April 7, 2020
If you are like me and cannot stand not being able to go out and do your regular activities, then I would bet that trying something new would be an excellent remedy. With that, I have you covered with some resources to get started in basic breakdance and tricking.
All you will need is an area about six feet by six feet and your bare feet! If you don’t have access to a space outside, a trick that works for smaller spaces is finding some old cardboard and setting it on the floor to get a cheap breakdance floor.
To get started, you will want to warm your body up with some active movement that doesn’t require much space, such as running in place or doing any warm-up you might be accustomed to already before your regular activities. Take note that warming your tendons up is essential for higher-impact movements, as well as taking the time to stretch after each session.
Now, in beginning breakdance, you will want to start with simple, easy-to-do movements such as learning how to perform a “coffee grinder” or “step moves” before moving onto advanced movements. These can be learned and researched by utilizing google or YouTube through searching “beginner breakdance moves.” If you want one specific channel to stick to, I recommend “Pigmie” on YouTube for his easy-to-follow and comprehensive tutorials.
However, be aware that people progress at different speeds, and the best way to learn is to set your sights on a move you want to learn in the future. Then, with some goals in mind, you can work the prerequisites like the examples I have given above to achieve your end game. The easier moves are also a good way to build up body strength without any weights, as “air flairs,” to name one example, take a tremendous amount of strength to perform.
Given a couple of weeks of practice and dedication to making a small space work, just about anyone can try out and enjoy the art of breakdancing.
As for tricking, much of the same information applies in equal parts, but practice can be more difficult as your body leaves the ground more often. My suggestion would be to start with the listed breakdance movements, as they can be combined with later movements in tricking to great effect. For example, one could perform the simple breakdance step movements into a “coffee grinder” and so on into a full line of movement.
Think of it as a puzzle; each piece is a movement that is developed separately with the online resources above until you have enough to finish the puzzle. As you begin to develop and add more movements to your repertoire, the puzzle keeps getting bigger, you can make up your own moves at that point and share them with others when the world reopens. Good luck and have fun with it!