在改寫
2023-02-05
你知道嗎「霹靂舞」不再只是年輕人的次文化，它在2024年巴黎奧運，將首度成為正式比賽項目之一。台灣也組成了第一支霹靂舞國家隊，選手教練已進駐高雄左營國家訓練中心，為2023亞運和2024奧運備戰。
經典的POWER MOVE大地板，加上FREEZE定點。「舞」林高手齊聚，2022年的捷運盃街舞大賽，想在一百多組參賽者中脫穎而出，場場都是硬仗。以頭頂、雙手或背部為中心旋轉翻滾，考驗舞者的肌耐力、平衡感、爆發力和過人的膽識。
來自美國的霹靂舞、BREAKING，也稱地板舞。舞者統稱B-BOYS、B-GIRLS或是BREAKERS。霹靂舞最具看頭的就是BATTLE，雙方以誇張的表情、動作，你來我往，既較勁又挑釁，擦出火花，更迸出火藥。
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 劉承德]]
“音樂一下的時候，你聽著音樂然後跟你的對手互相表達，這個音樂的當下你必須跟他有一些呼應，其實這過程非常開心，有點像互相爭辯、辯論的感覺”
[[捷運盃街舞比賽亞軍 徐培烝]]
“一個重點是，我要怎麼樣壓過對方，或是把對方尬掉，比較像是這樣，一個較量”
挑戰極限的霹靂舞，絕非單純炫技，要能融入音樂節奏。每場BATTLE，現場DJ隨機出題，舞者的臨場應變力，成了勝負關鍵。
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 孫振]]
“完全都不知道，DJ放了(音樂)才知道，所以當下要很快就想好，這個音樂我該怎麼去玩它，多聽，平常就會了解有哪些DJ，哪些DJ習慣怎麼放歌”
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 羅國銓]]
“你在場上的表情能量或是動作的能量，我覺得這是基本舞者非常看重的”
這場捷運盃街舞賽「臥虎藏龍」，擠進四強的劉承德是霹靂舞培訓國家隊選手，
場上評審羅國銓也是國家隊，還有他孫振，儘管沒參賽，跑來幫舞團的隊友助陣，成了場邊最HIGH啦啦隊。
二十三歲的孫振，出生在九二一地震那天，有個很酷的英文名字Quake，十一歲開始學舞，一路過關斬將，B-BOY Quake成了台灣霹靂舞新竄出的黑馬。
2021年孫振摘下了，象徵霹靂舞最高殿堂Red Bull BC One 台灣冠軍，飛往波蘭和世界各國四十位冠軍爭奪最終總決賽的四張門票。
最後孫振止步於世界八強，但B-BOY Quake名聲已經打響。2023年霹靂舞將前進亞運，2024年成為奧運的比賽項目，台灣霹靂舞國家隊2022年成軍，八名選手和三位教練，進駐高雄國家訓練中心，這是史無前例的全新開始。
跟著音樂，身體無限旋轉翻滾，孫振身上彷彿沒有地心引力。這群選手加教練，平均年齡只有約二十六歲，但每個人的舞齡，幾乎都超過十年。BREAKING是他們共同的DNA。
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 楊加力]]
“舞蹈對我來說像是一個信仰”
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 程聿寧]]
“像生活一樣，每天都會觸碰它、刺激它，成為我自己的東西”
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 孫振]]
“接觸BREAKING、接觸HipHop，開了我與世界接軌的大門”
與世界接軌，孫振近七年來，因為比賽表演跑遍了近二十個國家，2022年被Red Bull BC One相中，十一月去紐約參與World Final世界總決賽，他是台灣的第二人。
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 孫振]]
“現在非常緊張，但也還滿期待，因為畢竟是第一次。小時候也做夢，沒有想到現在拚到這裡，希望可以盡力展現好，不會想說要贏，就想說我把自己跳好就好”
二十五歲的程聿寧，曾被同學嘲笑是「肢體障礙」。她剛奪下2022年Red Bull BC One，B-Girl的台灣冠軍，光環背後是不為人知的練舞血淚，肩膀上醒目的傷疤是摔斷手的印記。
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 程聿寧]]
“這是蟹足腫，開刀疤痕比較深，每次好了之後，訓練完時，我出力，它會抓很緊。我在BREAKING路上突破很多事情，我會告訴自己，我都突破這麼多，這件事情也是OK，就會變成一個推進的動力”
推進的動力持續前進，霹靂舞從街頭次文化首度躍上奧運。從藝術到運動，沒有前例可循，更沒有公式可套，如何找到平衡點，教練和選手都在摸索”
[[霹靂舞國家隊教練 王威智]]
“再來就是我們的戰術，比方說我們對到A選手，我要放什麼，對到B選手要做什麼，這個要提前預判，跟得知這選手目前的狀況，去選擇他的動作”
[[霹靂舞國家隊總教練 劉志強]]
“我們現在加強的可能會是在創意跟音樂性為主，然後搭配技術，讓選手能力可以提升”
從舞者變身運動員，選手的心態要調適，訓練內容也要調整，重訓成了每日套餐。
[[國訓中心體能訓練師 林泰祐]]
“他們在跳舞過程中有很多回合制，透過手部、腳部，甚至專項的動作去訓練，更貼近實際上運動表現的樣子”
白襯衫、西裝褲加皮鞋，徐培烝白天是保險業務，很難想像他的另一個身分。
換上嘻哈裝，打扮判若兩人，三十一歲的徐培烝剛拿下捷運盃街舞賽的亞軍，他是新竹知名舞團KGB的團長，KGB是Keep Going Breaking的縮寫，十多年前才國小的孫振就從這裡啟蒙。
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 孫振]]
“以前(小時候)就培烝，看偶像一樣，後來我當上了二軍，現在當上正式團員，再到去年Red Bull BC One四強時，我們有對到，那個時候對我來講意義很大，一直以來，我小時候都是追著培烝跑”
[[舞團團長 徐培烝]]
“街舞被推進了巴黎奧運，對全台灣的街舞風氣，我覺得會是很好的契機，因為，以往可能跳舞只能當興趣，但是他也可以成為國手，會很羨慕他(孫振)這個時機可以遇到這麼好的機緣，因為我現在已經三十歲了，沒辦法像他這樣全心全意的投入在全職選手的狀態，因為，畢竟現在有小孩、家庭”
無論是不是全職選手，無關年齡、身分，在跳舞的路上，熱情是唯一指標。
週末假日離開國家訓練中心，霹靂舞國家隊選手楊加力的生活，依舊是跳舞。
認真排舞，還用手機錄下檢討，原來KGB的十名團員，包括孫振和徐培烝有項大計畫，十一月飛往美國洛杉磯參與指標性的街舞比賽--Freestyle Session，十對十的BATTLE，這是霹靂舞最刺激的團體戰。
[[霹靂舞國家隊選手 孫振]]
“能夠真的體現BREAKING樣貌，其實是比較貼近團體賽，有點像一個幫派、一個幫派出來對尬，我們一樣會尬得很HIGH、很上火，但不會碰到彼此。就是用舞技對話，就是用舞技說服彼此，我覺得這很好玩”
踏出台灣和世界較量，正是BREAKING的精神不斷突破。霹靂舞進入亞奧運，舞動歷史新頁，全新時代正在改寫。
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