Break it down

So it's Friday night, your snap-on athletic pants are gliding comfortably against your bare legs, your shoelaces are tied just tight enough to make your feet sweat and your adrenaline is pumpingfast. It's break dancing time. And the men and women of IU Breakers, IU's developing break dancing club, invite you to step into the atmosphere, adrenaline, athletic pants and all.\nAfter registering with the Student Activity Center in September, Julian Chunovic, freshman and IU Breaker's president, walked away with a ticket to the future in break dancing. Meeting up with co-founder Sion Owen, a sophomore, in the hallways of Foster-Shea, both students agreed to create a break dancing forum for IU students and Bloomington residents. Providing unlimited opportunities to learn, practice, improve and have fun, Chunovic and Owen are working together to introduce IU to the world of free-style, six-step and simple good times. \nStemming from the Jitterbug steps from the 1950s, break dancing has transformed its image, style and footwork to meet the fast-paced demands of today's dancers. According to www.breakdance.com, break dancing pioneers like the Shanghai Brothers, The Bronx Boys, Rock Steady Crew and the Zulu Kings have successfully paved the way for the break dancing phenomenon. Now such groups as Guy Master Flash, Wu-Tang Clan and the NYC Breakers dominate the platform. \nNow IU is stepping into breakdancing culture. Chunovic recalls that colleges such as University of Iowa and University of Georgia Tech have had successful break dancing clubs for quite some time. Georgia Tech's club, Metro Flow, is one of the nation's top collegiate break dancing clubs, Chunovic says. But IU failed to present such options. \n"I was shocked to find nothing (in regards to break dancing) at IU," Chunovic says. But finding nothing only enabled him and Owen to step forward and start from scratch.\n"(Break dancing) is cool because it's unique and there's nothing else like it at IU or in Bloomington," Owen says. "It's challenging and takes years to be good, but it's fun once you get interested in it."\nSpawned from fundamental free-style moves, such as the six-step, the break dancing trend has rapidly spread from coast to coast. Blending certain moves and steps together, such as "rolling" and the "six-step," the style of break dancing has evolved since the '80s, Chunovic says. He says break dancing simply begins by laying a foundation of steps, moves and rhythm. In pairs, break-dancers perform the "up rock," when dancers compete against each other in aggressive, fighting-like motions. Individually, break-dancers do "pop-rock," moves that are still upright but are used to clear space, draw attention and, most importantly, "set the stage" for future moves. Dancers then execute "down rock," the most commonly seen act with full body on the floor and legs flying in the air.\nIndulging in a variety of music, break-beats, drum riffs and fast-foot moves, break dancing is clearly not just a thing of the past. "Everyone knows it exists but aren't sure of what it's really about, especially in Indiana where it's almost non-existent," Owen says. "It's really big in the West Coast, New York and Miami."\nAnd within the past five months, the IU Breakers have gained 10 to 15 members, snagged six to seven regulars, and has maintained a camaraderie that can't be out-stepped.\n"Break dancing is really appealing because it provides a lot of leeway for creativity," says Jake Enk, a freshman and IU Breakers member. "Where other dances have set patterns to follow, break dancing is all about free style and doing your own thing."\nBreak-dancing can also be appealing to those willing to "foot loose" with the opposite sex. "Girls can do moves that guys can't do," Enk says. "I do think break dancing is more of a masculine-oriented thing like rifling, but I like having (women) on the crew."\nWhether women are present or not, Chunovic and Owen plan to put their heads, and feet, together in registering for a booth at next year's IU RecFest. In doing so, IU Breakers will have the ability to gain new members and attention. "Break dancing doesn't receive enough exposure," Chunovic says. "Everybody is so concerned with being over-commercialized. That's not the case this time around." \nOver-commercialized or not, break dancing is back at IU. \n"We're doing what we like to do," Owen says.