Breaking — also known as breakdancing — is making its Olympics debut

This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.

Ryan, 10, and Precious, 11, are some of the children I met at Dance Studio Manchester, who were taking part in a breaking workshop. 

“It’s just been so fun to do,” said Ryan. Precious told me she enjoyed breaking because she “likes dancing”.

“It makes me feel happy,” she said.

Breaking is a style of dance you may know as breakdancing. The dance form is relatively new, having been born in the Bronx in the 1970s. But after its success at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, it’s going to take the main stage this summer at Paris 2024.

B-Girl Raygun is one of those about to compete at the Olympics for the first time, representing Australia. She’s also a lecturer and researcher in the cultural politics of breaking at Macquarie University in Sydney. Off the stage, she’s Dr. Rachael Gunn.

“I’m really excited to show the world my dance, my style,” she said. “It’s a huge opportunity, huge platform for me.”

Rachel is an academic, as well as a breaker, which she said has helped her pursue the sport.

“I’m very fortunate to still have my academic wage,” she said. “But look, no one gets into breaking to make a lot of money. We’re just not in that position.”

With the sport growing and growing, big brands have started to get involved. What does that backing look like? Annika Bizon is brand and marketing director for Samsung, U.K. and Ireland.

“There are numerous ways that that’s going to come to life,” she said. “You look at what we’ve done with skateboarding, everything from individual challenges to help people learn how to skateboard — and we’ll be doing exactly the same in the breaking space — through to having events around breaking.”

Breaking isn’t going to be included on the LA list for 2028, so it must be a slight concern that the sport has Paris, but then what of investment after that? 

“Our commitment to breaking is obviously linked to the Olympics, but it’s also linked to the deep root community,” Bizon said. “Truthfully, we are all about just supporting breaking, and that won’t change.”