Agency :
Traditional Olympic sports better watch their backs when breaking makes its Summer Games debut in Paris, as crowds are bound to be drawn to the sport’s jaw-dropping moves, American breaker Logan “Logistx” Edra said.
Breaking, known commonly to the uninitiated as breakdancing, was born in the Bronx borough of New York in the 1970s and is now preparing for its moment in the Olympic spotlight when 16 “B-Girls” and 16 “B-Boys” will compete.
“Breaking is going to do so well in Paris,” said Edra.
The 21-year-old phenom got her B-Girl name “Logistx” from her father because she always knew how to get to where she wanted to go as a child.
“I pray that we bring the most hype and steal attention from the other sports,” she told Reuters.
“They are going to hear the music and they are going to be so curious. Like, what’s going on?”
At a dance studio on trendy Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles this week, Edra led a half-dozen aspiring breakers through a high-energy class.
“We need music in our lives!” she shouted to her pupils before turning the volume way up on hip-hop trio Digable Planets’ 1992 hit Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat).
Dressed in an oversized green Gogo Squeez hoodie and loose blue Nike sweatpants, she locked into the music and was soon letting loose the head spins, flips and elite footwork that made her the Red Bull BC One World Champion in 2021.
“Are you a B-Girl already?” she asked one beaming student after she pulled off a move.
“We’re just having fun, that’s all we’re doing.”
Breaking has been compared to boxing due to the one-on-one nature of its battles and even ring walks and also to gymnastics given the acrobatic skills involved.
But Edra said it is more closely aligned to skateboarding, which also prizes creativity and technical prowess and has rapidly become one of the most popular Olympic sports following its debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021.