Breakdancing at the Eurovision Song Contest

Breakdancing had its debut at the Olympic Games (as "Breaking") in Paris with an Australian competitor taking the world by storm.

Rachael "Raygun" Gunn, entertained the world with her unique and creative style that saw her lose all her round-robin battles 18-0.

With the world suddenly interested in the "sport", we thought we'd look back at some breakdancing moments at the Eurovision Song Contest.

2022: Kalush Orchestra - Stefania (Ukraine)

As well as rappers, singers and flute players, Kalush Orchestra also featured MC KYLYMMAN (which translates to MC Carpetman).

Since 2022 (and for Eurovision) this masked character was breakdancer Vlad Kurochka.

Vlad has appeared on many Ukrainian TV shows and performances.

His key moment of winning Eurovision song Stefania came at 2:30 when he had the floor for almost all of the final 30 seconds of the song.

2017: Francesco Gabbani - Occidentali's Karma (Italy)

The entry finished 6th at Eurovision and is best known for the dancing gorilla!

The man in that gorilla suit is Filippo Ranaldi, who is a hip hop dancer from Italy.

At around 2:20 into the performance the gorilla breaks into freestyle dance which has some elements of breakdancing, with uccrew.co.uk stating:

"He did demonstrate knee rock and a knee spin, which effortlessly pays homage to the rich history of Break Dancing, channelling the spirit and moves that originated in the dynamic era of the 1980s."

2015: Electro Velvet - Still In Love With You (United Kingdom)

I know right? You didn't expect this!

Although the song and much of the dancing lent into a modern take on swing, there was some breakdancing.

Again the team at uccrew.co.uk  spotting "flares" at 1:50.

2012: Rambo Amadeus - Euro Neuro (Montenegro)

The infamous entry from Montenegro finished 15th in its semi-final in 2012. It was an "interesting" song and staging and featured a lot of breakdancing.

One of those dancers was Nikola "Lobanjica" Mijomanović who went on to be a semi-professional gamer.

You can catch the breaking throughout the performances but 1:20 and 2:30 are some examples.

2012: Anggun - Echo (You And I) (France)

The French entry from 2012 did appear to be gymnastics-inspired, however breakdancing takes over from around 2:35.

This was led by French breakdancer Jeremy Maupilet. Jeremy would go on to join Aussie group Surprise Effect who won the Australian Street Entertainment Championships in 2017.

1994: CatCat - Bye Bye Baby (Finland)

We go back 30 years for our last example. The backing dancers of Finland's 1994 Eurovision entry have been said to be doing break dancing. However, the team at uccrew.co.uk say it's not quite breaking but does borrow elements:

"Sources from the time say that the backing dancers were Break Dancers but this Hip Hop dance style now would be considered new jack swing, although it does take some movements from Breaking."

Could we see more Breaking at Eurovision in the future? Perhaps Australia's Raygun could appear on stage for the nation in the future?

Let us know on our socials if we've missed any great breakdancing moments.

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