Carlos Peña and Livia Motterle present "Barcelona Breaking" at Fnac Rambles

Carlos Peña and Livia Motterle present Barcelona Breaking on Thursday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m., at the Fnac Rambles Forum.

The presentation of Barcelona Breaking proposes an open dialogue between its authors, Manuel Delgado and other key figures from the breakdance community in Catalonia, to collectively reflect on the history, transformations, and conflicts that shape this cultural practice.

Born in the neighborhoods of New York in the 1970s, breakdance - or breaking - has come a long way: from a stigmatized practice relegated to the urban margins to an internationally recognized discipline, culminating in its inclusion in the 2024 Olympic Games. Its path is also that of urban cultures and the hip hop movement, which have reinterpreted public squares and streets in tension with dominant norms and institutional policies.

Based on collaborative ethnographic work carried out mainly in Catalonia, the book addresses the evolution of breaking's spaces, community building, the relationship between marginality and institutional recognition, the impact of global competition, and women's strategies to transform the scene. An invitation to understand breaking as a living and collective cultural practice.

In recent decades, a form of dance born on the streets of New York in the 1970s - known as breakdance or breaking - has come a long way: from a stigmatized practice relegated to the urban margins to becoming an internationally recognized discipline, finally reaching the 2024 Olympic Games. Its history is also the story of how hip hop and urban cultures reinterpret public squares and streets, often in opposition to dominant norms and institutional policies. What have been the key moments in the introduction and transformation of breakdance in Catalonia since the 1980s? How have the gathering spaces of breakdance in Catalonia evolved, from community centers and factories to today's reference spaces? How is a sense of belonging forged in a cultural space that shifts between marginality and institutional recognition? What is gained and what is lost when a practice born in the streets enters the circuit of global sports competitions? What strategies have women developed to counter exclusion and transform the breaking scene? Based on collaborative ethnographic research carried out mainly in Catalonia, this book is an invitation to explore these and other questions through the voices and bodies that keep this culture alive. It is a contribution to urban culture studies that not only seeks to reach the breaking community, but also the general public. Ultimately, it is an attempt to document and celebrate breaking, understood as a form of cultural expression and a way of creating community. A living, dynamic, and ever-changing practice that, collectively, remains enduring over time. An essential book for opening new ways of looking at, listening to, and understanding the cultural universe of breaking in Catalonia.