break dancing

noun

a style of acrobatic dancing originating in the mid-1970s, often performed to rap music usually by teenage males in the streets, and characterized by intricate footwork, pantomime, spinning headstands, tumbling, and elaborate improvised virtuosic movements.

Also, breakdancing.

Also called break, breaking.

Origin

sense of break unclear; cf. breakdown (def 6)

Related forms

break dancer, noun

Examples from the web for break dancing

And he's now doing the famous moonwalk, which he picked up from break dancing.
They used to set them up and turn them up as loud as they could for break dancing.

Word Origin and History for break dancing

1982, but the style itself evolved late 1970s in South Bronx. The reference is to the rhythmic break in a pop-dance song (see break (n.)), which the DJs isolated and the dancers performed to. Breakdown "a riotous dance, in the style of the negroes" is recorded from 1864.