Flare (breakdance move)
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The Flare is a difficult breakdance power move borrowed from gymnastics. The breaker supports his body with his arms, swings his legs around his stationary torso in continuous circles, and never allows his legs to touch the ground. The move is also performed on a pommel horse or during the floor exercise in gymnastics, and is sometimes called a "Thomas flair" after its originator, Kurt Thomas. The "Thomas flare," is named for him.
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[edit] Step-by-step
- The description assumes counter-clockwise rotation
The left leg begins about 10 inches behind the right (not lined up). If the breaker already has momentum, he quickly puts down his left hand close to the left leg facing the fingers away from the body, towards the left. Next, the left leg is swung around as hard as possible while doing a jump. The breaker is prepared to put down the right hand. All of the breaker's weight shifts to the right arm, he kicks the left leg up as high as possible. The right leg swings under the left and then the left hand comes down in front, such that both hands are now in front. Arching his back and without touching the ground, the breaker kicks the right leg up again and swings the left leg around low for another rotation.
[edit] Variations
There are several flare variants:
- Atomic Flares - begins with opposite hand normally used to beginning flare and starts from the back part of a flare.
- Lotus flares- A flare with the legs in lotus position.
- New York Flares - starts with the opposite hand than a standard flare normally would be started with. For example, if the legs are going to the right then the flares will start with the right hand placed on the ground first.
- Chair Flares - a flare done exaggeratedly so the swinging motion to the front looks like an air chair freeze.
- Circles/Virgin Flares - the legs stay together and straight. Many gymnasts as well as some B-boys can perform this move.
- Hopping Flares/King Flares - hopping on the available (load bearing) hand as the legs swing through from the front to the back. C-zechin is required for this move. The breaker must Czech along with the hop in order to position himself properly to continue doing the flare.
- Spindles - the body moves in the same direction as the legs.
- Threaded flares - A unique flare motion where one uses the supporting arm (prior to supporting the swinging motion) to thread the two legs together. The legs become free as they swing through the front flare motion.
- V-flares - An advanced flare style where the legs stay straight in a V-shape close to the body and all momentum is exerted from the hips, as the legs stays to unmoving and provides no basis of support. These are also known as 'piked flares'
- British flares- A flare which comes from a handstand position (placing one hand on the ground you kick the opposite foot into the air letting it catch momentum then you kick it through, the other foot you kick when you are coming down to let it pass under. Its used when coming from Air tracks to flares.
[edit] Air Flares
The Air Flare is an advanced move that is similar in theory to a flare or a windmill. While performing an Air Flare, the breaker is inverted with his torso at a 45 degree angle to the floor. (angle can differ. the smaller the angle, the greater the difficulty). his legs in a V-shape, and his arms straight. The hands are the only body part that touch the floor as the move is being performed. The boy whips his legs, then arms around so that he travels in a circular path. There is dispute about whether this move is different from the Air Track. Some say that Air Flares have the body traveling on an x- and y-axis, while with an Air Track the body only travels on an x-axis. Others contend that the moves are one and the same, and that the name difference is merely based on the evolutionary history of the moves.
There are many variations of the air flare. Some notable examples include elbow-tip air flares, "tombstone" airflares, lotus air flares, toe touching air flares, clapping air flares, munching air flares (the "munch" effect can be achieved by positioning the legs in munch mills position in mid-flight), threading airflares, cross-handed air flares, and one handed airflares.
[edit] See also
- List of breakdance moves for this and other moves.
[edit] External links
- BBC Blast - Dance Watch Lil' Tim demonstrate flares in this downloadable video clip from BBC Blast.
- Six flares
- Three miniflares
A Video Tutorial on How to Breakdance
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