Five criteria and a misbehaviour button: The 101 guide on judging a breaking battle
Become a breaking judging expert with this simple guide from international judge B-Boy Intact and test your knowledge as you watch the breaking livestream from the Olympic Qualifier Series on Olympic Channel.
Breaking
International breaking judge B-Boy Intact knows that his message box will be overflowing in the days following a competition.
There will be messages from B-Boys and B-Girls who had battled it out on the dancefloor, and B-Boy Intact will do his best to answer each one.
“For me, it's a big responsibility and I take this job really serious,” the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) judge told Olympics.com. “One week after the event, B-Boys and B-Girls will hit you up in your Instagram or in your Telegram and ask you questions: ‘Why didn't I make it? What can you recommend? Why did you put these points or those points?’ So you need to be ready to give a full reply with all the details.”
And if even the B-Boys and B-Girls have questions about how the scoring system in breaking works, we are sure you do too.
To answer them, we sat down with B-Boy Intact who explained the five criteria judges use to determine a battle winner, how the judging system encourages athletes to be more inventive and why judges think twice before pushing the ‘misbehaviour button’.
Find out more below and test your judging knowledge as you watch the breaking livestreams from the Olympic Qualifier Series, taking place in Shanghai from 16 to 19 May. All of the action is available to watch on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics mobile app.
Battle rules: Not points, but a face-off
B-Boy Intact has had his share of breaking battles before making judging his main focus. However, often after judging a competition he feels as exhausted as if he had competed in it – just in a different way.
“Sometimes two days of judging a high-level championship takes so much energy from me that I feel like I was competing as well," he said. "But this kind of energy is more mental energy because I'm focusing a lot. I need to be focused all the time on what people are doing."
The five criteria that B-Boy Intact is focusing on specifically are vocabulary, technique, execution, originality and musicality.
Each criteria account for 20 per cent of the score with the total adding up to 100 per cent.
Rather than giving points to individual athletes, the judges make a comparison between two athletes who are in the same battle. The athlete who wins two out of a maximum three rounds is the overall winner.
“For example, I watch the battle of two B-Boys and I definitely can see that the technical part of one B-Boy was way stronger than another, so I put the crossfader to his side," B-Boy Intact said. "But I can see that, at the same time, vocabulary and execution were way better for the person on the right, so three crossfaders to his side and one crossfader or maybe two crossfaders to another side.
“Sometimes all crossfaders go to one side when it's really clear and understandable that that B-Boy or B-Girl was better. Sometimes it's mixed and the system is actually comparing the percentage, and at the end the judging decision is made."
A mix of precision and style: The five criteria for judging breaking battles
While no two breaking battles are alike, there are five criteria - vocabulary, technique, execution, originality and musicality - to help judges determine the winner.
Vocabulary refers to the arsenal of moves that the B-Boys and B-Girls bring to the dancefloor.
These moves are then judged based on how they are performed. Technique looks at athleticism, body control, and how the athlete uses the stage space. For execution, judges look at the smoothness and sharpness of the moves. Crashes, slips and falls are penalised, as are pauses that break the flow of the performance.
The selection of the moves also plays a role. B-Boys and B-Girls are rewarded for the originality of their moves and how well they react to what is happening in a battle. Even if their moves are basic, athletes can impress the judges by delivering them in a fresh, original way.
“It's also your character and your personality, which is your personal style, which is so important in breaking,” B-Boy Intact explained. "You're watching the B-Boy or B-Girl and sometimes you can understand what he or she is going to do and it becomes a little bit boring. But the fresh part of breaking happens when a B-Boy or B-Girl delivers some surprising, unexpected movement, spontaneity, which makes a big difference compared to his or her opponent.”
In addition to how they respond to their battle opponents, B-Boys and B-Girls are judged based on their musicality. This component looks at how well the athletes understand the rhythm of breaking music and how well they are able to freestyle to it.
Breaking bad and reaching for the misbehaviour button
Since breaking competitions originated from street dance battles, it is not surprising that things can sometimes get heated on the dancefloor.
For cases like that, judges have three misbehaviour buttons in front of them. These are used when B-Boys or B-Girls display what judges consider to be unnecessary bad attitude and range based on the severity of the act.
The first button is used for unintentional misbehaviour, such as an athlete accidentally disturbing his opponent's rounds. On the furthest end of the spectrum, the third button is used in the most severe cases when an opponent destroys his opponent’s rounds on purpose or makes inappropriate gestures and comments.
According to B-Boy Intact, cases of misbehaviour are not common and usually occur when an athlete loses control over their emotions during a battle.
Judges are also careful not to overuse this penalty option.
“We need to be really careful with these buttons because breaking is a really competitive style of dance. It came from the streets, from the hip-hop culture," B-Boy Intact said. "These traditions and this attitude moved to the sport of breaking. We try to keep it. We don't want to make breaking something else from what it was.”
Intimidation techniques are at the core of breaking, although B-Boy Intact admits some moves might appear too aggressive to those who are not familiar with the sport. It is then up to the judges to decide if the move was a valuable part of the performance or pure aggression worthy of a penalty.
“We have a lot of scenes like burns and storytelling when you’re kind of using a weapon in your moves, like taking the weapon and putting it back, kind of attacking your opponent in the battle," B-Boy Intact said. "I want people to understand that it doesn't mean that it was a misbehaviour if it was done in the context of dancing, with the storytelling, with the style and with the finesse."
Judge less, enjoy more
If you are looking for advice on what to pay attention to while watching a breaking battle as a spectator, whether you are tuning in to the Olympic Qualifier Series or the Olympic Games Paris 2024, there is no need to send B-Boy Intact a direct message.
He has already prepared a list of suggestions for you.
“You really need to focus on the music because music is the key of everything that we're doing. If the music is not connecting to the moves, if the moves are not reflecting the music, then everything that we're doing is actually losing the essence. It's just an execution of moves," B-Boy Intact said.
"So when you see that the dancer has his or her style, approach, technique, vocabulary, is reflecting the music and kind of drawing the music with the moves and you feel it, make some noise for this. Support B-Boys, support B-Girls because the more energy you give to them, the more energy they will bring back to you."