Braking judgment and scoring method
An odd-numbered panel of judges will score each round and each battle, and will score the judges' performance based on five criteria:
- technology: There are specific standards for certain movements, Edra says, such as keeping your leg bent or pointing your toes for many movements. But technique also includes the judge's view of how good a breaker's athleticism and body control is.
- vocabulary: To get a good score here, breakers must perform a variety of moves in multiple positions, both downlock and toplock.
- execution: This may sound similar to technique, but the World Dancesport Federation's rulebook states that when executed, breakers must check how cleanly their movements are executed, i.e., without any confusion, and It states that the judgment is based on how distinguishable the following behaviors are:The movements should flow together, but they don't blend together.
- Music: Here, breakers are judged not only on their incredible moves, but also on their dancing ability to keep the beat and time their moves to the music.
- Originality: Louis believes this is the most important criterion. “Having that personal style is what sets people apart,” he says. “I was able to learn all the moves there, but the question is, what can I bring to the table? What can I do? addition Until it breaks?
Instead of assigning a number to each of these criteria, the judges use a digital slider to slide toward the head-to-head winning breakers in that category. So if Breaker A is showing better technique than Breaker B, the judge will slide the slider a little or all the way to his side.
Each of the five categories accounts for 20% of the final score. Based on the slider's balance in these five criteria, one breaker will be declared the winner of each round.
What determines a winning round of battle?
Breakers will have up to one minute to impress the judges during each round of battle. But that doesn't mean they just perform their biggest moves without worrying about the music, Slusser says.
“There's a term for breaks: 'dramaturgical arc.' You have to build, build, build, and then reach the peak,” he says, ending the round with a climax that sends the crowd roaring. Interrupt.
Louis likens this to telling a story.
“You don't want to start off with a banger, something explosive and exciting, because then the energy of the round will drop and you won't be able to maintain that energy,” he says. “That's why I like to tell a story within a round, where there's a development and then there's an ending.”
That ending, he said, is the last 30 to 40 percent of the round, when the audience's excitement builds, punctuated by difficult or unique moves, and explodes at the climax of the dance.
But ultimately, winning a round comes down to being “better” than the other breakers in the eyes of the judges. If a breaker goes first in a round, this kind of talk can set the tone and force other breakers to respond.Current world champion, American victor montalvosays Slusser, who prefers to go first for this reason.
“He's very technical. He hits every box as if to say, 'How are you going to answer that?' Slusser says of Montalvo: “It's a matter of him emphasizing his superiority in different areas, but maybe you're not special.”
When a breaker is in a position to respond, they are analyzing the opponent's breaker's moves and thinking about how they know how to outperform each move, Louis says.
“I'm going to try to be better than that guy. I'm going to respond and do variations of their moves, but it's more difficult,” he says. So if the first breaker rotates on the hand with the palm on the ground, the responding breaker may rotate on the back of the hand, which is a more difficult variation.
But beating an opponent's breaker in combat sometimes comes back to storytelling, Edra says.
“Breaking is a dance, so it's very stylistic and it's about who can be the best version of themselves,” she says. “There are many ways to win a fight. If one person is known for big power moves and the other is known for storytelling, both can reach the highest level and don't have the 'biggest' move.” Regardless, those who take the storytelling route are likely to make the round.
