Young Taiwanese break dancers are putting their skills to the test as national athletes
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.
2023-02-05
