What Is a BBoy Stance?
Have you seen this at a breaking battle or cypher? You’re watching a dancer pull off the freshest moves: clean and fast footwork, mind-blowing power moves, dope top rocks – and it is all being executed perfectly with great musicality. And yet, you feel like the round is a little unfinished when the dancer simply walks out of the battle floor or cypher without an ending pose, leaving an anticlimactic end to their round.
What’s missing, you might ask?
This simple, crucial, yet underrated and not often talked about detail: the b-boy stance. The b-boy stance is a standing position and pose that typically lasts not more than two seconds that breakers use at the end of their rounds. If you think about dancing in cyphers and battling as a conversation, the breaking stance can be seen as a full stop or exclamation point that ends the sentence or a round.
This b-boy stance is different from a freeze. Freezes are more core-centric and are about holding a pose for a moment while balancing on your hand or head. Stances, on the other hand, are more about character and personality and conveying a message to your opponent or the audience at the end of your round.
This is often overlooked with many dancers focusing more on mastering the most elaborate, eye-catching, and impressive power moves. Yet, the b-boy stance can be a differentiating factor, one that is so understated, that decides the winner in a battle. To be a top battler, breakers simply cannot pass on this important aspect of battling.
So, without further ado, let us dive into the different aspects of the breaking stance and how important it is in your dance!
Why Do a BBoy Stance, And Why Is the Breaking Stance Important?
The breaking stance is important because it is what conveys the character, personality, attitude, and style of the dancer. Just as how it is important to begin your rounds properly, it is just as important to end off your rounds on a good note – and you can do that with a breaking stance.
The breaking stance is what will help you finish your round off and make it look complete. Without it, even if you are the most talented breaker in the world and have the most amazing battle round, your energy can taper off at the end without a nice finish to end it off. Using gift wrapping as an analogy, you can have a present nicely wrapped up, but it would look a lot better, more polished, and finished with a bow tie on top. That is what the b-boy stance does.
Battle Skills & Why Dance Skills Are Not the Be All And End All to Winning Battles.
The b-boy stance – dance skills vs battle skills, besides having dance skills, the top battlers and the breakers who win battles also have high-level battle skills. One simple way in which you can level up your battle skills is by utilizing the b-boy stance to end off your rounds on a high note.
The BBoy stance is especially important in battles where, if two dancers are neck to neck with each other in terms of skill level, how do the judges decide which dancer comes out on top? This is where style, flavor, and character come out, and one way in which to stand out from your competition is through the b-boy stance.
Besides just how the b-boy stance can help you end your rounds off properly, the breaking stance can also work to convey your attitude, character, and style, or to intimidate your opponent – all of which are extremely important in battles.
In terms of attitude, character, style, and personal flavor, your stance can help convey confidence to your opponent, the judges, and the audience. This kind of confidence that you display as a battler is sometimes more important than your skills and can be a crucial element in helping you win over your opponents in battles.
A BBoy or BGirl stance can be a way of saying something along the lines of, “Hey, this is me and this is what I’ve got,” or “Did you see what I did there?” to express the dancer’s feeling and attitude about their round to everyone watching.
BBoy stances can also be used to intimidate or threaten the opponent in a battle. The psychological element of battle cannot be underscored enough and is just as important as the physical and skills aspects of battling. Beyond just burns and responding to burns, b-boy stances can also be used to scare or intimidate an opponent which can help dancers win battles. Oftentimes, breakers’ stances convey a strong, confident, and assertive message that says something like, “What you got?” or “You got schooled.”
How To Do a BBoy Stance (Examples and Tips!)
Now, if you are wondering how to do a BBoy stance, look no further! We are here to help.
Some classic B-Boy B-Girl stances that you might see in many battle rounds are the classic crossed arms pose with a dancer’s feet together and standing tall, or a “what you got?” stance where a dancer faces their opponent with their arms out, confidently welcoming their opponent to respond with their own round. Another popular stance is the hand-on-crotch pose or hands-on-hips.
The types of BBoy stances are endless and it all depends on what you like and what you are trying to convey at the end of your rounds. To get started on creating the b-boy stances most suitable for you, try playing around with gestures, emoting, and even playing around with your hair and clothes. It is all about experimenting and learning how to express your attitude using your hands, arms, legs, facial expressions, and posture. Start by thinking about what kind of energy or statement you want to make at the end of your round, and from there, you will develop the right b-boy stance to go along with what you want to express.
Just remember that at the end of the day, battling and dancing in a cypher is like having a conversation. Your b-boy stance is about expressing yourself to the audience, the judges, and your opponent, and there is no right or wrong way to go about it. The important thing is to be true to yourself, and with practice and experimentation, you will be able to find your own style and breaking stances.
