 If you're watching this, you're probably wanting to get better at breaking, but you may not quite know the right place to start. I know the feeling. Just know that by being here, you're in the right place. What's up y'all, this is Kai from Vertigo Vision, and today I'm making a video because nine years ago, I had just discovered the amazing world of breakdancing, also known as breaking. And when I saw it, I was immediately hooked. I went straight into YouTube and began consuming as many videos as I possibly could, and although I was learning move after move after move, I still realized that these moves looked half-baked, and they didn't look very good and I wasn't improving fast at all. And although these tutorials were great and super helpful, I would later discover that there was something really, really important that I wasn't getting from any of them, and that something was a sense of direction. So whether this is your first ever breaking tutorial, you're very lucky if it is, or you've been practicing for a while now, this video is going to show you how to quickly and effectively learn breaking, so that both muggles and breakers will be impressed by your moves. I highly recommend you take notes, it will help a lot. That way you'll be able to jot down any questions as they come, you'll be able to leave them in the comments below, and you'll have something to take with you after this video is done. If you clicked on this video and you've made it this far, it means you're officially serious about leveling up and getting into breaking. So let's just get one thing out of the way. Do not call it break dancing. The reason we don't do that is because in the 80s, breaking got very, very popular. Like Fortnite fidget spinner level popular, it became a trend. And once the trend was over, breaking got chewed up and spit out and left to rot. And it took a long time for breaking to come back up to the level it is now. So we don't call it that because it is a reminder of bad times and it will save you months of community embarrassment by not calling it that. So just don't call it break dancing. You're welcome. The whole point of this video is to show you that although this dance looks so crazy from the outside, it is just like any other skill. It can be broken down into smaller building blocks and we are going to take it slow but effective. We're not going to build a giant Death Star today, we're just going to build the skeleton so that your Death Star can be nice and clean and round and beautiful. So when we look at the whole art of breaking, it can be divided into four main categories. Top rock, footwork, freezes and power. When you watch beginner breaking tutorials, most of them out there are going to try to teach you one individual move that falls into one of these four categories. But instead of spending hours trying to learn all of these different moves and only retaining like 20% of them, let's instead focus on the leading dominoes or the key positions and points of each category so that when you do learn these moves, you'll be able to get them a lot quicker. And I identify these positions by realizing that after nine years of breaking, my peers and I always tend to go back to these four same positions. No matter what we're practicing, we end up always going back to these four positions. The thing that each of these four positions have in common is that they are all centers of balance. This first position is the neutral top rock position. It's nothing special. It's mostly just standing up and making sure that you can maintain your balance. As unseeming as it looks, it is extremely important that you're able to always be able to come back to the neutral position. Neutral position is essentially standing up, but making sure that your weight is mostly on the balls and toes of your feet. If your heels are digging into the ground, you're going to notice that you have a lot more weight that you can deal with. It feels a little bit clunkier if you're trying to put your heel down on every single step, but if you raise your toes and your feet, you'll notice that you feel a little bit lighter and you don't have to come from my speed. Practicing your top rocks with the neutral top rock position in mind increases your understanding of balance and form. It's also going to help you get down easier and with balance. So the basic top rock movements I recommend you practice with this position in mind is one, cross step, and two, kick side step. And I'll leave some links below of good tutorials that I think can teach that move. Second key position we'll be learning today is the full work neutral position, also known as position zero. The way you do this is you stay on your toes, not on your feet like an Asian squat on your toes, keeping your knees closer to the ground and making sure your upper body is balanced along your center of gravity. The reason why this is an important position for footwork is because if you can balance on your own without using your hands, these moves that require hands will be a lot easier because you already don't have to rely on your hands. When I started breaking, I didn't know about this position. So when I would learn footwork, I would always make sure that I ended up here. And not only does that make my footwork slower, but it looks slower and less clean, looks sloppy. On the other hand, if I can make sure that my neutral position is solid and when I end up doing moves, it takes a lot less effort. It's less energy and it looks cleaner. So whenever you learn footwork, keep neutral position in mind. You should always be able to switch and change weights quickly and effortlessly. The moves I'm going to recommend for beginners to learn with neutral position in mind are kickouts, hooks, and six step. This third position I'm about to teach you is for ground power, back freezes, and back movements. You lay on the floor, you're going to kick your feet and your hips up and make sure that your legs are engaged and sore your hips so that your lower back isn't touching the ground. You see? It's not touching the ground. If you're on your lower back when you're practicing moves like this, it's not only harder to move off of your back because you have to get all the way up, but you might also hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself. So stay up here, try to get your hips above your head and keep your legs engaged. You can practice this whenever you're bored. People might look at you funny. It doesn't really matter who cares. And the reason why this position is important is because I can always transition to ground freezes. It's the back motion for whenever you want to move. And once you end up learning back rocks, it's important for that too. The moves I'm going to recommend for beginners to learn with neutral back position in mind are back rocks, back spins, and eventually, one nose. This fourth and final position I'm going to teach you guys is going to help you with your solid air power and also for air freezes. And that is going to be split handstand. And if you cannot do handstand yet, it's okay. All you got to do is find a wall to practice on. If you don't have a wall, you can always practice by keeping a foot on the ground. And just, you know, try enough slowly until you can get to the split. What mastering the split handstand is going to do for you is help you improve your leg form by keeping them engaged just like you were on your back, which is going to improve your power moves. It's going to improve your freezes. And it's going to improve your air control, which is going to help you with moves like flares, swipes, and other power moves that require you to be on your hands and off your feet. Like I said, split handstand requires a lot more attention than the others are going to. So I don't expect you to have it immediately, but this is a long-term investment. If you can get split handstand nice and strong, all of your power moves and all of your freezes are going to benefit from it. And the few moves I'm going to recommend for beginners to learn alongside split handstand position are handstand variations. So being able to do a handstand or being able to switch your legs, swipes, and then when you're eventually ready, try flares. And like I said, if you have any questions below of those moves, you can always leave it below. So there you guys have it. We have our four neutral positions. First, we have toprock neutral position. Second, we have forward neutral position. Third, we have back neutral position. And fourth, we have handstand neutral position. This is going to be the 20% of effort that is going to benefit 80% of your practice. And while these steps are by no means everything in the book, they are definitely extremely paramount and will help you for the rest of your journey to come. Thank you guys for watching this video. I hope it helped. And if it did, please like and subscribe. My name is Kai. I'm a filmmaker, B-Boy, and a creative entrepreneur. And I plan on making a lot more content from this point on. And if you're really, really serious about improving, you guys, you're going to want to follow the Crossroads. The Crossroads is a platform that I have started with my friend, Niko, who is an amazing international level B-Boy. And together, we're trying to create a platform that will help enable you guys to unlock your best self. And that is where more educational and inspirational content will be going, including my podcast. So go ahead and check out the Crossroads. That's Crossroads Z and Crossroads Move. If you're really serious about this and you want to take yourself to the next level. I believe in you guys. You got this. I'll see you in the next one. Take care. Till then, peace. I was learning all of these different moves and I need to sneeze. I really want to sneeze in here. Ouch!