India keen to field competitive breaking team for Paris 2024
With the discipline being held as a medal event for the first time at the Paris Games, the All India DanceSport Federation wants to have a top-quality team in 2024.
The All India DanceSport Federation (AIDSF) is keen to ensure that it takes all the necessary steps to prepare a competitive team for the 2024 Olympic Games which will see breakdance being held as a medal event for the first time.
Speaking to PTI, AIDSF general secretary Biswajit Mohanty said that the governing body for the sport in India was working towards organising various workshops, selection events and even hiring international coaches to train a select few in their build-up to Paris 2024.
“We will be organising events all over the recognised states to promote and create dancers for breaking across the country,” Mohanty said.
“We are looking at new talent who can be groomed leading up to the Dancesport majors in 2022 to compete in the Olympics qualifiers.”
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) announcement to include breakdance as a medal event at the Paris Games has come as a boost for a discipline that’s often stayed away from the limelight despite its massive pull among the urban youth.
While the IOC is keen to bank on breaking to take the Olympic movement to the next generation, the discipline hopes that the Olympic status will help draw more attention.
“It’s (breaking) has always lived in hiding. Not many know that India has a thriving breaking scene,” Arif Chaudhary a.k.a B-Boy Flying Machine told the Olympic Channel in a recent interview.
Around the world, people recognise it but no one looks at it as something serious. If you look at it, hip-hop started with breaking and it carried on from there. It started from the streets to the clubs to the stages and now it’s a sport. The Olympic recognition can only help us in shedding some light on what B-boying is.
Meanwhile, Delhi-based B-girl Shivani Negi hoped that the Olympic recognition will help in changing the mindset of the society towards their craft.
“Most parents don’t support breaking, thinking about career prospects, or they discourage their children for fear they might be hurting themselves,” the 24-year-old Negi told PTI.
“Now that breaking is a part of the Olympics, the perception will definitely change and parents will get their children into breaking at an early age. We could see more youngsters taking up breaking.”
While its inclusion in the Olympic programme has raised a few eyebrows among the sporting purists, the B-boys and B-girls in India believe that breaking is a perfect mixture of art and athleticism.
The high-intensity craft that requires its practitioners to pull off some top-quality body movements to the beats often demands the highest standard of fitness.
“Power moves like ‘windmill’, ‘Airflare’ and ‘swipe’ requires a lot of upper body and core strength,” a Delhi-based B-boy, Paau DC, explained.
Lead image: Arif Chaudhary/Flying Machine