Breaking Things Down
Living authentically
by Claire Law
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To explore the breaking competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and reflect on how to live authentically.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Breaking Things Down) and the means to display them.
- Have available the following YouTube videos and the means to show them during the assembly:
- ‘Epic moments of Red Bull BC One history’, available at: https://youtu.be/PkFxxIXIBUQ (3.27 minutes long)
- ‘Toprock and downrock: Quick Steps 3 – The Break Boys’, available at: https://youtu.be/hOZr-d6XzbY (1.10 minutes long) - You will need to pre-arrange for a student to read from Mark 10.17–22. The passage is available at: https://tinyurl.com/bde8padz
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Welcome the students to the assembly. - Explain that you are going to show four slides and you want the students to work out what they all have in common.
Show Slides 2-5.
Take some responses from the students before revealing the answer.
Explain that the common theme across the slides is sport, although they are more unconventional compared to traditional sports such as hockey and football.
On the slides, we can see people surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and breakdancing. All four of these activities will be included as new sports at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The organizers hope that by incorporating sports that are closely associated with youth and have a creative element, while still requiring athleticism, this year’s Olympic Games will be even more popular with younger audiences. - Today, we are going to focus on the final event shown on the slides: breakdancing, or, to use the correct title, breaking.
- Let’s see some breaking in action from the World Breaking Championship.
Show the YouTube video ‘Epic moments of Red Bull BC One history’ (3.27 minutes long). - Breaking is an energetic form of dance that grew up alongside hip-hop in New York City in the 1970s.
- Show Slide 6.
This is DJ Kool Herc, one of the founders of hip-hop music. In 1973, Herc was throwing neighbourhood parties where he noticed that young people would dance more energetically during the ‘break’ of the tracks that he was playing. (The break is the part of the song where vocals and other instruments drop out, emphasizing the drumbeat.)
Seeing this, Herc started to play two copies of the same record, mixing between them on two turntables so that he could extend the break and the dancers would have more time to showcase their moves.
Describing this time, Herc said, ‘Once they heard that, there was no turning back. They always wanted to hear breaks after breaks after breaks.’ - Show Slide 7.
Breaking consists mainly of four types of move: toprock, downrock, power move and freeze. It is typically set to songs that contain drum breaks, especially funk, soul and hip-hop music. - Let’s watch some of these moves being demonstrated, although they should probably come with a health-and-safety warning: ‘Be careful when trying this at home!’
Show the YouTube video ‘Toprock and downrock: Quick Steps 3 – The Break Boys’ (1.10 minutes long, or you may wish to pause it at 0.32 minutes). - At the Paris 2024 Olympics, there will be two breaking competitions: one for men and one for women. There will be 16 competitors - known as b-boys and b-girls - in each event, and they will face off in spectacular 1v1 battles, using a combination of the moves that we’ve just seen in a bid to take home the first Olympic breaking title.
- You may be more familiar with the term ‘breakdancing’ rather than ‘breaking’. However, the original name for the dance was breaking; breakdancing was a term that was introduced by the media. The Olympic event will be using the correct term, breaking.
- Many people in the breaking community object to it being called breakdancing. They point out that breaking is much more than a series of moves; it is a whole culture. They argue that true breaking means adopting the culture, not simply doing some impressive spins to wow a crowd. The word breakdancing can give a false impression that it’s just about impressing people, whereas it’s actually about daring to believe that anything is possible with commitment, and being willing to lose yourself in movement rather than be consumed by fear of what others may think.
Time for reflection
Do we ever fall into the trap of using a word to describe ourselves without being fully committed?
- Perhaps we call ourselves a musician, but neglect to practise.
- Maybe we tell others that we’re a good friend, but then we act without integrity when it comes to our friends.
- Maybe we tell others that they can trust us, but then we tell lies and manipulate facts.
There’s someone like this in the Bible; someone who wanted to describe himself as a follower of Jesus, but found it too challenging to put caring for others before his personal wealth. Let’s hear about him now.
Invite the student to read Mark 10.17 – 22.
The man in the passage wanted to be a follower of Jesus so that he could live forever. Jesus’ response makes it clear that being one of his followers involves a commitment to caring for others and loving our neighbour as we love ourselves for our whole life.
In this passage, Jesus breaks down what it means to follow him, and it means more than adhering to the Ten Commandments. For this man, the sacrifice of giving everything that he had to the poor proved too challenging, at least at that time.
We don’t know if the man ever got the chance to reconsider his attitude towards his wealth. However, the passage helps us to reflect on what it really means to call ourselves Christians.
The same is true in other faiths, and for people of no faith. It’s possible to call yourself a Muslim, but to neglect to live a life of submission to the will of Allah. It’s possible to label yourself a humanist, and then fail to show respect to other human beings.
So, let’s take a break from our busy day to reflect for a short time on what our lifestyle says about us.
- Do we dance to the beat of the music that matters to us?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- Do we find ourselves saying things to impress others, without really meaning the words or living out what we say?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- What changes do we want to make today to how we live our life?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Our bodies are wonderful, and we can enjoy sports of all kinds – including breaking.
We pray for the athletes who will take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics, and for the people who will be inspired to try out a new sport as a result.
As we watch the Olympics this summer, remind us that words matter.
Help us to live with honesty, integrity and authenticity.
May our lifestyles match our words.
Help us to reflect on what really matters to us in life, and to live a lifestyle that connects us to this, rather than choosing to say or do things purely to impress others.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Toprock and downrock: Quick Steps 3 – The Break Boys’, available at: https://youtu.be/hOZr-d6XzbY (1.10 minutes long)
