Overview of power moves in breakdance

What are power moves in breakdance?

Power moves are dynamic and acrobatic movements in breakdance. They have an element of continuous rotation across one or multiple body parts, for example spinning on the head, hand or back. To people that don’t do breaking, power moves are often perceived as the most impressive part of the dance, as they can look highly impressive.

Power moves are considered to be one of the four elements of breaking, alongside toprock, footwork and freezes.

Below we will give you an overview of all power moves in breaking.

The backspin

The backspin is a spinning movement where the breakdancer rotates on his upper back. By using your legs to swing, you create speed and momentum. The backspin often starts with the legs spread and wide open. Once the dancer closes his legs, the spin becomes faster. The backspin is considered to be a foundational movement of power moves. It is often the first power move a beginning breaker would learn, as it builds the foundation for other power moves such as the windmill.

The windmill

The windmill got its name (surprise, surprise) after a windmill, like the ones you would see in the Netherlands. It is one of the most commonly used power moves in breakdance, and one of the most important foundational power moves.

It’s a movement where the dancer rolls over and across its torso in a circular motion with the legs spread, in a V-shape in the air. Speed is created through swinging the legs and shoulders.

There are many variations of the windmill, as you can see in the video below.

We will explain some of the windmill variations below.

Barrel windmill

This is a form of a windmill where the hands are not used to push off against the floor. Instead, the arms are formed in barrel form, allowing the dancer to roll over its arms and forearms, and then via a roll over the head back to its back.

Baby windmill / babymill

This is a windmill where the legs are bent and crossed, while the arms are positioned in a barrel form, just like with the barrel windmill.

Nutcracker windmill

This is a windmill where both hands are covering the private parts of the dancer. The difficulty is to not let go of the private part area, and to use the shoulders and legs to swing the windmill.

Handcuffed windmill

This is a windmill where the hands are held together behind your back during the windmill. Like you would as if you got handcuffed.

Tap windmill / tap mill

This is a windmill where each time you come to your back, you use your toes to tap the floor, and use that momentum to take off for the next tap windmill.

Tombstone windmill

This is a windmill with both legs straightened and kept together. This is considered to be one of the most difficult variations of the windmill, as you can not use the momentum of your legs to swing.

Australian windmill

This is a windmill where one leg is straight and extended, and the other leg is crossed over the straight leg, making a figure four with the legs. This, as well as the tombstone windmill, is considered to be one of the most difficult variations of the windmill.

The headspin

The headspin is a move that involves rotating around the vertical axis of the body, while balancing on the middle of your head. The move was first seen on film in a movie called Wild boys on the road, which aired in 1933. That being said, the move is adopted by breakdance and is arguably the most famous power move in breakdance.

The swipe

The swipe is a foundational powermove in breaking. The dancer leans on its arm with its arms and feet on the ground and their hips in the air. The b-boy or b-girl then swings their arms either clockwise or counterclockwise, uses their core to swing the upper body with them and lift their legs in the air, twisting 360 degrees. Then, the dancer lands on his/her feet again and repeats the movement.

Turtles

The turtle is another famous powermove, and came to exist out of a turtle freeze - a position where the dancer balances with both elbows in their abdominals, while having their hands on the ground and their feet up in the air. The turtle freeze is a basic freeze in breakdance. With the turtle power move, the dancer rotates while performing the turtle freeze. One hand is in the abdominal area, while the other hand is diagonally positioned on the floor. The dancer then moves their body towards the hand that is not in the abdominal position, leans in with their elbow to place that arm into the abdominal area and then releases the other arm from the abdominal area to position it in a way to push off for the next rotation.

A continuous repetition of these movements would lead to circulation and would be called the turtle.

UFO

The ufo is a similar rotating movement as the turtle, but the main difference is that in the ufo, the dancer is not leaning in a turtle freeze but keeps a planche position while doing circular rotations, just as how the turtle is performed.

The handglide

The handglide is an old-school power move of breakdance that you actually don’t see too often anymore. The hand glide is a spinning power move performed in a turtle freeze position. You use your hand palm to spin, and use the hand that is not in your abdominal to push off the ground and create speed. Often dancers will use a slippery subject such as a spin cap or a sweatband and put it on their hand palm for a more swift spin.

The halo

The halo is a power move that combines the baby freeze, a foundational freeze of breakdance, with a twist on the head. The move got its name after a halo, as you would see on an angel, as this movement uses a circulation around the head. The dancer starts in a freeze position, uses its legs to create speed and pushes off towards the side of their head, where he/she makes a twist over the head and simultaneously releases the hands off the floor. The dancer makes a twist with the head over the floor, and then lands in a baby freeze position again. When the dancer makes a continuous rotation of this twist, they would be called halo’s.

A variation of the halo is the shoulder halo.

The main difference is that instead of using the baby freeze for takeoff for the halo, the dancer starts from a shoulder freeze position. The dancer will lean on their shoulders with their legs up in the air and their head on the ground. Then they will push off the shoulder into the floor and rotate the upper body and land on the shoulder again.

The flare

The flare is a power move done by swinging the legs through the air while balancing the torso between the arms simultaneously. It is a foundational air power move and can be seen as a beneficial basis towards learning the airflare. 

The flare originally hails from gymnastics, but breakers perform it with a different style. The move was originally called the Thomas Flair, performed by Kurt Thomas - a gymnast in the 70’s. He performed this on a pommel horse first in 1975, and later, in 1978, on the floor as well. It was further developed by gymnast Emil Hafner in the 80’s. In its original form, the flare was performed in circular motion, but nowadays it is commonly used facing one direction.

The airflare / air tracks

The airflare is considered to be one of the most difficult power moves in breakdance. The dancer rotates their torso around the vertical axis of their body in a handstand position. Simultaneously, the dancer swings the arm across their torso, landing on the other arm, adjusting back to handstand position. The dancer performs this move in circular motion.

A variation is the airflare is the elbow airflare. The elbow airflare is performed similarly as the airflare, but performed on a handstand position on the forearms. 

1990s and 2000s

The 1990 is a move in which the dancer spins on the palm of their hand during a one-armed handstand position. The body twists around its vertical axis while gliding on the hand palm.

The 2000 is a similar handstand spinning move, but here instead of being in a one-armed handstand position, the dancer holds the wrist of the hands that he or she is spinning on.

Crickets

The cricket is a power move where the dancer starts in a turtle freeze position, and uses tiny hops to lift their body off the floor while rotating in circles. The dancer does this by kicking out their legs and using the free arm (the one that is not placed in the abdominal to establish the turtle freeze) to push off the ground. The hand palm twists slightly with every jump, giving the dancer the ability to turn with each jump. The cricket is considered to be a basic breakdance move, and forms the foundation for learning the jackhammer.

Jackhammer

The jackhammer is an advanced power move where the dancer does the crickets power move, but does not use the supporting arm to help jump and rotate. This is possible through great one-armed turtle balance control, and the dancer needs to be able to make hops (little jumps off the floor) without the support of the other arm.

Usually the dancer will start with crickets, then when the dancer has enough speed and momentum, he or she will be able to release the supporting arm off the floor and turtle freeze hop and rotate simultaneously without any support of the other arm. It's a cool move to see, and definitely a great power move of breakdance.

Elbow spin

The elbow spin is a power move that develops from having a good elbow / handstand freeze. This is a handstand where the dancer leans on one of their forearms. The dancer finds speed by starting standing up, swinging the legs one by one into the air and placing one of their forearms to the ground. Then, the dancer keeps the body in a vertical axis, with the legs balancing in a straight line above the body. The dancer tries to spin as many rounds as possible, and sometimes the dancer uses their free arm / hand to push off the ground to spin more rounds on the forearm.

Shoulder spin

The shoulder spin is similar to the backspin, but here the dancer leans on their upper arm / shoulder to find balance. The entrance is exactly the same as with the backspin, starting from a sitting position with the legs in a V-shape, swinging the legs one-by-one and bringing the back to the floor.

Airchair spin

The airchair spin is a spin on the airchair freeze. The dancer twists on their hand palm and uses their hip to push and create speed. The shoulder of the free arm (the one that's not stabbed into the backside of the abdominal for the airchair) is used to find balance.

Criticals

The critical is a rare power move that could be described as the jackhammer  combined with an air twist. The practicioner enters the turtle freeze, pushes off the floor with the hands and makes a 360 degrees rotation in the air, with the body fully lifted off the ground. The dancer then lands into the turtle freeze position again, and repeats the movement again. These moves done continously in a circular motion are called criticals.

How do I start learning power moves?

Learning power moves takes a lot of time and dedication. You want to be practicing certain power moves 3-4 times a week for months before being able to do them fluently. To film yourself practicing can definitely help you when you get stuck in a certain power move. You can then watch your practice footage to conclude how you could improve. It would be a great help to have a solid teacher to give you tips, tricks and insights on how to keep on getting better at power moves. This will help you master them quicker for sure.

That’s where MyGrooveGuide can help you out!

We have classes where some of the best breakers help you out with learning power moves. Get tips, tricks and practice exercises to make sure you keep improving every day. For just 6$ per month, you can learn how to do power moves. On MyGrooveGuide you can also get classes from some of the best breakers around other breakdance elements, such as toprocks, footwork and freezes. Check out our online dance classes today!