Tulsa Breaks Into Next Olympic Sport

Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the famed home of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, whose sound defined the western swing style in the late 1930s. But it was a couple of Texas bboys that ended up stealing the show at the World Breaking Classic USA Qualifier at Cain’s on March 16, an event that highlighted a sport that itself may steal the show at its Olympic Summer Games debut in Paris.

The World Breaking Classic is an international series with 10 events around the world determining teams that will qualify for the main event this summer in the Netherlands. The Tulsa event marked the second time the city has hosted the U.S. qualifier but the first at the historic ballroom that may be more well known for breaking music careers than the athletes of breaking, known as bboys and bgirls.

The venue and the community were the perfect fit for the Plus Seven Company owned by Nick Povalitis, a former CVB sports representative from Rockford, Illinois, who founded the company and organized the WBC USA Qualifier. In 2021, Povalitis had about 25 bids to host the first version of the event, noting that Tulsa’s proposal hit the mark.

“Tulsa’s was the most holistic, the most well-rounded,” he said. “It was more than just financial. It was more than just a heads-in-beds proposal. They brought in the local art scene. They brought in local bboys into the bid process as well.”

In 2022, the event was staged inside the Legacy Hall theater in Tulsa’s Cox Business Convention Center. But Povalitis always envisioned Cain’s Ballroom, which wasn’t available over the dates. After taking 2023 off, the event returned this year and caught Cain’s on an open night over the March 16 date. At the event, breakers competed right on the hard wood dance floor, with the only extra flooring being a sturdy sticker with the event’s logo (which made out surprisingly well after a night of twisting and pounding on the edges).

The competition featured a 1v1 battle where single athletes competed in a bracket to determine a winner as selected by three judges. More than 30 competed in that event. The main event was a 2×2 battle where each member of a team gets a designated amount of time to impress the judges and score a win for their team as they move through the bracket. Some 19 teams competed there for the right to move on to the international event with teams registering from Montreal, Mexico, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and Houston, among others. In the end, a team from Texas took the final competition.

Blending Hip Hop and Breaking

In between competitions, a panel of sports tourism and breaking experts discussed the competition and the sport’s place in the local cultural scene. Included in that discussion was Danny Boy O’Connor, the co-founder of the legendary hip hop group House of Pain, who crossed into the mainstream with their hit “Jump Around.” In recent years, the New York native has settled in Tulsa and now calls it home, purchasing the house that was used in the movie version of S.E. Hinton’s book “The Outsiders,” noting the story resonated with him growing up as he found the hip hop scene to be his outsider community of sorts.

Tulsa was a perfect spot for the World Breaking Classic, he said, because it fits the town’s culture.

“It’s an incredible fit because it is a music town,” he said. “It is an artistic town, but bigger than that, it’s a very welcoming and accepting town for all things. And what’s old is what’s new, and hip hop is not going anywhere. Breaking, for me, was my first love between the music. Break dancing was the first attraction to this whole thing that we call hip hopping and bboying.”

Joel Koester, the Tulsa Sports Commission director of sales, echoed that, saying breaking is one of many sports that has found a home in the community.

“I was sitting in the room earlier watching the 1v1 thinking, we’re in Tulsa,” he said. “Where else can we watch some of the top breaking athletes in the world compete? I don’t think a lot of people would have thought Tulsa, but here we are. People ask all the time what Tulsa is known for. It’s music, it’s arts, and this event embodies all of that.”

Moy Rivas, a Houston bboy who founded Break Free Worldwide, a global agency that provides professional entertainment and education in the arts, said the event was impressive compared to others he’s been to over the years in larger markets. “I was blown away,” he said. “I was just really impressed with how many people were here and how everybody was just immersed into the competition, into what was going on.

“I’ve also seen the rollercoaster side where you show up to certain events in more prominent cities like L.A. or New York and the vibe is not as good like it is today. Something very special is happening here. It brought chills to me when I saw it because I didn’t expect it.”

Povalitis said he expected the city would be as good as advertised.

“For somebody who’s never been here, you’re thinking maybe it’s an oil town, or it’s corn fields, or the Dust Bowl, which may be true to a certain extent, but once you get into the community, you see that it’s a thriving sports and entertainment destination,” he said. “You see there’s a thriving arts program as well. And it’s a great vibe for not only sports events, but artistic dance competitions and breaking.”

Breaking’s Olympics Debut

Events like the World Breaking Classic will be expecting a boost in interest and profile after the Olympic Games. In Paris, the competition will feature 16 bboys and 16 bgirls who will compete in a 1v1 competition. While the International Olympic Committee has approved the plans for Paris, the event was left off the program for the Games when they come to Los Angeles in 2028. Nonetheless, the sport’s stewards know they have a golden opportunity in Paris.

Rivas has been involved in the early days of the Olympics campaign, working with the World DanceSport Federation that is governing the breaking competition on an international level. He said despite the sport’s origins in the United States, the competitive version has grown to wild popularity overseas the likes of which are not even seen here. In time, he’d like to see the international competition include the 2v2 team aspect as well as the 1v1 that will be on display in Paris.

“In the U.S. it’s kind of on the back burner, whereas there’s a ton of support everywhere else,” he said. “But hip hop and breaking was birthed in New York here in the States. So, I think we need something special to happen for us in Paris, to make sure that we can continue this journey and there’ll be more team sports.”
Koester with the Tulsa Sports Commission said he is convinced the sport will be a hit for those who see it during the Games.

“I cannot scroll through Instagram or TikTok without stopping when I see breaking because it’s so compelling to watch these athletes and they’ve really become athletes,” he said. “I mean, it is crazy the training regimen that goes into some of these breakers, the amount of core strength it takes to do this is incredible. Guys stuck with breaking when it wasn’t popular. To hang in and now it’s an Olympic sport — it’s exciting to see.”