Every Monday and Thursday night around 8:30, the Breakin’ Club can be found breakin’ it down on the badminton courts at the CU Recreation Center.
The Breakin’ Club provides students with a place to learn and share new dance moves.
More than that, the club aims to provide students with an understanding of what hip-hop culture is all about.
“Most people today don’t know what the meaning of hip-hop is,” said Katya Hott, a junior linguistics major and president of the Breakin’ Club. “They don’t understand that it’s not just rap, money, (girls) and bling. It is much more than that; it’s an art form.”
Although the Breakin’ Club started about four years ago, the group fell apart for a while and was restarted last year when Hott decided she couldn’t handle not having a place to break.
Hott said there are not a lot of opportunities for dancing battles because there aren’t enough gyms.
“There are usually about two big battles every year,” Hott said. “In fact, (the Breakin’ Club) just held one.”
The Breakin’ Club makes up for the lack of battles by providing students with a place to learn about and share moves that are continually being invented. The group also performs periodically on Pearl Street to raise money for the club.
The club attracts all different types of students and has seen a steady increase in membership this semester. People of all different skill levels are invited to participate. Many people come not knowing anything about breaking.
This was the case for Joshua Spirey, a sophomore integrative physiology major who has been dancing for just under a year.
“I came one day not knowing anything about it,” Spirey said. “(Now) I like (breaking) because it is much more alluring than other forms of dance; it’s unique.”
The term “breakdancing” was coined in the ’80s, but it has gone through many changes since then. Hott said the dance form now known as “breaking” or “b-boying” and “b-girling” has several more techniques and even has its own music, which is called “beats.”
