Most know it as break dancing but this year’s Olympic Games is the first to recognise breaking, an improvisational sport that spotlights one-on-one dance battles performed to hip-hop music.
Leon Dwyer, known by the alias B-boy Aleon, is Ireland’s highest-ranked breaker and current national champion. He had hoped to compete in the Paris Olympics that started on Friday, but a drawn-out and expensive qualification process proved too difficult for an Irish breaking set-up still in its infancy.
“It was never really a dream because I never knew breaking would be part of the Olympics,” says Dwyer.
“But when I found out that it was happening, it opened up so many doors for us. For sponsorships and just recognition – recognising the culture. It’s definitely got more interest in the sport. People are coming in to try it.”
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Many of the same faces that have competed in events alongside Leon over the last few years were present in qualifiers, but Olympic ambitions meant different nations raised their standards.
“All the teams had a physio, a coach and a videographer and stuff like that,” he says.
“It’s just crazy to see how official it went [so quickly] ... China, Japan, the US, they have more funding and more support, so their teams are coming ready and professional and sponsored.”
Olympic breaking will be judged across three criteria — mind for choreography and artistic invention, body for physicality, and spirit for connection with the music. It is a step away from the subjective approach breaking had previously employed, which granted judges a broader autonomy over their opinions.
Breakers call themselves “arthletes”. And Dwyer describes it as a blend of dance and gymnastics. He started breaking at the age of 11, inheriting a background in ballet from classes taught by his mother. It took him six years “to get any bit good at it. It’s about the people that have the patience and the right mindset to really continue on the craft. It takes a little bit longer than all the other dance styles.”
That patience suits him. So far this year, he has spent almost every weekend travelling abroad — attending international competitions, showcases and sponsorship events. Even before that, his schedule had grown more intense with Olympic qualification efforts.
“I worked very hard for it,” he says. “All of the training I’ve put in myself over the last few years. I travelled to over 35 events last year. Everything I made from work, I tried to put towards competitions and invest in myself. The sacrifice that I made for it was really tough. It was a full year of focusing on just dance.”
In four years, Dwyer hopes to get the chance to represent Ireland at the next Olympic Games. The dream scenario would be to compete alongside Gustas Geciauskas, a 15-year-old from Dublin who himself is one of the top-ranked breakers in the country.
“I was in his first class when he started,” Dwyer says of Gustas.
“It’s crazy to see his development in a couple of years and to see him smash the world stages. We have been representing Ireland and putting Ireland on the map for all the younger generations ... We have a saying, ‘each one, teach one’. We try to teach each other and pick each other up because our scene is small.”
The appetite for breaking had already been growing in Ireland, but the Olympics makes it more viable for anyone devoting themselves to the sport.
“Since it’s been affiliated with the Olympics, I’ve had so much opportunity and work,” says Dwyer. “It’s very exciting and I feel like it’s just going to get better from here.”
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