Electric boogaloo

[jackwebster]

https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/sports/breaking

[mspart]

Ridiculous

mspart

[maligned]

Having lived in France for a while and knowing the culture of it, I'm fine with it for a France-hosted Olympics as a nod to the local culture. It's just another way of showing incredible athleticism through choreographed movements according to specific judging standards--no different from gymnastics, figure skating, bmx street, snowboard halfpipe, etc. It's just one we haven't been exposed to as a bona fide sport.

[ionel]

1 hour ago, maligned said:

Having lived in France for a while and knowing the culture of it, I'm fine with it for a France-hosted Olympics as a nod to the local culture. It's just another way of showing incredible athleticism through choreographed movements according to specific judging standards--no different from gymnastics, figure skating, bmx street, snowboard halfpipe, etc. It's just one we haven't been exposed to as a bona fide sport.

Is it true @flyingcement won a regional competition while in France?  

[flyingcement]

7 minutes ago, ionel said:

Is it true @flyingcement won a regional competition while in France?  

I don't know about Electric Boogaloo, but I used to love Electric Avenue in Brixton back in the day.  Fun area

[billyhoyle]

I would not be surprised if this gets great ratings and goes viral on tiktok. 

Edited May 29 by billyhoyle

[D3 for LU]

... and THAT, is one of the many reasons why the Olympic committee boiled the number of weight classes down to 6 each for GR, Womens & Men's FS.

(Ah, Bartleby, ah humanity...)

D3

[CHROMEBIRD]

On 5/29/2024 at 12:17 AM, billyhoyle said:

I would not be surprised if this gets great ratings and goes viral on tiktok. 

For sure. The Red Bull world breakdancing championships has a pretty big following online so it wouldn't surprise me to see Olympic breakdancing get memed out and go viral since that's where the competitors and fans already live

[The Kid]

On 5/28/2024 at 9:22 PM, flyingcement said:

I don't know about Electric Boogaloo, but I used to love Electric Avenue in Brixton back in the day.  Fun area

Eddie Grant like it too.

[CHROMEBIRD]

1 hour ago, The Kid said:

Eddie Grant like it too.

He took it higher.

[jackwebster]

On 5/28/2024 at 9:22 PM, flyingcement said:

I don't know about Electric Boogaloo, but I used to love Electric Avenue in Brixton back in the day.  Fun area

Except, you know, the house fires and subsequent riots ... See the "take it higher" note above.

[Gantry]

I have the Breakin' 2 - Electric Boogaloo soundtrack on vinyl, it's a masterpiece. 

[AnklePicker]

I remember wrestling mini tournaments as a kid in NJ and dudes would set up a breakdancing spot on a linoleum square and breakdance between matches. No doubt most high level breakdancers would make tremendous wrestlers had they spent their time wrestling. Amazing athleticism involved. Same with skateboarders. But Olympic sports I’m not so sure. 

[The Kid]

14 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

He took it higher.

...out in the streets!

[BuckyBadger]

What a mockery. An Olympic medal loses its luster when the make this a sport.

[The Kid]

21 hours ago, BuckyBadger said:

What a mockery. An Olympic medal loses its luster when the make this a sport.

BMX racing too!

[ionel]

1 hour ago, The Kid said:

BMX racing too!

Why not synchronized hang gliding? 

[MPhillips]

23 hours ago, BuckyBadger said:

An Olympic medal loses its luster when the make this a sport.

No...

[Bulldog]

On 6/3/2024 at 12:04 AM, The Kid said:

BMX racing too!

At least BMX racing is an actual sport.  The fastest person wins; I dont have much problem with that.  Its all the flippy-dippy, synchronized stuff where one competes for style points while wearing make-up, costumes, and a smile that have no place in the Olympics.  

Just because something takes incredible athletic ability does not make it a sport.  Have you ever watched the best tap dancers in the world? They are seriously badass.  Still, tap dancing aint a sport.  

 

Edited June 3 by Bulldog

[BAC]

I'd definitely watch Olympic breakdancing if it were on the tube.  I don't see why the hand-wringing.

Meanwhile, the sports that should be eliminated are the ones that wouldn't exist at all, but for the Olympics. I'm looking at you, synchronized swimming and modern pentathalon.  

[jackwebster]

10 hours ago, Bulldog said:

Just because something takes incredible athletic ability does not make it a sport.  Have you ever watched the best tap dancers in the world? They are seriously badass.  Still, tap dancing aint a sport.  

 

To throw out another, it would be like adding painting: Norway would send Odd Nerdrum, US would send the new upstart Wiley, Germany Gerhard Richter, China Leng Jun , etc. 

All got superior fine motor skills, but it ain't sport . . . like by definition.

Edited June 4 by jackwebster

[jackwebster]

47 minutes ago, jackwebster said:

To throw out another, it would be like adding painting: Norway would send Odd Nerdrum, US would send the new upstart Wiley, Germany Gerhard Richter, China Leng Jun , etc. 

All got superior fine motor skills, but it ain't sport . . . like by definition.

But then again, the ancient Greek origins of drama are closely connected with conpetition, right? Tragedies were staged in a competition as a part of the Festival of Dionysus. They declared a winner.

Edited June 4 by jackwebster

[billyhoyle]

On 6/3/2024 at 3:46 PM, Bulldog said:

At least BMX racing is an actual sport.  The fastest person wins; I dont have much problem with that.  Its all the flippy-dippy, synchronized stuff where one competes for style points while wearing make-up, costumes, and a smile that have no place in the Olympics.  

Just because something takes incredible athletic ability does not make it a sport.  Have you ever watched the best tap dancers in the world? They are seriously badass.  Still, tap dancing aint a sport.  

 

Breakdancing can be viewed as analogous to a floor routine in gymnastics or figure skating.  You might not consider them to be sports, but they can set it up as a sport and it will get good ratings.  

[Bulldog]

18 hours ago, billyhoyle said:

Breakdancing can be viewed as analogous to a floor routine in gymnastics or figure skating.  You might not consider them to be sports, but they can set it up as a sport and it will get good ratings.  

I get that, and one must concede that gymnastics has done a ton of work in recent-ish years to try to remove all the ambiguity and such from its scoring systems, but still... creating a contest to set something up like a sport does not make it a sport. 

Breakdancing, like ballet, surfing, and skateboarding, is far more accurately categorized as art and human expression.  I am pretty sure the most hardcore b-boys and skaters would agree with me.

[jackwebster]

11 hours ago, Bulldog said:

I am pretty sure the most hardcore b-boys and skaters would agree with me.

Idk. I imagine there are just as many $$$ hunters in these subcultures as there are in the general population. And, staging competitions has proven an effective way to monetize art and human expression. Ballet, opera, and symphonies could take a lesson from the X-Games.