Breakdancing Just Made Its Olympics Debut

It’s called breaking, actually. The art form known to most of us as breakdancing is an Olympic sport for the first time this year, and competitors busted a move in pursuit of medals for the first time today in Paris at Place de la Concorde. The US team includes Victor Montalvo, Sunny Choi, Jeffrey “B-Boy Jeffro” Louis, and Logan Edra.

The women’s competition took place today, with the men’s to follow on Saturday. Olympics fixture Snoop Dogg was on hand to kick things off. Choi faced off against China’s Liu Qingyi aka 671, who defeated Choi in both of their battles.

In competitive breaking, B-Boys and -Girls are expected to improvise, contorting their bodies in response to music they haven’t heard yet. In an interview with Billboard, Louis compared the process to playing jazz. He also had this to say about old-school hip-hop breakdancing:

I have to study everybody. If you’re involved in breaking, you have to go back. You have to know the history. There are a lot of moves back then that are not used right now. People might see it as “they’re basic,” but when you haven’t seen something in forever, and something reappears, people say, “That’s a classic move.”

The breakers are competing in one-on-one battles, taking 60-second turns called “throw downs” in which they dance to beats provided by hip-hop DJs. There are three main categories of moves: “top rock” (moves performed while standing), “down rock” (moves performed on the floor), and “freeze” (stopping on your hands or head). Reportedly 300 songs were cleared for use in the competition. This FAQ page explains more, as does one of the videos below.

In other Olympics news, Sunday’s closing ceremony will reportedly feature performances by Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phoenix, and Air, though some will be pre-taped.