Breaking
Breaking
Learn all about the meaning and function of cypher call out battles
The cypher call out battle is one of the rawest elements of breaking. Find out what it is and and how it works.
Cyphers are the circles that breakers form and dance in. They're the one thing you're guaranteed to find places where breakers gather to get down. And with cyphers come call-out battles, where one breaker or more challenges others to battle within the circle.
If you're new to breaking, you might wonder what a cypher call out battle is and how it works. Get the lowdown with our explainer.
This is how you call-out other dancers
The call out itself can be done in many ways.
- It can be as simple as saying to someone, "Let's battle."
- It can be a big public call-out on a microphone in front of everyone.
- It can be done non-verbally with one breaker pointing at the B-Boy or B-Girl they want to battle, or by doing a well-known breaking gesture that indicates a call out.
- Or it can be done respectfully by shaking hands or fist-bumping the person being called out. But someone has to initiate the call out.
A B-Boy showing his footwork in a cypher
© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool
There are the reasons for call-out battles
- To settle a beef or disagreement between two breakers.
- Because someone wants to respectfully battle another breaker they admire or share a common style.
- It might be someone taking the opportunity to battle a breaker they've never met.
- Sometimes it happens because two breakers enter the cypher at the same time and neither wants to give up the space to the other so one decides to call the other out.
- Breakers also sometimes call out judges if they're unhappy with their decision or they might call out a breaker that they lost to in a competition if they feel they should have won.
- Some breakers just want to test themselves and live to call people out in cypher battles.
How many people can be in a cypher call out battle?
Technically there's no limit on how many people can battle against each other in a cypher call out. Battles are usually one-on-one but can be more. One side can even sometimes outnumber another.
A crew battle
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
How long is it?
There are no set number of rounds. Only in a few situations one of the individuals battling might say they will only battle for a particular number of rounds. This might happens for a few reasons.
- One breaker might be tired from dancing all day or still have a competition to battle in.
- A breaker might feel that the person they are battling isn't worthy of more than three or four rounds against them.
- One of them might be injured and doesn't want to make the injury worse. But usually a cypher call out will go however many rounds it takes to settle the battle.
How does it end
- If one of the battlers feels they've done enough and the battle isn't worth continuing. They'll then usually call an end to the battle by shaking the hand of their opponent, or simply walking away if the opponent doesn't want to stop.
- One of the battlers might become too exhausted to continue and decides to quit.
- It can end if it's happening at an event and they need to use the floor where the cypher call out battle is taking place.
- If it was a respectful call out and both, or one, believes the exchange has run its course.
- Or it can end if the battle has been going on for a long time and everyone watching has had enough of seeing the two 'never-going-to-quit' breakers battling, so someone who isn't battling decides to jump in the cypher after one of the battler's rounds to take the circle back to the rest of the dancers.
How is the winner decided?
There's no official winner of a cypher battle because there are no judges. Individuals watching the battle might talk about who won or who was better, but there's never an officially picked winner.
Some cypher battles will go on until someone quits or runs out of moves. If this happens, the person who quit might sometimes be seen as the loser because they couldn't keep up with their opponent. But it's still nothing official and the person who quit might even be seen as better than their opponent even if they didn't have as many moves or rounds.
Junior and Physicx after their legendary exhibition battle in Paris
© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool
Can you say no to a call out?
No one is ever forced to accept a call-out battle. And people turn them down for various reasons.
- Injury.
- If they dislike the person calling them out.
- If they're too tired.
- But most of the time a call-out will result in a battle, as it's a direct challenge to another breaker's skill and reputation, which is a challenge worth accepting for most breakers.
Cypher call out battles are spontaneous, unpredictable and free from the constrains of an organised competition. Some breakers even prefer cypher call-outs to organised battles and make their name in cypher battles. And every breaker knows that wherever you go, if the music is playing and a cypher is happening, you should always be ready for someone to call you out.
