and Jeff Dunne are set to make history as the first Australians to compete in breaking, also called breakdancing, at the Olympics. The street dance style originated in the US in the 1970s and has made its way to the top global sporting arena, but how will the competition actually work? Breakers — also known as b-boys and b-girls— compete in battles that consist of three rounds, with one opponent. There will be a group stage with three battles, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and the gold medal match.
Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts The gold medallist will have had to win six battles, and would have competed in an exhausting 18 rounds. Gunn told SBS News the breakers don't know the music they'll be dancing to, and much of their routine can be improvised. Gunn said: "The judges are comparing round for round who was stronger across five criteria.
"They are execution, technique, vocabulary, so your range of movement, musicality, how well you're responding to that track, the rhythms, the textures of that track. The final one is originality — what new moves or variations or innovations you're bringing to the dance and maybe your performativity and your character on stage as well," she said. The round winner doesn't have to win in all criteria, it's automatically added up to a total number and whoever has the highest wins.
However, participants don't get to see their full score breakdown. "What that means is it can look like a battle is really close or it can look like a battle .