List of breakdance moves

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Breakdance incorporates many types of moves that can vary as widely as a breaker's imagination and athleticism will allow. There is a large number of breakdancing moves that can be performed, and there are competitions throughout the world, with a growing number of dancers becoming sponsored entities.

Contents

[edit] Go Down

  • Coin Drop - drops down on one arm and goes into a windmill.
  • Knee Drop(aka Colt-45) - a downrock where puts one foot behind the kneepit of the other and drops to the floor and lands on that foot in order to create an illusion of landing on one's knee
  • Sweep Drop -one leg sweeps in front of the other,giving impression of tripping yourself
  • Thread Drop -a leg thread is done but as soon as strong foot hits ground, it is bent.

[edit] Downrock/Footwork

  • 6-step: The foundational footwork sequence. Although many variations exist that either add or subtract steps in the sequence, the 6-step is the most basic form of downrock.
  • Coffee Grinders: One leg rotates in circles below the body and just above the floor. The leg remains straight throughout. From the third step of the 6-step, as the right leg swings around wide for step 4, the breaker leans over onto the right hand, hops slightly with the left foot, and swings the right leg under the left leg. From there, the weight returns to the left leg as the right leg continues swinging around.
  • 2 step
  • 3 step
  • 4 step
  • 5 step
  • 7 step
  • 8 step
  • 12 step
  • CC's
  • Bicycle pumps
  • Zulu Spins

[edit] Freezes

Basic Terminology

  • Platform: The part(s) of the body that touch the ground, holding the rest of the Body in position. In other words, the supports of your freeze. Examples of platforms are: Hand, Elbow, Head, shoulder, back, belly, side, sometimes knee (see difference between Freeze and Pose). A freeze could have multiple platforms: The platform of a Tri-pod Headstand would be 2 hands and a head. The platform of a Baby Freeze is also 2 hands and a head, but the body is horizontal rather than vertical as in a Headstand.
  • Stab: The act of stabbing the elbow up into the abdomen, hip, side, or back. Your hands are on the floor holding your body up horizontally off the ground. Your entire body is balanced on that elbow making your fore-arm the fulcrum and is your primary support. Stabs are not required for all freezes; however, it is basic and a foundational requirement to advance to a greater level of moves and freezes. note: Stabs are required for: hand-glide, going into Windmill from hands, any Turtle variation (Pogos, Jackhammers), and Crab-Walks.
  • Suicide: A group of finishing moves that share some similarities to the freeze but are quite distinct, involve jumping into the air and landing on back,head,shoulder etc. to appear out of control. Generally the more painful the suicide appears the more impressive the suicide is
  • Bridge: You are laying down on your back, then with your hands (up by your head) and your feet (by your bottom) on the ground, you push your hips up until you are arched like a bridge facing upwards. From a handstand you could fall backways into a bridge.
San Diego Bboy-Shun and Bboy-Ronick, one performing an airchair(left) and one performing a pike(right)
San Diego Bboy-Shun and Bboy-Ronick, one performing an airchair(left) and one performing a pike(right)

Ground

  • Baby Freeze: A basic freeze in which one hand is stabbed and the head and opposite hand are used for balance in a tripod position. While both legs are held in the air commonly with the opposite leg's knee of the balancing arm is placed on the balancing arm.
  • Airbaby (Underground): A type of freeze with one knee resting on the corresponding elbow and both legs in the air. Note: the knee that is resting on the elbow should be bent.
    • 1-handed Airbaby: An airbaby with only the hand of the arm supporting the knee on the ground.
  • Reverse Airbaby: An Airbaby with all positions inverted.
  • Airchair: A type of freeze in which the breaker stabs their elbow into their back and balances on it while keeping their legs in the air.
  • Side Chair: A freeze in which the breaker stabs one elbow into their side and lifts his legs and head off the ground.
  • Chair Freeze: A type of freeze where the breaker balances with their elbow stabbed into their side and their head on the ground. They will then place one leg on the ground and cross the other leg over it.
  • Handglide Freeze aka Table-Top: A type of freeze where the breaker balances on their stabbed arm and uses their free arm for support / A 1 handed Turtle.
  • Hong 10 Freeze: A freeze created by bboy Hong 10.
  • Planche: A position from gymnastics which involves both hands being on the ground, straight arms, and the rest of your body is held off the ground completely horizontally.
  • Elbow Freeze: Breaker using one of his or her arm and elbow support the position.

Air

  • G-Kick: A kick with the legs and arm forming a G shape by reaching behind your back and grabbing the leg on the side of your arm on the ground.
  • Headstand: A freeze while standing on the head, with or without hands on the floor for support.
  • Head Hollow A headstand where the body is leaned over in an extreme back arch with the heels almost touching the floor.
  • Hollowback: A freeze that involves leaning backwards from a handstand position in an extreme back arch. In a true hollowback, the legs are together. Imagine "The Bridge" Position (see above), however feet don't touch the ground. note: the key is to see how far back you can arch and how close you can get your feet to the ground without resting them on the ground. Upper body control (Junior: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2gw9VE16mo&feature=related). Tip: fingers are usually pointing inward.
    • Scorpion: A variant of Hollowback where one leg reaches back farther than the other resembling the tail of a scorpion.
    • Invert: A variant of the hollowback that involves bending the legs forward instead of backwards. An inverted hollowback.
  • K-Kick: A kick with the legs and arm in a K shape.
  • L-Kick/Aú Batido: A kick with the legs in an L shape, also seen in Capoeira. Image:Dazzy.3x.ro/bboyz/l-kick.jpg
    • Nike: A kick that resembles the Nike sign.
  • Pike: A kick with both legs in the air and the free hand holding on to the feet.
  • Flag: A difficult freeze in which a one-hand handstand is maintained with both legs together leaning to one side...body resembles a flag

[edit] Power Moves

  • Air Flare/ Air Tracks (Debatable Move): An advance powermove starting from a 1990 or windmill or halo or headspin position. The bboy goes into a handstand with his body diagnal to the ground and legs spread out into a V-shape. The legs are swung, like windmills/halos, in a circular motion. Using the momentum, the bboy switches from arm to arm as the body rotates in the air. The most difficult part of this move is the switching of the arms while the back of the bboy is facing the ground (while in the air). It is recommended that this move is tried on mats with a supervisor.
    • Piked Airflare: Airflare with the legs straight together, instead of V-shape.
    • Munch Airflare: Airflare with the legs tucking in and kicking out, creating a "munch" motion.
    • One Legged Airflre: Airflare with one the legs sticking out while the other leg is bent in, looking like an L-shape. Sometimes it is done with the bent leg tucked into the shirt of the bboy.
    • One Hand Airflare: Airflare using one arm.
    • Elbow Airflare: Airflare with elbows/forearm.
    • One Arm Elbow Airflare: Airflare using one arm but on the elbow.
A flare in motion.
A flare in motion.
  • Flare: A widely recognized power move that involves swinging the legs around in a circular motion while balancing on the hands.
    • King Flares/Hopping Flare: A flare that is done while hopping from hand to hand.
    • Virgin Flare: A flare that is done with closed legs.
    • Twin-legged Flare: A Flare with the legs straight out together.
    • Crossed-legged Flare: Much like twin-legged flare, but the legs are crossed.
    • Chair Flare:A Flare starting and ending with an airchair position, much like king flares but with bent hands.
    • Thread Flare: A flare that is done with by threading the legs with the free arm.
  • Swipe (breakdance move): power move in which the breaker twists their upper body in the air followed by their legs.
  • Windmill/Mill: power move in which the breaker rotates on the upper body while swinging their legs.
    • Superman/Bellymills: A variant of the windmill where the arms are streched out, like Superman, while the torso rotates on the chest/stomach.
    • Airplane: A windmill but your arms high as possible and spread
    • Babymills/Munchmills: Windmills performed with tucked legs.
    • Germanmills/Tappingmills:Windmills performed with one leg tucked on top of the other leg, the lower leg taps the ground while the upper torso rolls over similar to munchmills/babymills. the tap leg should be the opposite of the direction the windmill is rotating, i.e. if rotating CW, the right leg taps, if rotating CCW, the left leg taps.
    • Tombstone mills: Windmills performed with piked legs.
    • Genies: You do a windmill, but cross your arms over your chest.
    • Nutcracker: A windmill with your hands on your groin area.
    • Eggbeater: A windmill with hands to your thighs.
    • Barrel: A windmill where your arms make a circle near your chest.
    • Mummies/Confusions: A windmill with your hands on your ears or the side of your head.
    • Lotus mills: Windmills done with the legs crossed over one another,in the lotus yoga position.
  • Halos: Similar to windmills, the only difference is the back roll on the ground but supported by arms while rotating, thus causing this move to also spin on the side of head, like a halo.
    • One hand halo: Halos done on one hand
  • Headspins: A continuous spin done while balancing only on the head, the legs can vary indefinitely.

[edit] Floats

Stabbed

  • Cricket: A float that involves hopping around in a circular motion while in the handglide position.
    • Jackhammer/Hydro: Crickets on one hand.
  • Turtle: A float that involves stabbing both hands and walking in a circular motion.
    • Pumping Turtle/Darkhammer: A float where you hop from stabbed hand to stabbed hand.

Air

  • UFO/Air Turtle: An un-stabbed spinning float.

[edit] Hand Hops

  • Hand hops:" From a two handed or one handed (crunched legs) handstand, legs will kick up and down, causing the hand on the floor to hop, commonly known as hand hops or rabbits.
    • Threading Handhops
    • Lotus Handhops
    • Handhop Pikes
    • Chair hops: the bboy is in an air chair freeze position and kicks up continuously, thus hopping on one arm.
    • Forearm Handhops
    • J-Hops: Bboy Jujus signature handhops.
    • Yoga Hops: Handhops with your hands in the dojo format of sitting. One of Bboy Baeks signature moves.

[edit] Spins

  • 1990/90: A spinning one-handed handstand.
  • 2000/00s/Thousands: A 1990 with the spare hand on the wrist of your supporting hand.
  • Elbow Spin: A spin on the forearm.
  • Back Spin: A spin on the back.
  • Butt Spin: A spin on the butt.
  • Handglide/Handspin: A type of spin performed while balanced in a one-handed float position.
  • Headspin: A spin on the head.

[edit] Blowups/Rollbacks

  • Rollback Handstand: A bboy starts off on his back or sitting down and rolls back to a handstand. This move is common to start a 1990 or a 2000.
  • Rollback Pike/Nike: Similar to a rollback handstand but usually done with one arm into a pike or a nike.
  • Rollback Airchair: A bboy starts off on his back or sitting down and rolls back to an airchair.

[edit] Drops

  • Drop Airchair Usually starting from a handstand move and dropping into an airchair.
  • Drop Elbow/Forearm Usually starting from a handstand move and dropping onto the elbow or forearm.
  • Head Drop Dropping onto the head from another move.
  • Shoulder Drop Dropping onto the shoulder from another move.

[edit] Other Moves

  • Back 2 Back:* The Back 2 Back involves 2 people X & Y. X & Y stand facing each other (over 5 feet apart). X bends over bending his knees slightly and can rest his elbows on his knees (head must be down). Y runs at X and puts his hands on his shoulders and flips himself onto X's back and does a tumble while on his back anwith his legs in a 4 shape. He hops and lands with the leg that was bent behind on the ground and the other leg pointing straight out. The breaker points one hand in the air and bounces on and off each foot while turning in a circle.
  • Boomerang Flip- Do a quarter backflip, then turn it into a butterfly kick.
  • Broncos: The breaker starts in a hand stand, kicking their legs and pushing off with their arms at the same time sending their feet on an impossible mission. The goal is to spend as much time in the air before their feet touches the ground. When their feet touches, the breaker bounces immediately off their toes, sending their upper body back towards the ground. When their hands touches, they repeats from step two and get a fly bounce going.
    • Frogs: You do the same motion as a Bronco, but you land in the turtle position, then you bounce back up and do the same thing over and over.
  • Butterfly kick: A Wushu move sometimes incorporated into breakdancing
  • FlashKick - A backflip with body flat, except legs are spread facing forward.
  • The bug: Your hands are rapidly pushing yourself along the ground. Start kneeling then place your head on the ground. Then start pushing along. The faster the hand movements, the better the bug.
  • Butterfly 2?: Step hard like you're going to jump really high forward. Then jump up really high in a diagonal direction and become horizontal in the air. Now, while still airborne, (you should be facing the ground) bend your back inward so your stomach is sticking toward the ground. At the same time, extend your arms behind you, close to your knees. Now snap out of it so that your legs are in a "V" shape and your arms are close to your chest to support your fall. Land with your arms in a push-up position.
  • Butterfly fly Run toward a hard object like a wall of a building. Then kick hard toward the object then take another step up and then spin around 90 degrees then spin in the air like a butterfly kick but spinning.
  • Caterpillar: synonymous with the Worm.
  • Fly & Roll: A B boy/B girl jumps forward "flies" forward, hits the ground, and rolls ending up back on their feet. This move can be done between two people.
  • Headglide/Icey Ice: With one elbow in your side, hand on the ground, your head slides around your supporting hand like a compass.
  • Headspring: A kick up executed from a kneeling position, going to the head and kiping up. Basiclly a handspring using your head.
  • Insane Corkscrew: A spin with the direction of rotation constantly changing.
  • K-snap: - A move similar to the Frog splash wrestling move.
  • Knee Spin: A spin on one or both knees, usually in the kneeling position. Breakers often perform freezes or stylish movements of the upper body while spinning.
  • Gainer Flash - A gainer but legs are like in the flashkick.
  • Leghop/Thread: Bend your weakest leg in front of your strongest, creating a figure-4 with your legs. Use the opposite hand to grab the toes of that weakest leg. This should form a circle through which you will jump. Jump as high as possible with your strong leg. Quickly scrunch it up to your chest, bring it over and through your leg-hand circle, and shoot it straight again to catch yourself before you fall to the ground. Legitimate leghops leave the leg-hand circle unbroken throughout the jump. It helps to bend over a little rather than stand totally erect. Some b-boys may repeatedly jump back and forth through the gap.
  • Rocket: Go into a 6-step and go into a helicopter/coffee grinder and as soon as you jump with your crouched foot in a rotation, you jump as high as you can with your crouched foot straight in the air (you can use your hands if you want) and as you go up, swing your leg back under your foot before you land for another rotation.
  • Rolls: The b-boy starts in all four with feet wide apart. Now he takes his right hand and throws it over to his left side so that his hands are with the same width that you would do a handstand in. Now he lifts his right leg off the ground, and kicks up into a handstand, with his legs bent and then jumps off of the hands and back onto the ground in the crab position. The body is twisted like a swipe.
  • Skyscraper: The b-boy gets into handstand position. he lifts his left hand off the ground and moves it back. The right hand is planted to the ground. Then, once he gets her left hand moving backwards, his body will turn to the hand. Then he picks up the right hand and moves it more or less next to the left hand and the body will turn still. Then she moves his left hand backwards again, and he is facing the opposite direction.
  • Solar Eclipse/Hand Hops: Hopping in a one-handed hand stand while rotating and kicking your legs.
  • Lunar Eclipse: Hopping in a one-handed hand stand while rotating and scissoring your legs.
  • Threading: Same technique as the leghop however without hopping and is incorporated into some freezes.
  • Macaco: From a sitting position, the right hand is swung behind the back, then the left hand. While the left hand is up in the air, do a backflip after it. This move shares its name with the Capoeira move. It translates from the Portuguese for word for 'Monkey'.
  • Worm, The: A rippling of the body along the ground.
  • Emerican crab: From a standing position, jump fairly high then kick your both legs up then with your hands rappidly tuck your hands under your groin then do a back flip. Then fall on your back lightly then flip up to a crab stance then from that keep your crab stance and flip on your head then land back to a crab stance then go back on your head. Repeat.
  • Gainer/Gaynor: A backflip executed while running forward.
  • Corkscrew: A difficult move in which the breaker jumps into the air, becomes completely horizontal, and completes two sideways rotations before landing back on his feet.
  • Loser/Gloria: A frontflip executed while walking or running backwards, the opposite of a Gainer.
  • Touchdown Raiz: A back handspring done using only one hand, used to gain momentum for moves such as backflips and Gainers.

[edit] Suicides

  • Suicide The term suicide is most frequently used as a suicide from a babymill/munchmill movement onto the back laying flat on the ground.
  • Front/back Headflip: A headspring done without the use of the hands.
  • Hard Dive: An aerial dive landing on the shoulder or upper forearm
  • Pencil Spin:A headspin done with legs together and hand at the sides.
  • Suicide Rubberband: A backwards dive landing in the kip-up position with hands behind head.
  • Airtrack 1.5: Done after the completion of an airflare,after one hand is placed down instead of hopping onto other hand momentum is used to complete one or two whole aerial spins, usually landed in a munchmill or windmill to avoid injury.
  • Suicide Corkscrew: A Corkscrew or B-twist is done but landed on back or upper shoulders
  • Coin Drop Drops down on one arm and goes into a windmill.


A Video Tutorial on How to Breakdance

v • d • e
Breakdance
Moves
1990 • 2000 • 6-step • Drop • Flare • Float • Freeze • Kick • Spin • Suicide • Swipe • Windmill
Related dances
Hip hop dance • Street dance • Krumping • Liquid dancing • Locking • Popping • Robot • Tutting • Uprock


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