Logan Edler knows the road to securing a spot as one of the breakers on the U.S. Olympic team has been longer than some expected.
The 21-year-old Filipino-American didn't officially qualify for the Paris Games until last month, and it was her last Olympic Games qualification despite being one of the best breakers (commonly known as breakdancers) in the world.
“Even though you have people around you encouraging you and lifting you up, it's still a lonely journey. No one really knows what you're going through except you,” said Edla, who is ranked 14th in the world and has been a rapid riser on the global breaking scene since 2018.
She was expected to defend her championship at the 2022 Red Bull BC One World Finals in New York, but was eliminated in a fierce final round by b-girl India Dewi of the Netherlands, who previously won the Olympic Qualifying Series in Budapest in June.
As anticipation builds for breaking's official Olympic debut, Edla and her U.S. teammates are trying to navigate the pressures that come with showcasing a uniquely American art form while facing stiff competition from what's now a global phenomenon.
But Edla, known as B-girl Logistx – a term used to describe female breakers and the nickname her father gave her as a child – is focused on staying grounded and embracing the challenge as she prepares for the world stage.
“I value this goal,” she says, “but not so much for the results it brings, but for the personal growth it has allowed me to achieve.”
American art faces tough global competition
Breakers on Team USA also have the added responsibility of representing the country where breaking and hip hop culture was born. Hip hop was born in the Bronx in the 1970s and with it came the rise of breaking, one of the movement's four fundamental elements – the others being DJing, MCing, rap and graffiti “writing.”
“I'm so excited to represent the whole country, but I'm even more excited to represent my dance, my art, and I'm so excited to bring hip hop culture to the Olympics,” said Victor Montalvo, aka B-Boy Victor, one of the U.S. breakers. “We're going to bring something new. We're going to bring the vibe, we're going to bring peace, love, unity and fun.”
In the United States, breaking is often thought of as having “died out of fashion in the '80s,” Edler said, but globally, breaking culture is thriving.
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Among the world's best breakers and top Olympic hopefuls are competitors from all over the world, including Canada (Philip Kim, aka “b-boy Phil Wizard”), Japan (Nariyuki Hanai, aka “b-boy Shigekix”), France (Danis Civil, aka “b-boy Danny”), China (Qingyi Liu, aka “b-girl 671”) and Lithuania (Dominika Banevich, aka “b-girl Nikka”), among others.
Edla and Montalvo, along with fellow American breakers Sunny Choi (B-girl Sunny) and Jeffrey Lewis (B-boy Jeffro), are not just focused on perfecting their moves, but also acting as ambassadors for the birthplace of a culture and lifestyle that is now considered an Olympic sport.
The Paris Games may be their only chance at an Olympic medal: breaking will not be included in the events at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Preserving the roots of dance
Montalvo learned breaking from his father and uncles, twin brothers who were pioneers of breaking in Mexico, and the current world number 5 attributes their tutelage to learning “from the roots, from the originals.”
“It's fascinating and exciting to see what was once just a hobby become an international sport,” says Douglas “Dancin' Doug” Colon, a first-generation breaker from Harlem who began breaking at age 15, attending parties in the rec room of his Bronx apartment.
“For us, growing up poor kids in New York City, it was a release. We had a lot of fire in our energy. That's why it's so raw,” he said.
Hip hop celebrated its 50th anniversary last summer. Since its inception, hip hop culture has grown into a multi-billion dollar global industry. Hip hop's expansion and popularity as a sport has sparked widespread skepticism about attempts to co-opt and commercialize the culture, impose rigid competitive structures and distance itself from the spirit of breaking that has historically been rooted in the community.
Before there were global competitions and big stages, there were only cyphers. A cypher is an event where breakers form a circle and B-boys and B-girls enter one after another to dance and battle. There are fewer rules and restrictions than organized sporting events.
Colon isn't worried about the changes.
“Cyphers are still there, and they always will be,” he says. “Everything evolves. My brothers will say, 'We used to dance. They don't dance anymore. They'll soon go into breakdancing.' But that's where it is now. They keep evolving, and now they're more acrobatic, more competitive. It's like the difference between a Model T and a Lamborghini. It keeps evolving.”
The Triumph of Visibility
Olympic judges will score based on the Trivium judging system, which scores breakers based on creativity, individuality, technique, versatility, performance and musicality. Scores may fluctuate during a battle depending on how a breaker reacts to their opponent.
A total of 32 breakers – 16 women and 16 men – will compete over two days, August 9th and 10th, at Place de la Concorde, an iconic public square in Paris that will be transformed into an outdoor stadium for the Olympics. The outdoor venue pays tribute to breaking's street-battling culture.
The hope for the US team is that the attention in Paris will bring more respect and funding to breaking back home.
“Being in the Olympics will help grow dance,” Montalvo said. “There will be a new generation of kids who want to dance. All they need is a dance floor, their body and self-expression.”
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