If someone asked me to talk about the culture of the history of the Bronx using one word, it would be breaking.

Breaking sums up the movement, the people and even the hardships of the of the people of the Bronx. In the word breaking one can discover different types of movement and even theory written to maintain law and order.

As a writer, there is so much I can pull out from the word breaking when talking about my people in the Bronx; weather we are discussing Kelling’s 1982 Broken Window Theory or the amount of families that have been broken up due to the harsh housing conditions or if we are discussing perseverance, joy and happiness. Which on that note, the people of the Bronx coined the term breaking to refer to a dance style created in the Bronx.

When this term was created, the Bronx indeed was breaking. It was going through it’s ‘burning‘ phase- which I should add that there is also a dance style from the Bronx called burning. In this post however, I am focusing on breaking.

During the 1940’s the residents of the Bronx lived in dilapidated buildings that were this way because the landlords themselves started fires to collect insurance. Those who could leave, left and those who couldn’t stayed. The people who stayed found joy in their suffering. If some apartments were still in tact, then, people continued to live in them. And, life went on.

Despite the social condition, the people of the Bronx, found ways to break out of the mania.

Its strange. This word. Its strange how the broken window theory came from a group of people looking into the Bronx and studying the people and say, broken windows in a neighborhood means everything else is essentially broken. Then, the Bronx people looking out said no, you have it all wrong. Breaking is a dance! It’s a joy! The people created breaking and eventually carried it to the same government to entertain them in their White House that was essentially built by their ancestors.

Its even more strange that gentrification has changed the layout of the Bronx and capitalism has changed the nature of breaking; yet the people of the Bronx continue to hold on to its roots and continue to dance. Parents continue to pass on the love of music, dance and history to their children. Churches still hold fiery worship services where souls come and dance into the heat of the night, bars and restaurants still hold jam sessions with live musicians, and community centers still host dance classes where the elders, some who learned dance in the streets, now teach the children using their own pedagogy.

To prove that the Bronx is still dancing, the children of the breakers are now representing the Bronx by breaking on worldwide stages.

Today I met Fred, a parent of a child who loves to break. I listened to Fred tell the story of how he and his wife raised their children to also be immersed in the culture of the Bronx, and was intrigued. Fred’s story, I noticed didn’t dwell in the past but in the future which was what made his delivery impressive. His son, Kidbreak, stood next to him and shared his experience of what it meant to be a breaker now.

As a child, KidBreak, gained early local recognition. He was taught by breakdancer, Rokafella, (who I interviewed some years ago) and Rokafella’s husband, Kwikstep. KidBreak was seen as a young prodigy, dancing in public spaces in New York City. Today, he’s seventeen and from what I gathered is not only an encaptivating dancer; but he has a wonderful personality. He won the Red Bull BC One Cypher New York 2025 competition at just 16 years old and the photo below is featured in the Bronx Museum of History exhibition titled, When the Bronx Moved.

His parents, who grew up in New York City, remembers the time when the people of the Bronx moved and they honor that time. Fred, his father, who grew up in the Bronx, and his mom, Jessica, who grew up in the lower east side, gave Kidbreak the name KidBreak as a nod to the artist Nas who was a boogie boy as a child. Nas’s name was Kidwave thus Kidbreak. Fred and Jessica are immersed in the culture and history of the Bronx. They don’t travel far to give their children the best of the Bronx.

The same way parents line up at Wynton Marsalis Lincoln Center Studio so their children can learn jazz, is the same way Fred and Jessica of the Bronx seek the best educators for their children so the very essence of the culture can stay alive. Fred and Jessica are an example of how parents in the Bronx see the value in their own culture, their own selves and most of all, their own children.

I asked Kid Break a few questions about his career and here is what he shared:

How long have you been breaking? I’ve been dancing for13 years.

How old are you? I am 17 years old.

How does dance look for you in the future?

I don’t really look too much into the future when it comes to things, I’m more worried about what’s going on now.
In my life, I focus on stuff that I need to focus on. But if I would have to think about the future, I think breaking would be in a good place, especially when it comes to the competition level, but I just feel like we just need to be a little bit more united and respected, when it just comes to things in general.

You said you didn’t really think about the future around breaking.
But how do you think about the future of your career and your education? What do you imagine doing? And is breaking part of that?

I imagine breaking being my livelihood.
I already been doing it for 13 years, so I like doing it, I love breaking, it’s brought me across the world. I’ve got a lot of amazing, opportunities. So I’ve just been thinking about that.
I hadn’t really thought too much about, like, college and stuff, but if it does come to that, I was thinking more about, fashion. When it comes to like clothes and stuff, I feel like it might be the best thing for me. I don’t really want to go to college and just like, go for something random that I don’t like because then it’ll just be a waste of my time.

You started dancing when you were five years old. What would you say to that five year old today?

I don’t really know. I think the five year old me will still have the same mentality.
I really liked breaking back then and I still like it now, so just tell five year old me to keep doing it. I guess.

To watch a small clip of Kid Break dancing click here and to watch a video of him competing, click here.