Breaking the limits? Exploring the breaking scene in Havana, Cuba and belonging in a global (imagined) breaking community | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Global Hip Hop Studies
  4. Volume 2, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 2 Number 1
  • ISSN: 2632-6825
  • E-ISSN: 2632-6833
file format pdf download PDF

Abstract

This article discusses the findings from my initial foray into the Havana breaking scene in February 2020. Inspired by ethnomusicologist and hip hop scholar Joseph Schloss’s (2009) ethnographic study of the New York breaking scene, I deploy three central aspects from his work: community as social entanglement, music as a creator of belonging, and movement as the connecting elements between dancers. I explore how these aspects are visible in Havana and suggest that there are various aspects, for example, heterogeneity, internet access and possibilities to travel, connect and exchange within a global dance community, that define the local breaking scene in Havana, which add to the three pillars Schloss develops from breaking itself. In addition, I question breaking’s ‘normed narratives’ – for example, the assumption that b-boys and b-girls always draw inspiration from the United States, breaking’s country of origin – to interrogate US and Eurocentric/western-nation perspectives. I also explore how I was able to dive in and conduct qualitative research with relative ease in a short period of time as a white European b-girl, hip hop, and dance scholar as well as a foreigner to Cuba’s breaking scene. I reflect on the importance of travelling as a means of knowledge acquisition, the idea of belonging to a ‘Global Hip Hop Nation’, an ‘imagined community’ and ‘connective marginalities’ as concepts to help untangle the forms of belonging within the global breaking community as they play out in Cuba. This research is based on a practice-of-theory approach that places the body at the centre of investigation enhanced with the idea of meaningful movement. Data is collected through participant field observation, qualitative interviews as well as my embodied and cultural knowledge as a b-girl, which informs my role as ‘hybrid expert’ in, and between, Havana’s breaking scene.

© (2021) 2022 The Author(s).
This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC), which allows users to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the article, as long as the author is attributed and the article is not used for commercial purposes. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ghhs_00031_1
2021-06-01
2024-04-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/ghhs/2/1/ghhs.2.1.15.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1386/ghhs_00031_1&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Alim, H. S.. ( 2009;), ‘ Intro: Straight Outta Compton, Straight aus München: Global linguistic flows, identities, and the politics of language in a global Hip hop nation. ’, in H. S. Alim,, A. Ibrahim, and A. Pennycook. (eds), Global Linguistic Flows: Hip Hop Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of Language, New York:: Routledge;, pp. 1–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson, Benedict R. O.. ( 2006;), ‘ Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. ’, , rev. ed.., London:: Verso;.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Baker, Geoffrey. ( 2005;), ‘ ¡Hip hop, revolutión! Nationalizing rap in Cuba. ’, Ethnomusicology, 49:3, pp. 368–402.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Baker, Geoffrey. ( 2011), Buena Vista in the Club: Rap, Reggaetón, and Revolution in Havana, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Baker, Geoffrey. ( 2014;), ‘ Represent Cuba: Havana hip hop under the lens. ’, alter/nativas, Latin America Cultural Studies Journal, 2:1, n.pag.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Chang, Jeff. ( 2005), Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, New York:: St. Martin’s Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. DeFrantz, Thomas F.. ( 2004;), ‘ The Black Beat made visible: Hip hop dance and body power. ’, in Lepecki, A.. (ed.), Of the Presence of the Body: Essays on Dance and Performance Theory, Middletown, CT:: Wesleyan University Press;, pp. 64–81.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Dodds, Sherril. ( 2016;), ‘ Hip hop battles and facial intertexts. ’, Dance Research, 34:1, pp. 63–83.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Dodds, Sherril. ( 2018;), ‘ The brutal encounters of a novice b-girl. ’, Choreographic Practices, 9:2, pp. 233–52.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Dreyfus, Hubert L.. ( [1978] 2001;), ‘ Foreword. ’, in D. Sudnow. (ed.), Ways of the Hand: A Rewritten Account, Cambridge, MA:: The MIT Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Fernandes, Sujatha. ( 2006), Cuba Represent: Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Fikus, Monika, and Schürmann, Volker. ( 2004;), ‘ Die Sprache der Bewegung. ’, in M. Fikus, and V. Schürmann. (eds), Die Sprache der Bewegung: Sportwissenschaft als Kulturwissenschaft, Bielefeld:: Transcript Verlag;, pp. 29–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Fogarty, Mary. ( 2010;), ‘ Dance to the drummer’s beat: Competing tastes in international b-boy/b-girl culture. ’, Ph.D. thesis, The University of Edinburgh;.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Fogarty, Mary. ( 2011;), ‘ Waacking, (punking), recycling, schooling: Disco dance on the move. ’, in J. Bain-Burnette. (ed), Hotfoot, London:: Association of Dance of the African Diaspora;, n.pag.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Fogarty, Mary. ( 2013;), ‘ “Each one teach one”: B-boying and ageing. ’, in P. Hodkinson, and A. Bennett. (eds), Ageing and Youth Cultures: Music, Style and Identity, London:: Bloomsbury Publishing;, pp. 53–65.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Frost, Friederike. ( 2022a;), ‘ Dialogische Bewegung: Eine künstlerisch-wissenschaftliche Recherche zum dialogischen Prinzip des call & response im Breaking. ’, in M. Rappe, and T. Wilke. (eds), Hip Hop im 21. Jahrhundert: Medialität, Tradierung, Gesellschaftskritik und Bildungsaspekte einer (Jugend-)Kultur, Wiesbaden:: Springer VS;.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Frost, Friederike. ( 2022b;), ‘ Flipping the academic discourse: Reflections on corporeal knowledge and gender negotiations in breaking. ’, in Q. E. Williams, and S. N. Singh., (eds), Global Hiphopography, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Gates, Henry L.. ( 1988), The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Literary Criticism, New York:: Oxford University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Geertz, Clifford. ( 2015), Dichte Beschreibung: Beiträge zum Verstehen kultureller Systeme, , 13th ed.., Frankfurt am Main:: Suhrkamp;.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Gläser, Jochen, and Laudel, Grit. ( 2009), Experteninterviews und qualitative Inhaltsanalyse als Instrumente rekonstruierender Untersuchungen, Wiesbaden:: Springer VS;.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Gottschild, Brenda D.. ( 1998), Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance and Other Contexts, Westport, CT:: Praeger;.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Güngör, Murat,, Loh, Hannes,, Frost, Friederike, and Lösch, Bettina. ( 2021;), Grenzüberschreitungen zwischen Sprache und Körper: Breakdance, Gangsta-Rap und hegemoniale Männlichkeit. , in H. Süß. (ed.), Rap & Geschlecht: Inszenierungen von Geschlecht in Deutschlands beliebtester Musikkultur, Weinheim:: Beltz Juventa;, pp. 199–221.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Gunn, Rachael. ( 2016;), ‘ “Don’t worry, it’s just a girl!”: Negotiating and challenging gendered assumptions in Sydney’s breakdancing scene. ’, Journal of World Popular Music, 3:1, pp. 54–74.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Hankin, Charlie D.. ( 2017;), ‘ The (Latin) American underground: Havana and marginocentric hip hop. ’, Atlantic Studies, 14:1, pp. 82–98.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Hazzard-Donald, Kathrin. ( 1996;), ‘ Dance in hip hop culture. ’, in W. E. Perkins. (ed.), Droppin’ Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture, Philadelphia, PA:: Temple University Press;, pp. 220–37.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Hershkovits, David. ( 2004;), ‘ London rocks, Paris burns, and the b-boys break a leg: Sunday News Magazine, April 3, 1983. ’, in R. Cepeda. (ed.), And It Don’t Stop? The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years, New York:: Faber & Faber;, pp. 27–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Human Rights Watch ( 2022), World Report Cuba 2022: Events of 2021, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/cuba. Accessed 3 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Huntington, Carla S.. ( 2007), Hip Hop Dance: Meanings and Messages, Jefferson, NC:: McFarland & Co;.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Johnson, Imani K.. ( 2009), ‘Dark matter in b-boying cyphers: Race and global connection in hip hop’, doctoral dissertation, Los Angeles:: University of Southern California;.
  30. Johnson, Imani K.. ( 2011;), ‘ B-boying and battling in a global context: The discursive life of difference in hip hop dance. ’, Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, Special Issue: ‘The Other Americas’, 31, pp. 173–95.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Johnson, Imani K.. ( 2014;), ‘ From blues women to b-girls: Performing badass femininity. ’, Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, 24:1, pp. 15–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Kaya, Ayhan. ( 2001), ‘ Sicher in Kreuzberg’: Constructing Diasporas: Turkish Hip-Hop Youth in Berlin, Bielefeld:: Transcript Verlag;.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Kimminich, Eva. ( 2010;), ‘ Hip-hop, b-boys, tanz und körperwissen. ’, in B. Richard, and H.-H. Krüger. (ed.), Inter-cool 3.0. jugend, bild, medien; Ein Kompendium zur aktuellen Jugendkulturforschung, Paderborn:: Fink;, pp. 81–97.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Klien, Hanna. ( 2009), Hip-Hop in Havanna: Afroamerikanische Musik im Widerstand, Wien:: LIT Verlag;.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Langnes, Tonje F., and Fasting, Kari. ( 2014;), ‘ Identity constructions among breakdancers. ’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 51:3, pp. 349–64.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Mackrell, Judith. ( 2003;), ‘ Leap of faith: As a tearaway in Havana, Carlos Acosta faced a momentous decision: Breakdancing or ballet? He tells all to Judith Mackrell. ’, The Guardian, 19 March, n.pag.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Mayring, Philipp. ( 2016), Einführung in die qualitative Sozialforschung: Eine Anleitung zu qualitativem Denken, Weinheim:: Beltz;.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Mitchell, Tony. ( 2001;), ‘ Introduction: Another root – Hip-hop outside the USA. ’, in T. Mitchell. (ed.), Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, Middletown, CT:: Wesleyan University Press;, pp. 1–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Nitzsche, Sina A.. ( 2013;), ‘ Hip-hop in Europe as a transnational phenomenon: An introduction. ’, in S. A. Nitzsche, and W. Grünzweig. (eds), Hip-Hop in Europe: Cultural Identities and Transnational Flows, Transnational and Transatlantic American Studies , vol. 13, Berlin:: LIT Verlag;, pp. 3–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Osumare, Halifu. ( 2001;), ‘ Beat streets in the global hood: Connective marginalities of the hip hop globe. ’, Journal of American & Comparative Cultures, 2:1&2, pp. 171–81.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Osumare, Halifu. ( 2002;), ‘ Global breakdancing and the intercultural body. ’, Dance Research Journal, 34:2, pp. 30–45, https://doi.org/10.2307/1478458. Accessed 1 July 2014.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Pabon, Jorge. ( 2004;), ‘ Physical Graffiti: The history of hip-hop dance. ’, in M. A. Neal, and M. Forman. (eds), That’s the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader, New York:: Routledge;, pp. 56–61.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Rappe, Michael. ( 2010), Under construction: Kontextbezogene Analyse afro-amerikanischer Popmusik, Köln:: Dohr;.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Rappe, Michael, and Stöger, Christine. ( 2014;), ‘ “Lernen nicht, aber…”: Bildungsprozesse im Breaking. ’, in B. Clausen. (ed.), Teilhabe und Gerechtigkeit: Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the German Association for Research in Music Education – Participation and Equity, Hosbach, Germany, 4–6 October 2013, Münster:: Waxmann;, pp. 145–58.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Rappe, Michael, and Stöger, Christine. ( 2016;), ‘ Lernen im Cypher: Die Tanzkultur des Breaking – eine Anregung für das Musizieren?. ’, in B. Wüstehube,, C. Stöger,, P. Röbke, and N. Ardila-Mantilla. (eds), Herzstück Musizieren: Instrumentaler Gruppenunterricht zwischen Planung und Wagnis, Mainz:: Schott Music;, pp. 117–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Rappe, Michael, and Stöger, Christine. ( 2017;), ‘ “I wanna do b-boy moves, but I wanna be known as a b-girl”: Breaking lernen als Prozess der Identitätskonstruktion. ’, in A. Cvetko, and C. Rolle. (eds), Musikpädagogik und Kulturwissenschaft, Münster and New York:: Waxmann;, pp. 137–52.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Reckwitz, Andreas. ( 2003;), ‘ Grundelemente einer Theorie sozialer Praktiken: Eine sozialtheoretische Perspektive. ’, Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 32:4, pp. 282–301.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Rivera, Raquel Z.. ( 2003), New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone, New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Rose, Tricia. ( 1994), Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, Hanover, NH:: University Press of New England;.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Saunders, Tanya L.. ( 2012;), ‘ Black thoughts, Black activism: Underground hip-hop and Afro-Latino countercultures of modernity. ’, Latin American Perspectives, 39:2, pp. 42–60.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Saunders, Tanya L.. ( 2015), Cuban Underground Hip Hop: Black Thoughts, Black Revolution, Black Modernity, Austin:: University of Texas Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Schloss, Joseph. ( 2006;), ‘ “Like old folk songs handed down from generation to generation”: History, canon, and community in b-boy culture. , Ethnomusicology, 50:3, pp. 411–32.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Schloss, Joseph. ( 2009), Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip-Hop Culture in New York, Oxford and New York:: Oxford University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Singh, Jaspal N., and Dattatreyan, Ethiraj G.. ( 2016;), ‘ Cultural interventions: Repositioning hip hop education in India. ’, Linguistics and Education, 36, pp. 55–64, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2016.05.003. Accessed 26 May 2016.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Stevens, Lys. ( 2006;), ‘ Urban youth street dances go to the movies and become “breakdancing”. ’, in K. R. Cann. and World Dance Alliance Global Assembly (eds), Dance/Diversity/Dialogue: Bridging Communities and Cultures: Conference Proceedings, Toronto, Canada, 16–22 July, Toronto:: World Dance Alliance;, pp. 361–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Temme, Denise. ( 2015), Menschliche Bewegung als Tätigkeit: Zur Irritation fragloser Gewissheiten, Berlin:: Lehmanns;.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Welsch, Wolfgang. ( 1995;), ‘ Transkulturalität: Zur Veränderten Verfasstheit Heutiger Kulturen. ’, Migration und kultureller wandel, schwerpunktthema der zeitschrift für kulturaustausch, 45:1, pp. 39–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Frost, Friederike. ( [2021] 2022;), ‘ Breaking the limits? Exploring the breaking scene in Havana, Cuba and Belonging in a global (imagined) breaking community. ’, Global Hip Hop Studies, 2:1, pp. 15–36, https://doi.org/10.1386/ghhs_00031_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/ghhs_00031_1
Loading
Breaking the limits? Exploring the breaking scene in Havana, Cuba and belonging in a global (imagined) breaking community
Global Hip Hop Studies 2, 15 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1386/ghhs_00031_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ghhs_00031_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ghhs_00031_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): breakdance; embodied knowledge; foundation; global hip hop nation; movement; practice-of-theory; The Concept; urban dance

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error