Rock Da Floor (RDF) Battle Rules

Main Source Of Truth Document For All Battle Rules

Rock Da Floor Battle Rules: v2026-2027

Table of Contents

General Rules

The rules outlined on this site are designed with the growth, safety, and long-term development of the breaking community in mind. As breaking continues to evolve as both an art form and competitive sport, these rules serve as a foundation to promote fairness, consistency, and respect across all levels of participation.

Our primary goals are:

  • To Grow the Sport: By creating a clear and accessible framework, we aim to welcome new dancers, organizers, and communities while preserving the essence and culture of breaking.
  • To Ensure Safety: Breaking involves dynamic, high-impact movement. These rules include safety guidelines that protect dancers, judges, and spectators, ensuring everyone can engage in breaking with confidence.
  • To Support Progression: Whether someone is new to the cypher or preparing for high-level battles, the rules are structured to support skill development through age-appropriate expectations, progression-based divisions, and pathways that encourage personal and competitive growth.

Breaking is for everyone. These rules are a tool—not a limitation—to help dancers push boundaries while maintaining respect for the culture, the competition, and each other.

Battle Documents

Below are links to the RDF documents to help prepare and run a battle.

  • Cypher Prelim Judges Form PDF - Use this sheet to judge all dancers within the cypher prelims. Judges may score in whole numbers 1-10, halves (6.5, 7.5, etc.), or one decimal place (9.4, 8.2, etc.). Finer increments are recommended for larger fields to help prevent ties.
  • Top 8 Bracket PDF - Bracket sheets are built in segments of 8.
  • Battle Plan PDF - A Battle Plan helps dancers learn to organize their skills for battle. It is not meant to be a hard script, but a dynamic template dancers refine as they progress and learn when their moves make the most impact.
  • Battle Prelims Scoring Template (Google Sheet) - Enter all registrants for a Level, then enter all three judges’ prelim scores, and the sheet automatically ranks the breakers and divides them into brackets. Go to File, then Make A Copy before filling it out. This works hand in hand with the Cypher Prelim Judges Form above—make sure the dancers appear on the judges form, in the Google Sheet, and in the prelims performance order in the same order.

Safety

The safety of every dancer is a top priority. While breaking is an expressive and physically demanding art form, it must be approached with discipline and awareness to prevent injury.

Dancers are strongly encouraged to perform and compete only with moves and skills that are within their current level of training and proficiency. Attempting advanced skills too early—before proper strength, control, and technique are developed—can lead to serious injury or even death. For this reason, skills performed outside a dancer’s declared Level will not be recognized during competition.

Proper attire is also essential to safety. Because every dancer’s style and movement vary, there is no one-size-fits-all dress code. However, dancers must avoid wearing items that present a hazard, including:

  • Clothing with hard elements that may obstruct movement
  • Jewelry that can catch or snag during dynamic motion
  • Loose or oversized accessories that can impair vision or control

Each dancer is responsible for ensuring that their attire supports freedom of movement while minimizing the risk of entanglement or injury.

For younger dancers, coaches and guardians play a critical role in helping ensure safety. They are expected to guide skill selection, monitor progression, and ensure appropriate supervision and attire are in place. Encouraging safe practices not only protects the dancer—it sets the foundation for a long, sustainable journey in breaking.

Breaking is about pushing limits—but it must be done with care, respect for the body, and commitment to long-term progression.

Dancers are not allowed to physically touch any other dancer while battling. The only exception is interaction within their own crew during a crew battle. The Battle Host may warn dancers who violate this rule and has the right to disqualify any dancer who refuses to follow it.

Skill Recognition

Each skill Level is defined by specific criteria, and only skills within the designated Level are recognized. An out-of-level skill is never scored—judges disregard the move as if it had not occurred—and depending on where in the event it happens, it also carries a penalty (see Out Of Level Enforcement below).

Example: If a competitor registers for the Beginner Level and performs Air Flares in Cypher Prelims, the judges will not acknowledge the move. While the audience may react positively, and even the judges may appreciate the difficulty of the skill, it will hold no value in the score. For judging purposes, the competitor’s performance during the execution of the Air Flares is equivalent to standing still. As a result, a competitor who demonstrates skills aligned with the Beginner Level will score higher and be more likely to win.

Out Of Level Enforcement

Where an out-of-level skill happens determines what it costs:

  • Cypher Prelims - The skill is not recognized, and after the round the judges will talk with the dancer (and their coach) about moving up to the appropriate Level. This is the only warning that exists at an RDF event. A dancer who agrees to move up before brackets are announced enters the new Level as its lowest seed. Dancers locked to a crew’s Level get no warning—they cannot move up, so an out-of-level skill in prelims forfeits that prelim round, which is scored a 0 and seeds the dancer last.
  • 1v1 Battles - No warning. An out-of-level skill immediately forfeits the battle, and the opponent advances.
  • Crew Showcase Routines - The category the skill was performed in (Power Moves, Transitions, Freezes, etc.) drops to the lowest rubric band: judges score that category 1.0-4.0 no matter how strong the rest of the category was.
  • Crew Battles - The crew forfeits that round. Judges treat the round as if the crew did not perform it.

The dancer always has the choice: stay in your Level and battle with your Level’s skills, or move up and use everything you’ve got. What you cannot do is register down and reach up.

Divisions

Dancers compete within a skill Level (see Levels) and an age Division. A dancer’s Division is set by their age on May 1st—the start of the RDF season—and holds for the entire season. A dancer who has a birthday mid-season keeps competing in the Division they started the season in, so nobody ages away from their friends partway through the year.

  • Lil Breakers: Age 5-7
  • Youth: Age 8-12
  • Teen: Age 13-18
  • Adult: Age 18+

A dancer who is 18 on May 1st may choose to compete in either Teen or Adult for the season. Dancers may always compete up in age, but never down.

The one exception to the May 1st rule is the entry floor: a dancer must be at least 5 years old on the day of the event to compete. A dancer who is 4 on May 1st may begin competing in Lil Breakers once they turn 5 during the season.

How Divisions Split

Divisions are built in three tiers, applied in this order:

  1. Skill Level - Always, no exceptions. Every event separates dancers by Level first, regardless of age or headcount. Levels are never combined.
  2. Age - Within a Level, dancers split into age Divisions. Any age group with fewer than 3 athletes merges with an adjacent age group instead of killing the split: the underfilled group merges into the group above it, and if the underfilled group is the oldest present, the group below merges into it. A combined division always carries the older group’s label, so the younger dancers are competing up—which is always allowed—and nobody ever competes down. If merging leaves only one group, the Level simply runs with all ages combined.
  3. Gender - Checked last, on whatever groups exist after the age step, using the same rule: split only if every resulting group has at least 3 athletes. When a gender split happens, the Battle Host chooses which gender goes first, and that order holds for the entire event—prelims, every bracket stage, and awards.

Worked example: 21 dancers register—7 Beginner, 7 Intermediate, 7 Advanced. Level always splits, so the event starts at 3 divisions. Within Beginner, 4 dancers are Youth and 3 are Teen: both groups clear the 3-athlete minimum, so Beginner splits into Beginner Youth and Beginner Teen. If Beginner instead had 3 Lil Breakers, 3 Youth, and 2 Teens, the underfilled Teen group merges: Lil Breakers stand alone, and Youth and Teen combine into a single Teen division, with the Youth dancers competing up. Beginner Youth’s 4 dancers cannot then split by gender—there is no way to give both groups at least 3—so it stays combined.

A division that lands on exactly 3 athletes runs a Round Robin instead of a Top 8 Bracket (see Number Of Dancers). That is by design: the 3-athlete minimum intentionally allows small divisions with their own placements rather than folding those dancers into a group that does not fit them.

Number Of Dancers

The minimum number of dancers within a Level and Division to run Cypher Prelims and a Top 8 Bracket is 4. If you have fewer than 4 dancers, you may use alternative methods to determine placements:

  • 3 Dancers Suggestion - Use a Round Robin approach (each dancer battles the other two) to determine placements.
  • 2 Dancers Suggestion - Use a multi-battle strategy where they compete for best of 3 battles.

Cypher

Every Cypher must provide a smooth, safe surface for each dancer to safely perform any breaking move. The area must be clear of all obstructions and have a defined, easily understood outer barrier so dancers know where they can perform and the audience knows to stay out. The Cypher must have an area of at least 12’ by 12’.

Prelims

All dancers within a Level will perform one by one, in an order managed by the Cypher MC, in front of the judges. Music for prelims and all battle rounds is provided by the event DJ. The Battle Ref begins the count-off on every prelim round at approximately 30 seconds, regardless of Level (see Round Timing And Count-Offs).

Judges assign each dancer a score from 1-10—whole numbers, halves, or one decimal place, matching the scoring increments on the Cypher Prelim Judges Form. The judges’ scores are added together, and dancers are ranked from highest to lowest total. That ranking determines bracket seeding: the highest total is the #1 seed, the second highest is the #2 seed, and so on. If 20 dancers compete, the lowest-scored dancer is the #20 seed.

If two dancers tie in total prelim score, the head judge’s individual score breaks the tie. If still tied, each dancer performs one additional short round and the judges re-rank them.

Prelim Scoring Rubric

Prelim scores measure what the dancer is expressing within their Level—not against the whole event. An Intro or Beginner dancer can earn a 10, and an Advanced dancer can earn a 1. A 10 means the dancer is performing at the top of their Level, not that they are the best dancer in the building. Since seeding only ever happens within a Level and Division, scores never need to compare across Levels.

There is no set criteria, but the rubric below gives judges anchor points. Judge in two steps: first decide which band the dancer’s round lives in, then decide how strong they are within that band. “This kid is strong for Beginner—how strong? Feels like an 8.7.”

Score Description
7.0 – 10.0 Strong vocabulary and execution for the skills within the Level. A wide variety of recognized skills performed with control, clean technique, and confidence—rounds feel full and intentional.
4.0 – 7.0 Intermediate vocabulary and/or execution of the skills within the Level. A solid foundation: either a narrower set of skills performed well, or a wider set performed inconsistently.
1.0 – 4.0 Weak vocabulary and/or execution of the skills within the Level. Few recognized skills, repeated material, or frequent breaks in control and technique.
0 Scratch—a dancer who registered but did not perform—or a forfeited prelim round (see Out Of Level Enforcement). A 0 keeps the scoring sheet clean and automatically sorts to the bottom.

Brackets

All dancers within a Level and age Division will be divided into their own Top 8 Bracket. Bracket positions are decided by seeding from prelims. On the bracket, the top seed (#1) first battles the lowest seed (#8), and the second seed (#2) battles the second-lowest seed (#7). This rewards prelim performance by giving the highest-performing dancers the statistically easiest path to the Finals, and sets up the Finals to be the most competitive battle.

Byes

If there are not enough dancers to fill a bracket, use ‘byes’ to fill in the lowest-seeded spots.

Example

There are 6 dancers within a Division. Seed #7 and seed #8 will be filled in as ‘byes’ on the Top 8 Bracket form. This means seed #1 and seed #2 get a bye in the Quarterfinals and advance straight to the Semifinals.

Multiple Brackets For Same Level And Division

If there are more than 8 dancers within a Level and Division, create multiple Top 8 Brackets. Brackets are labeled number-letter: the number is the bracket’s rank, and the letter shows how many total brackets exist (A=1, B=2, C=3…). A bracket labeled 2-C is the second-highest bracket of three total. In the splits below, “Bracket 1” refers to the highest bracket (1-B when there are two brackets).

How many brackets you need depends on the field size: 1-8 dancers is one bracket, 9-16 is two brackets, 17-24 is three brackets, and so on—each dancer above a multiple of 8 opens a new bracket. Use byes to fill out any incomplete bracket.

Splits for two brackets:

  • 9 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 5 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 4 dancers
  • 10 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 5 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 5 dancers
  • 11 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 6 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 5 dancers
  • 12 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 6 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 6 dancers
  • 13 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 7 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 6 dancers
  • 14 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 7 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 7 dancers
  • 15 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 8 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 7 dancers
  • 16 dancers - Bracket 1 gets 8 dancers and Bracket 2 gets 8 dancers

With 17-24 dancers, fill Bracket 1 with the top 8 seeds, then divide the remaining dancers between Brackets 2 and 3 using the same split pattern above. With 25-32 dancers, fill Brackets 1 and 2 with the top 16 seeds, then divide the remainder between Brackets 3 and 4. This pattern continues as the field grows: completely fill every bracket you can from the top, then split the remainder across the final two brackets.

Every bracket runs the full set of stages and awards its own 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place—a Third Place Battle happens in every bracket, not just Bracket 1. A podium finish in a lower bracket is a real placement. Recognition at every level of the event keeps dancers motivated, progressing, and coming back.

Battle Format And Judging

At RDF, a round always means one turn on the floor—a single dancer’s (or crew’s) trip into the cypher. Bracket stages are never called rounds. In a Top 8 Bracket, the stages are the Quarterfinals, the Semifinals, the Third Place Battle, and the Finals.

Quarterfinal and Semifinal battles are one round per dancer. The Third Place Battle—between the two Semifinal losers—is one round per dancer. The Finals are two rounds per dancer, alternating sides.

If a dancer is not present when their battle is called, their opponent advances by walkover.

Judging works the same way in every battle at RDF, 1v1 or crew. Judges do not award points round by round. After the final round, each judge picks who they think won the battle—pointing Left, pointing Right, or crossing their arms (X) for a tie. The majority decides. If the judges’ vote lands in a tie, each side performs one additional round and the judges vote again. All events use an odd number of judges, with three recommended. Judges’ decisions are final.

Round timing is handled by the count-off system, set by Level (see Round Timing And Count-Offs).

Round Timing And Count-Offs

Rounds at RDF are timed to the music, not a stopwatch. The Battle Ref (or MC) begins the count-off at approximately the target time for the round, starting on the beat, so that rounds end with the phrasing of the music—no awkward endings in the middle of a beat or eight-count.

Count-off start times:

  • Cypher Prelims (all Levels): ~30 seconds
  • Intro and Beginner battle rounds: ~20 seconds
  • Intermediate battle rounds: ~30 seconds
  • Advanced battle rounds: ~45 seconds
  • Pro battle rounds: no count-off
  • Crew battle rounds (all crew Levels): ~1 minute

The count-off is a countdown from 5, called to the beat: “5” is held for four counts, “4” is held for four counts, then “3”, “2”, and “1” take two counts each, followed by the Battle Ref calling “FREEZE!” The FREEZE call is a moment for the dancer—hitting a clean freeze right on the call is a strong, musical way to end a round. Skills performed after the FREEZE call are not recognized.

Event Schedule And Run Of Show

To run battles as efficiently as possible, an organized event timeline announced to all participants, coaches, and parents is important. There are three times for each battle session that need to be announced:

  • Doors Open Time - The time people are allowed to enter the venue
  • Warmup Time - An optional announced time for a coach-led group warmup
  • Registration Closes / Cypher Prelims Begin - The time registration ends and the prelims section begins. No one may register after prelims has begun.

Recommended timeline:

  • Doors open 45 minutes before Cypher Prelims begin
  • Warmups begin 15 minutes before Cypher Prelims begin
  • Set a firm start time for Cypher Prelims

The run of show is always the same:

  1. Cypher Prelims - Levels run lowest to highest (Intro, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Pro). Within a Level, if the field is split into age Divisions, prelims run youngest to oldest before moving to the next Level. Division splits follow the three-tier rules in How Divisions Split.
  2. Crew Showcase Routines - Performance order is random. While showcases run, the scoring table tabulates prelim scores and builds the brackets.
  3. Bracket Announcement - Seeds and brackets are announced once the Showcase Routines are complete.
  4. Top 8 Brackets - Brackets run one stage at a time across the whole event: all Quarterfinals first, then all Semifinals, then all Third Place Battles, then all Finals. Within each stage, battles run lowest Level to highest; within a Level, youngest age Division to oldest; and where a group has multiple brackets, lowest bracket to highest (3-C, then 2-C, then 1-C). A bracket whose Quarterfinals are all byes simply skips that stage.
  5. Crew Battle Announcement - After the last Final (highest Level, highest bracket), the crews that qualified from the Showcase Routines are announced.
  6. Crew Battles - Crew battles run lowest Level to highest. If a Level advanced 4 or 8 crews, earlier crew bracket stages run first across all Levels, then the crew Third Place Battles, then the crew Finals, lowest Level to highest.
  7. Awards - All awards are presented after the crew battles, in the same lowest-to-highest order. Every bracket receives its own awards.

This run of show is built for events of roughly 40-50 dancers. Larger events will require a different structure, and updated formats will be published as RDF grows.

Levels

To support fair competition and healthy progression, dancers may choose to compete in any Level that reflects their current ability—except for the Intro Level, which is reserved exclusively for dancers within their first 12 months of breaking. This Level exists to provide a welcoming space for true beginners to grow alongside others at a similar stage. The Battle Host reserves the right to move a dancer up a Level when their demonstrated skill clearly exceeds the Level they registered for.

Dancers may compete in one 1v1 Level per event. A dancer who also competes on a crew must compete 1v1 at the same Level as their crew: an Advanced crew member must do Advanced breaking, and an Intermediate crew member cannot compete up to Advanced. Your whole day of dance battling is one Level—Showcase Routine, crew battles, Cypher Prelims, and 1v1 brackets all happen at the crew’s Level. Crew-locked dancers cannot move Levels mid-event, by choice or by Battle Host bump; the forfeit rules in Out Of Level Enforcement apply instead. The one exception: an Intro-eligible dancer on a Beginner crew may still compete 1v1 in Intro.

Each Level is defined by a set of recognized skills. If a dancer performs skills above the Level they’ve registered for, judges are instructed to ignore those moves entirely. This allows dancers to focus on mastery and style within their chosen Level, rather than being rewarded for prematurely attempting advanced tricks. Skill examples throughout this section are illustrative, not exhaustive: whether a skill is recognized comes from the rule line itself, not from whether the skill happens to be named.

The Pro Level is unique in that it recognizes the professional level of breaking.

Intro

The Intro Level is open only to dancers within their first 12 months of breaking. Intro uses the exact same recognized skills as Beginner—the only difference is eligibility.

Count-Off Begins: ~20 Seconds (see Round Timing And Count-Offs)

Beginner

Count-Off Begins: ~20 Seconds (see Round Timing And Count-Offs)

  • Top Rocks: All Top Rocks must have the hips and shoulders facing the same direction during the movement. Recognition is limited to variations of steps and entrances. (ex: Indian Steps, Side Steps, March Steps, basic rocking)
  • Transitions: All transitions must remain in contact with the ground. (ex: knee drops, corkscrews, squat drops, spin downs, cartwheels)
  • Footwork: Can be performed flat handed. (ex: 2-steps, 3-steps, 6-steps, CCs, sweeps, coffee grinders)
  • Power Move: Should maintain contact with the ground (ex: booty spins, backspins)
    • May rotate continuously on parts of the torso
    • May alternate between 4 points of contact with the ground
  • Freeze: If inverted must have 3 points of contact with the ground, max 2 stacks (ex: baby freezes, chair freezes, bridges, headstands)
  • Acro: Must retain physical contact with the surface at all times with no spring motion allowed

Intermediate

Count-Off Begins: ~30 Seconds (see Round Timing And Count-Offs)

  • Top Rocks: Hips and shoulders can face different directions. Higher level variations of steps and entrances are recognized. (ex: kick crosses, salsa steps, Charlie Rocks, jerk variations)
  • Transitions: Transitions can leave the ground. (ex: coin drops, hook drops, back handsprings, front swings)
  • Footwork: Looking to be performed up on the knuckles. (ex: 6-steps up on the knuckles, half sweeps, pretzels, Around the Worlds, Frosty Freezes)
  • Power Move: Spins on the torso (ex: backspins, booty spins) can spin as many times as they like. All other power moves (ex: swipes, windmills, flares, headspins) are recognized for one revolution. Intent decides the edge: momentum carrying a spin past one revolution is fine; continuous, controlled rotations beyond one are out of level. Pauses reset the count—each revolution after a clean stop is a new recognized move.
  • Freeze: When inverted can have two points of contact with the ground. (ex: handstands, shoulder freezes, elbow freezes, turtles, head-and-hand chairs)
  • Acro: Can alternate between hands and feet.

Advanced

Count-Off Begins: ~45 Seconds (see Round Timing And Count-Offs)

  • Top Rocks: Hips and shoulders can face different directions. Higher level variations of steps and entrances are recognized. (ex: full toprock vocabulary—complex step variations, rhythm and direction changes)
  • Transitions: Transitions can leave the ground. (ex: aerial drops, jump coin drops, power step-ins)
  • Footwork: Looking to be performed up on the knuckles. (ex: full sweeps, switch-ups, threaded patterns)
  • Power Move: No limitations (ex: continuous windmills, flares, halos, headspin drills, airflares)
  • Freeze: Can have one point of contact (ex: airchairs, airbabies, one-hand freezes)
  • Acro: Acro up to one flip with no twists

Pro

The Pro Level is for athletes who have competed at a high level in events.

Count-Off: None — Pro rounds are not counted off.

  • Top Rocks: Hips and shoulders can face different directions. Higher level variations of steps and entrances are recognized. (ex: full toprock vocabulary with signature style)
  • Transitions: Transitions can leave the ground. (ex: full aerial transitions)
  • Footwork: Looking to be performed up on the knuckles. (ex: threaded combinations and original patterns)
  • Power Move: No limitations (ex: airflares, elbow airflares, 2000s, full power combos)
  • Freeze: Can have one point of contact (ex: extended airchairs, hollowbacks, one-hand freeze variations)
  • Acro: Acro up to one flip and two twists, in any combination

Out Of Level In Practice

For coaches: out-of-level calls almost always come from three skill families—power moves, transitions, and some freezes. Here is what the Level lines mean on the floor.

Power Moves:

  • Intro / Beginner - Essentially torso spins: booty spins and backspins. Anything spinning on hands, elbows, or head is out of level.
  • Intermediate - Every power move gets one revolution. Intent decides the edge cases: momentum carrying a headspin to a revolution and a half is fine; five controlled rotations without stopping is out of level. A clean stop resets the count—spin, freeze it, spin again, and each revolution is a new recognized move.
  • Advanced / Pro - Spin as much as you want.

Transitions:

  • Intro / Beginner - Transitions stay in contact with the floor. Leaving the ground between positions is out of level.
  • Intermediate and up - Transitions can leave the ground.

Freezes:

  • Intro / Beginner - Inverted freezes need 3 points of contact with the ground, max 2 stacks.
  • Intermediate - Inverted freezes can drop to 2 points of contact.
  • Advanced / Pro - Hold it on 1.

Crew Showcase Routines And Battles

Crew battles are one of the most exciting parts of breaking—where teamwork, creativity, and performance come together on the floor. It’s not just about individual skills—it’s about chemistry, timing, and the story your crew tells through movement.

Crew Levels And Eligibility

For the 2026-2027 season, crews compete within skill Levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Pro. Each crew follows all of the skill recognition rules of its Level (see Levels) in both the Showcase Routine and battle rounds. Skills performed outside the crew’s Level rules are not recognized.

A crew is 4 to 7 dancers. Crews with fewer than 4 or more than 7 dancers may still perform and be judged for feedback, but as exhibition only—exhibition crews cannot place or advance to the battle rounds.

A dancer may compete on one crew per event. Dancers who compete on a crew must compete 1v1 at the same Level as their crew, with the Intro exception noted in Levels.

Crews are split by age Division only when there are enough crews to support it; otherwise ages are combined within a Level. Levels are never combined—an Advanced crew of 5-7 year olds will never battle a Beginner crew of 5-7 year olds. When age splits are used, a crew competes in the age Division of its oldest dancer.

Crew Showcase Routine Rules

Crews have up to 2 minutes 30 seconds to perform a choreographed Showcase Routine to music provided by the crew. Crews must submit their showcase music to the event DJ before registration closes. Judges score the routine using the Showcase Scoresheet below. Judges stop judging at 2:30—anything performed after that point is not scored. Timing is measured from the first sound of the crew’s music.

The same dancers that start the routine must perform the entire routine—no substituting dancers in or out during the routine.

Showcase Scoresheet And Rubrics

The Showcase Scoresheet has seven categories in two groups. Each judge scores every category from 1.0 to 10.0, and a crew’s showcase score is the total across all categories and all judges (a maximum of 70 per judge).

Skill Categories:

  • Footwork
  • Transitions
  • Top Rocks
  • Freezes
  • Power Moves

Performance Categories:

  • Musicality
  • Creativity

All five Skill Categories are judged within the crew’s Level (see Skill Recognition) using the rubric below. The rubric is built to reward breakers moving together: a routine of back-to-back solos scores low in the Skill Categories no matter how strong the individual skills are. Choreograph accordingly. An out-of-level skill drops the affected category to the 1.0-4.0 band (see Out Of Level Enforcement).

Score Description
7.0 – 10.0 High level execution, technique, and synchronization with most to all breakers together.
4.0 – 7.0 High level execution, technique, and synchronization with only a few breakers together OR moderate execution, technique, and synchronization with most to all breakers together.
1.0 – 4.0 Mostly individual breakers (solos) performing skills, regardless of level OR low level execution, technique, and synchronization from the breakers.

Musicality:

Score Description
7.0 – 10.0 The routine rides the music—hits, accents, and skill placement consistently land on the beat and match the energy of the track.
4.0 – 7.0 The routine connects with the music in sections—clear hits and on-beat moments, mixed with stretches where the choreography and the music disconnect.
1.0 – 4.0 The routine could be performed to any song—little to no connection between the movement and the music.

Creativity:

Score Description
7.0 – 10.0 Original concepts, formations, transitions, and skill combinations—the routine has its own identity and shows the judges ideas they have not seen before.
4.0 – 7.0 Some original moments layered over a familiar, expected structure.
1.0 – 4.0 Standard, predictable choreography with little original material.

Within each Level: if 3 or more crews perform Showcase Routines, the top-scoring crews advance to the battle rounds (top 2 at minimum; top 4 or top 8 if participation allows—the Battle Host will announce the advancement count before showcases begin). Showcase placement determines battle seeding but carries no other weight into the battles. If two crews tie in showcase score for the final advancing spot, the head judge’s score breaks the tie; if still tied, both crews advance.

If only 2 crews perform in a Level, the showcase winner earns one point, and both crews advance to battle. The winner of the crew battle also earns one point. If the crews split the points, each crew selects one dancer for a single-round 1v1 tiebreaker, and the winner of that round decides the overall crew champion.

Crew Battle Rules

A crew battle is a 5-round vs 5-round (5v5) dance battle—each crew gets 5 rounds, alternating sides. Each round, a crew may send out one dancer or multiple dancers. Multiple dancers per round is preferred: routines, commando moves, and teamwork are what separate a crew battle from a 1v1.

When a Level advances 4 or 8 crews, the crew battles run as a seeded bracket with the same stages as 1v1: earlier stages first, a Third Place Battle between the Semifinal losers, then the Finals. Every crew battle, including the Third Place Battle, is the full 5-round format.

The Battle Ref begins the count-off on each crew round at approximately 1 minute (see Round Timing And Count-Offs). Battle round music is provided by the event DJ.

Judges do not award points round by round. After the final round, each judge simply picks the crew they think won the battle—Left, Right, or crossed arms (X) for a tie. The majority decides. If the judges’ vote lands in a tie, each crew performs one additional round and the judges vote again.

Crew battles move fast. When one crew’s round ends, the opposing crew is expected to take the floor immediately. A crew that hesitates too long (at the Battle Ref’s discretion) can have that round stolen by the other crew going again. Be ready, be aggressive, and take the floor quickly—do not hesitate.

No assisted tumbling (example: toe pitch back tucks) is allowed. All other breaking safety rules apply.

Glossary

These are the definitions the rules and the judges use. When a rule says inverted, spin, or salto, this is exactly what it means.

Term Definition
6-Step The foundational footwork pattern: six counts circling the legs around the body while the hands post on the floor.
Airborne No part of the body is in contact with the ground.
Airflare An airborne power move: continuous flares with a flight phase between hand contacts.
Around The World A footwork pattern where the legs travel a full circle around the dancer’s base.
Baby Freeze An inverted freeze on the head and both hands, with a knee stabbed on one elbow—3 points of contact.
Backspin A spin on the upper back with the legs tucked—a torso spin.
Bridge A face-up arch supported on the hands and feet with the hips lifted high.
CC A fundamental footwork shuffle: the leg kicks through while the weight posts on one arm.
Chair Freeze A freeze resting on the head, one stabbed hand, and one foot—3 points of contact, body folded like sitting in a chair.
Charlie Rock A classic toprock variation—a rocking step from breaking’s uprock lineage.
Corkscrew A grounded spin-down: a twisting descent from standing to the floor that never leaves the ground.
Flare A power move swinging straight legs in wide circles around the body while the weight passes from hand to hand.
Footwork Floor-level dance patterns performed on the hands and feet—6-steps, 3-steps, CCs, sweeps. Also called downrock.
Freeze A held, balanced position where all movement stops—hit it and hold it, ideally on the music.
Handstand An inverted balance on both hands with the body extended vertically.
Headspin A spin balanced on the head.
Headstand An inverted balance on the head with both hands assisting—3 points of contact.
Indian Step The foundational toprock step: alternating cross-steps in front with the hips and shoulders square.
Inverted Upside down: the hips are above the head. The freeze rules for each Level count points of contact only when a freeze is inverted.
Kick Cross A toprock variation: a kick out followed by a cross-step.
On The Knuckles Supporting weight on closed fists instead of flat palms during footwork. The footwork standard from Intermediate up.
Powermove A momentum-driven skill where the body spins or rotates continuously on the hands, head, back, or shoulders—windmills, flares, headspins, backspins.
Prone Face-down: the chest faces the ground.
Push Whip Generating rotation by pushing off the hands while whipping the hips and legs over the body—the drive mechanic behind swipes.
Rotate Any turning of the body around an axis. Spins, saltos, windmills, and swipes are all rotation; the Level rules define how much rotation is recognized.
Salsa Step A toprock variation borrowing salsa’s side-step and hip twist.
Salto An airborne flip: rotation over the body’s side-to-side axis, forward or backward. Governed by the Acro line of each Level.
Spin Continuous rotation around the body’s head-to-toe axis while on a point of contact—booty spins, backspins, headspins.
Stack Linking one freeze directly into another without coming down; each held position counts as one stack.
Supine Face-up: the back faces the ground.
Swipe A power move where the upper body twists and the hands whip the body over as the legs swing around—one full rotation per swipe, driven by the push whip.
Table Top A face-up position supported on the hands and feet with the hips lifted and the torso flat.
To The Ground The get-down: the transition that takes the dance from upright toprock to the floor.
Toprock The upright, standing portion of the dance—steps, entrances, and character performed before going to the ground.
Transition Any movement that connects the elements—toprock into footwork, footwork into power, power into a freeze. Each Level defines whether transitions may leave the ground.
Turtle A horizontal balance on stabbed elbows with the body held flat over the hands.
Upright Standing orientation: the head is above the hips, feet toward the ground.
Windmill A power move rolling continuously across the upper back and shoulders while the legs trace wide circles.
Zero Position The neutral crouched base on the floor—weight balanced, hands ready—that footwork and transitions launch from and return to.