‘It’s Like a Game of Chess’: How 2 Members of the U.S. Breaking Team Prepared for the Paris Olympics

Exactly one new sport will make its debut at the Paris Olympics: breaking, an evolution of the phenomenon of B-Boys whirling and spinning in the Bronx during the early days of hip-hop breakdancing in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s a complicated, difficult sport, and star athletes such as Canada’s Phil Wizard train to move just about every part of their bodies, improvising instantly to tracks and beats they have no idea are coming. “We were more culture, now we’re sports,” says Victor Montalvo, 30, one of the U.S. breaking team’s four members, by phone from Philadelphia, a few days before departing for Paris. “Breaking has evolved. It’s way different now.”

The breaking events, which kick off Aug. 9, involve one-on-one battles during which hip-hop DJs provide the beats and competitors take 60-second turns known as “throw downs.” They choose from three broad categories of moves: “top rock,” or standing dances; “freeze,” a halted position on heads or hands; and “down rock,” or flashy, acrobatic spins. In a competition last year, Jeffrey “B-Boy Jeffro” Louis, 29, now on the U.S. team, repeatedly twirled his body while upside-down, feet in the air – balancing himself alternately on his head, upper back and a single forearm.

“His style is super-musical. He goes off feeling. He has a lot of character, showmanship, stage presence,” Montalvo says of his teammate. “He just brings it all to life.”

Breaking, the sport, took off in the early 2000s when Red Bull sponsored events such as Lords of the Floor, treating the competition not like an old-school throwback but a series of hyped-up wrestling or boxing matches. Back then, Montalvo was learning his moves on his driveway with a cousin, and Louis’ older brother, Kenny, was teaching him and another brother, Pierry, how to do it. Today, they’re two of the 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls who will battle for Olympic gold. They spoke with Billboard in separate interviews a week before today’s opening ceremony.

Jeffrey “B-Boy Jeffro” Louis

How familiar are you with the competition? Are you scouting? 

We’ve been competing against these guys from the beginning of 2022, so we’re pretty much familiar with everybody. We know what everybody’s going to throw out and what they’re going to do. But everybody has a strategy, and we’re trying to strategize based on their strategy. It’s like a game of chess. At the end of the day, I know my moves. The judges might see my moves falling in a different category than what I believe my moves fall in — so you’re trying to understand the judging system, but you’re also trying to understand where you fall in that judging system, and analyzing your strengths and weaknesses within that judging system. It’s maintenance work right now.

What do you mean by maintenance? 

Strength and conditioning. Doing physical therapy on my groin, because I had an injury a couple years ago, so I’m just trying to make sure I don’t strain it or injure myself. A lot of breakers are getting hurt because they’re overtraining and pushing themselves. It’s just getting into that mindset of don’t overdo it.

How does physical preparation for breaking compare to a traditional sport? 

Everybody has their own style, so you want to train the way your dancing is performed. Some people live on their hands. They can walk, flip, spin — and stay on their hands the whole time. I’m more of a grounded person, so my training’s going to be different. I train through my fitness program, FitBreak, where I take breaking moves and combine it with traditional exercises.

How much do you study old-school hip-hop breakdancing?

I have to study everybody. If you’re involved in breaking, you have to go back. You have to know the history. There are a lot of moves back then that are not used right now. People might see it as “they’re basic,” but when you haven’t seen something in forever, and something reappears, people say, “That’s a classic move.”

Will your brothers be in Paris? 

They’re part of my crew. Both aren’t able to make it, but one of them is — Sweet P. That’s [Pierry’s] breaker name. He was with me at the last qualifier in Budapest. He was there when I qualified to make the Olympics, and just having him there was such a boost. My personality shined more, my character shined, my mindset, feeling like I didn’t have to prove myself.

Any opponents you’re especially focused on? 

Everybody’s high level. One person I would love to met in the competition would be Phil Wizard. Everybody’s saying this is the guy to beat. And my friend, Dany Dann, he’s from France, we just have one of the most natural connections whenever we battle.

What is your battle plan? 

When I try to think of moves, it hinders my style. Going back to the beginning of how I started dancing — why I fell in love with breaking — it’s that freedom of movement. My goal in Paris is to get into that traditional Jeffro style of just moving and listening and connecting. When I’m that free, I’m unstoppable.

It’s like you’re describing a jazz musician improvising. 

Yeah. You have to be able to connect with your whole surrounding, whether it’s the floor, the music, the DJs on set, the crowd. Because if you’re not, you can tell, there’s some unbalanced factor in your dancing. You have to have a conversation with your opponent through moves, and if you’re not doing that, then you’re just showcasing.

Victor Montalvo

How are you training for the Olympics?

For now, I’m simulating the battles. I’m doing a lot of breaking interval training, which requires 30-to-40-second rounds and 30-second rest.

Which competitors are you thinking about as you’re prepping?

There’s been a couple athletes that are in the same bracket as me, so I have to watch out for them. I’m just worrying about myself for now — bettering my style and moves and concepts.

How surprised have you been that breaking turned into an Olympic sport?

I feel like the whole community was shocked. We did not expect it. This was out of our heads. It was really cool, like, “This is a new goal we can achieve.” We’re stepping into the sports world. We’ve never had that opportunity to show the dance, and now we do. It’s really cool to see the positive reactions and the support we’re getting. There are a lot of people supporting me who haven’t seen breaking — or haven’t seen it since the ’80s.

Which members of your family are coming to Paris to watch you compete?

I have my cousin. He was the one who taught me breaking — my first ever power move, which was the windmill. From there, it never stopped. He’s coming to the event. He’s not going to be in Paris the entire time. He’s going to be there for my event, then heading back to the U.S.

Where do you get inspiration for your moves?

You see someone you look up to and you create your own path. It’s all about taking, but recreating. Most of the moves we’re doing are from tribal dances, martial arts. It’s a melting pot of inspirations.

What do you want viewers to know about this new Olympic sport?

We can’t repeat in our competition. Let’s say in figure skating, you have a full routine that you have to practice, and it’s like two minutes. In breaking, we have 15 full routines, 15 signatures that we rehearse, and we can’t repeat them. So once you do that one signature, you can’t repeat it the entire event. Because you get points taken off, you’ve always got to come up with new things each round. It’s all based off of improvising and adapting in the moment. You never know what’s going to happen.

How challenging is it to train for this type of improvisation? 

Even with your moves rehearsed, you’ve got to have your moves in your head. You might forget [during] the third round, so you’ve got to adapt. It’s all like a mind game.

That sounds tough.

It’s just competing. I’ve been doing it for so many years — I’ve been competing internationally for 12 years, but in total, I’ve been competing for 18 years — and you just start understanding the formula and start having this muscle memory from all the dancing you’re doing. It comes alive without even thinking. It comes out of nowhere, like your body knows what to do.