■ Ofelia C. Empian
With the goal of training more athletes to join competitive breaking competitions in North Luzon, the first breakinggrassroots program in Baguio and Benguet was held March 24 at the Baguio Central School.
The free grassroots workshop, organized by the Philippine DanceSport Federation, Inc. (PDSFI) One North Luzon, introduced breaking to kids, teens, and adult participants from Baguio and Benguet.
Coach Jade Guinyang, one of the organizers, said the participants learned the brief history of breaking and basic fundamental steps and movements in breaking.
“As we all know breaking is already part of the Olympics, we are doing this movement to prepare and train more bboys and bgirls to compete and represent not just our city but our country,” Guinyang said.
She and her team, composed of bboy Karl Alexander Bugaoan and bgirl Michelle Dysangco, recently brought home bronze and silver medals, during their debut in the Philippine National Games.
Bugaoan and Dysangco were also present during the activity, where they taught and demonstrated the art of breaking along with another local bboy Rowen Boyles, the latter also a national and internationally-awarded breaking and hip hop athlete.
Break dancing, also called breaking and B-boying, is an energetic form of dance, fashioned and popularized by African Americans and Latinos, that includes stylized footwork and athletic moves such as back spins or head spins.
The World DanceSport Federation announced in 2022 the International Olympic Committee officially included breaking on the sports program for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Breaking will become the first dancesport discipline to appear at the Olympic games, following its successful debut at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2018.
“We highly encourage everyone to learn about breaking for the great opportunities that it has to offer because it’s already included in the Olympics and PDSFI is already under the Department of Education,” she said.
Guinyang said their next program would be a series of workshops in other cities of Northern Luzon.
Interested participants may join the training with the group that regularly trains at the Athletic Bowl everyday.
