Upper Body Stretching for Break Dancing

Series Summary

Need to learn some new moves? Look no further than Expert Village! Breakdancing, also known as “breaking,” is the street dance style that has continually evolved with the hip hop movement since the 1970s. Breakdancing originated in the street when street corner DJs would string together the breaks of dance music, allowing dancers to show off their dancing skills on a continuous beat. Breakdancing became a pop culture phenomenon in the 1980s and has been showcased at parties, clubs, talent shows and competitions world wide. Breakdancing terminology includes toprock, downrock, power moves, freezes, suicides, and battles. Basic moves include swipes, windmills, drops, flare, floats, and 6 step moves. Breakdancing is a great hobby and skill to have, as it allows for a creative outlet and there is no limit to the moves you can perform.

In this free video series, expert break dancer Austin McBride gives you the tips to start your own run on the clubs. You will learn floor moves, uprocking, powers moves like the back spin, suicide, and freeze, and others. Austin gives you tips for stretching, what to wear, floors and surfaces to avoid, and how to strength train. You will also learn flashy moves like threading the needle. It is all here.

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Austin McBride here with Expert Village, and I am going to show you how to break dance, and the first key in break dance is stretching. Stretching is going to help us to avoid injury and to pretty much allow us to accomplish some of these maneuvers. Without our limbs being limber, it is going to be difficult for us to accomplish some of these things. Start with some upper body stretching. First I like to pull my arm across and hold it, reverse and do it for both arms. Obviously I'm just going to keep things short for the sake of time but try and hold each of these stretches for about ten seconds and repeat them two or three times each. Next I would stretch out your back and your lumbar system by reaching for the sky and then pulling down to the ground, kind of getting your back and upper body loosened. Next I would stand in one place, keeping your legs a little bit in an athletic stance somewhat and just twirl your arms around until your upper body is feeling loose. These are a few ways to get your upper body ready for some break dancing."