Judging Breaking in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games!

What does it mean to judge Breaking on an international stage such as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games? Which judging system was used and how could dancers qualify to compete in Paris? What were the reqirements for judges?

Paris 2024, in the background the judges decisions. Foto: Little Shao

 

Here is some information!

The judging system for Breaking is comparative. 

• In each battle round, the judges compare the breakers with each other. They look for imbalances and assess which breaker was stronger in which one of the five criteria.
  
• Breaking in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was judged with the WDSF Judging System that contains the five main criteria of Technique, Vocabulary, Originality, Execution and Musicality.
• The five main criteria contain numerous subcriteria, for example: form, balance, control and dynamics in the main citeria Technique; the range of diverse and different vocabulary in the main criteria Vocabulary; the different ways of musicality (pace, accenting, rythm) within the main criteria Musicality; the stage presence, character or signature moves in the main criteria Originality or the composition of a round, the cleanliness and control of space within the main criteria Execution. 
• You can study all the subcriteria in the WDSF Breaking Rules and Regulation Manual.
• As the system is comparative, the judges do not give points or scores but shift the faders of the interface towards the dancer who was stronger/better/ahead in the specific main criteria. 
• That means that only one of the two dancers can win the criteria (the judges can not give e.g. Technique to both. Only one dancer can win a criteria). 

  

  A model of the interface of the WDSF judging system.

  
  

• That also means that dancers can win the battle by winning e.g. all five criteria, but also by winning only two or three. Why? It depends by how much of percentage they win the certain criteria. Dancer A could win e.g. Technique, Execution and Vocabulary by 3% each, but dancer B wins Origniality and Musicality by 10% each. Dancer B would still win the battle.
  

 

The qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games went over a time of 4 years - starting in 2021 until 2024. There were two ways to qualify: through Continental Qualifiers and through Ranking Points earned at Breakig for Gold Competitions.

• Dancers could compete in one of the 5 Continental Qualifiers and/or the World Championship in 2023, the winners would be directly qualified for Paris 2024 (European Games in Nowy Saz: India & Dany Dann; Oceania Qualifer in Sydney: Raygun & JAttack; Pan-American Games in Santiago: Sunny & Phil Wizard, African Championship in Rabat: El Mamouny & Billy; Asian Games in Hangzou: 671 & Shigekix; World Championship in Leuven: Nicka & Victor)
• The dancers ranked 2-4 in the Continental Qualifiers would be qualified for the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest and Shanghai in 2024.
• Dancers could collect ranking points in various Breaking for Gold competitions around the globe, where the top 4 results would be scored. The top ranked dancers had to compete at the Olympic Qualifer Series in Budapest and Shanghai 2024 for the last 10 spots in Paris 2024.
  
• At the Olympic Qualifier Series, the best 9 bgirls and 9 bboys qualified for Paris. The two last spots were awarded to french dancers, as France, as host country, had a quota place for a bgirl and a bboy (but they had to be ranked in world top 20 to get these quota places).
• More about the qualification process for Breaking towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games 

judging in Paris 2024. Foto: Little Shao.

 

Becoming a certified judge for the BfG competitions, the Olympic Qualifier Series and Olympic Games:  

To be selected as a judge for any of the Breaking for Gold competitions, judges had to be at least 10 years in the game, have at least an experience of judging 20 competitions and have had an international competition career. Additionally, they still had to be able to break! Fulfilling these criteria, Judges had to take several judging congresses and exams to get certified for Threefold, Trivium and/or the WDSF judging system. 

After each competition, the judges have been evaluated regarding consistency, speed and their awaresness and reduction of biases within their performance as judges. All judges decisions are transparent and available on the website of Breaking for Gold; meaning: everyone can look up each single decision of each single judge in each single battle (yes, little pressure here!)

Only the best judges would be taken for the Olympic Qualifier Series. Judging the Olympic Qualifier Series was the prerequisite to be selected for the Olympic Games. 

Also: There are rules for the judging board, too. On the judging board, there can only be one judge per country; there has to be a diversity of gender and ethnicity to reflect the global breaking community. 

And: dancers and coaches can contact the judges and ask for feedback 7 days after the competition finished. (Meaning: we make notes duriong the competition and keep them in case we get asked to give feedback!)

• If you want to learn more about judging, check the WDSF Breaking Manual for information about the WDSF judging system.
  
• Check the DAN Dance Adjunction Network for more information about Threefold & Trivium.