Breaking
Breaking
The art of battle: strategies and tactics applied in breaking competitions
In a breaking battle strategy can play a big role in getting an advantage over opponents and ultimately defeating them. Find out about some of the strategies used here.
A one-on-one breaking battle involves two breakers taking turns throwing down, trying to outdo each other with their skills, moves, character, style and musicality. When all the rounds are over, the judges decide who wins. But there are strategies that b-boys and b-girls use to try and gain an advantage over their opponent during the battle. These strategies more often than not decide the outcome of the battle.
Here are some of those strategies that breakers use...
1 min
Breaking battle tactics
B-Boys Menno, Lilou and Shigekix discuss how they apply battle tactics to high-profile competitions.
01
To start or not to start?
The breaker who chooses to start the battle sets an open challenge to their opponent, saying, 'let’s see if you can respond to this.' They get to make the first impression on the judges and set an expectation that their opponent must live up to.
By being the first competitor that the judges see, a b-boy or b-girl gets to set the level of stage presence, athleticism, musicality, and difficulty, that their opponent must now match. This means that a breaker can possibly cancel out their opponent’s round before they even step onto the dance floor. For example, if the breaker who starts the battle is more dynamic, musical and charismatic than their opponent, their opponent’s round will look lower in quality in all those elements of breaking. This will make the breaker who started the battle look even stronger, and put the emphasis on their opponent to have to do even better in the following rounds of the battle.
Sometimes this strategy can also be a personal one. Breaking battles can bring up nerves and spike adrenaline in competitors, so some breakers go first to stop themselves from overthinking and just be in the moment. In this case, going first helps them switch into battle mode and bring out their best.
Watch the battle below to see Uzee Rock start the battle against Victor by setting up a playful and relaxed round.
9 min
Quarter-finals: Victor vs Uzee Rock
It's America versus the Ukraine in this quarter-final battle, as Victor takes on Uzee Rock.
But there are also some advantages of letting the opponent go first...
When a b-boy or b-girl goes second, they get to see what their opponent does and then decide how they'll respond. This gives them time to evaluate their arsenal of moves and decide which ones are best suited to match or beat what their opponent did.
There’s also the advantage that if their opponent messes up and crashes (falls badly out of a move), the breaker going second can then choose if they want to take a risk in their round and still go for big moves, or play it safe and instead show they are cleaner in their movements.
If a breaker has never battled their opponent before, going second also allows them to see what arsenal of moves, style and character their opponent has. They can then decide how to battle against them.
There's also the musical element, if a breaker doesn’t know the track the DJ plays, or isn’t feeling the song. Going second gives them more time to get into the music, and find the pattern of the rhythm that they can then try and play with, in their moves.
Personal strategy comes into play here as well. Going first can be a lot of pressure for some breakers, so they may prefer to go second and respond, rather than having to set the expectation level of the battle.
In competitions, both breakers often want to go second, resulting in a staredown at the beginning of the battle, where both dancers wait for the other to begin. Check out an instance of that in the final battle of Red Bull BC One 2018 below.
7 min
Lil Zoo vs Luigi – final
The finalists Lil Zoo and Luigi go head-to-head to decide who'll be crowned the Red Bull BC One 2018 champion.
02
Mind games: gestures, trash talking and burns
Part of the strategy in breaking is trying to get your opponent to lose focus and composure. The goal is to make them doubt their skills and their ability to perform. If they get nervous, it's way easier to outperform them.
There are multiple ways to do so:
Using known gestures to tell their opponent they're messing up in some way. Examples would be:
- Tapping the floor, which signifies seeing their opponent crashed or messed up a move.
- Showing a number of fingers in the air as if you were counting, which signals to the audience and the judges that the opponent is repeating moves that they've already done. In breaking battles, one rule is: you should not repeat your moves. Find out more about the rules in breaking.
- Mockingly clapping your hands slowly to the beat of the music: this is a gesture to tell your opponent that they are dancing 'off-beat,' and out of time/rhythm with the music. The mocking, slow hand clap is saying to your opponent that they're so off the music that they need your help to find the rhythm.
- Pointing to your ears is another way to show that the opponent is not listening to the music.
- Writing stuff into an imaginary notebook: means that the opponent is simply repeating preplanned steps instead of improvising to the music that's playing at the moment.
Trash Talking to your opponent in breaking battles is also a thing, but it's way less common than the aforementioned gestures or the burns which follow after. It involves directly confronting your opponent, throwing jibes like calling them 'off-beat,' accusing them of repeating moves, labelling their routines as 'wack,' or highlighting their mistakes and crashes. It’s not just about criticising; it’s an attempt to shake your opponent's confidence, throw them off their game, and establish psychological dominance.
Burns are small moves and interactions. When a breaker acts out or catches their opponent with an action that's meant to lower their confidence or embarrass them. There are many types of burns in breaking, but a simple one is going to pretend to shake your opponent’s hand, but then pull your hand away just as your opponent reaches for it. Or pretending to dance exactly like your opponent, but exaggerating their style in a comical way.
Watch B-Boy Robin trying to get in the mind of Flying Machine in the battle clip below.
4 min
Robin vs Flying Machine – B-Boys Round of 16
B-Boys from around the world compete to make it to the final battle of Red Bull BC One World Final in India.
These mind games are used to bring your opponents out of their zone and make them perform poorly. If your skills are no match for your opponent and you try to pull these off, you'll look bad and overly cocky, which will leave a bad impression.
03
Going all out versus saving moves
Some breakers go into a competition with the strategy to use all their best moves from the beginning, no matter who their opponents are. Even if they face an opponent they believe they can confidently beat, they still won't hold back. This strategy is employed with the mindset that only the current round counts because if you lose there's no next battle. This comes with the risk of possibly running out of moves later, having to repeat, freestyle or use lesser, untested moves in your arsenal.
The other side of this strategy is competitors who save their best moves for the hardest opponents or later rounds. This strategy ensures that if a b-boy or b-girl gets to the final battle or comes up against a hard opponent, they'll still have their best moves ready to try and win that battle. However, the risk of this approach is that a breaker might lose if they underestimate an opponent early in the competition. Or they may possibly not make it through the qualification stage if they hold back their best moves and deliver a sub-par qualification round.
Below, you can see how creative people become in a final, when not saving moves for later. This is the final of Red Bull BC One 2020.
Oh no! This video is currently not available.
04
Exposing your opponent’s weakness
For those breakers with a well-rounded arsenal of moves, they may try and show the judges what their opponent isn’t doing, and therefore expose the weakness, or missing aspects of their opponents breaking style.
For example, if a competitor only does a lot of power moves in their round, with no musicality, footwork, or dancing, their opponent might decide to do a round that begins with some power moves, and then show their ability to dance more to the music and use a high skill level in footwork and freezes. Doing this would demonstrate what their opponent did and did not do.
Check out a prime example in the battle of Bart vs. Monkey King below.
3 min
Bart vs Monkey King – B-Boys round of 16
B-Boys from around the world compete to make it to the final battle of Red Bull BC One World Final in India.
Vice versa, if a competitor only does top rock and footwork their opponent might come out and demonstrate the same skill in those aspects of breaking, but then add in some power moves, tricks, original transitions and freezes. Again showing what their opponent did and didn’t do.
If a breaker has the skill level to show more elements of the dance than their opponent, achieved with high-quality breaking, they give themselves a much higher chance of winning the battle.
These are some of the strategies you'll see breakers using to try and get an advantage over their opponent. Check out if you can see the strategies applied in the replay of the Red Bull BC One 2022 World Final New York and mark your calendar for the live stream of the Red Bull BC One 2023 World Final Paris, on October 21.
Red Bull BC One World Final 2022
Breakers from across the globe will do battle to be crowned World Champion in NYC, the birthplace of hip-hop.
