Research Student Profile: Sonja Cimelli

SONJA CIMELLI (Vice-Chancellor’s studentship recipient)

Breaking and the Olympics: exploring the Trivium judging system during Breaking’s diversification from subcultural artform to mainstream artistic sport.

Dance has been my passion since early childhood, and upon leaving school I undertook full-time classical and contemporary vocational training to fulfil my performance aspirations. My professional dance career was curtailed by injury, but this inspired me to pursue a new interest in the field of biomechanics. I subsequently retrained as a podiatrist and later attained an MSc in Sport and Exercise Rehabilitation. I have worked in several clinical settings with a particular focus on sport and dance-related lower limb injuries. One of my proudest moments was as a member of the London 2012 Olympics Medical Team, based in the Athletes’ Village Polyclinic.

My passion for dance has continued to flourish in my capacity as both a performer and researcher, and over the past decade I have been actively involved in the broader hip hop dance community. My research interest in the style of Breaking (breakdancing) was piqued in 2017 when it was announced as a new sport in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. The integration of subcultural sports such as snowboarding and skateboarding into the Olympics has been complex, as these cultural communities navigate the mainstreaming process. A particular area of contention is how these sports are judged, evidence has demonstrated that this can directly influence a sport’s evolution. Likewise, the adjudication of artistic sports such as gymnastics and figure skating frequently comes under scrutiny for similar reasons; how do you measure art and cultural integrity within a sport? Breaking, as a foundational element of hip hop culture, has competition embedded in its cultural heritage. This amalgamation of culture and artistic sport will therefore potentially present Breaking with similar challenges during its mainstreaming process, of which the judging system will be an integral part.

Breaking will make its summer Olympic debut in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Often when I mention this the first thing I am asked is “How will it be judged?”. Trivium is a unique judging system that will be used for Breaking in the Olympics. Unlike the familiar nominal scales for technical and artistic scores we see in the officiation of artistic sports, Trivium directly compares one dancer against their opponent in three overarching domains of physicality, artistry and interpretation. My research will investigate the influence of Trivium on the evolution of Breaking as an artistic sport during its inaugural Olympics, and increase knowledge of judging systems within the mainstreaming process of subcultural sports.

I will incorporate a mixed methods approach using primarily qualitative with some quantitative data collection methods to review the system and how it sits within the cultural framework of Breaking and hip hop. I will also investigate the attitudes of the Breaking community towards the system pre-, during and immediately post-Olympics.

Participation in alternative sports continues to flourish and the International Olympic Committee are keen to promote youth engagement through urban sports. I therefore hope that this research will have a theoretical contribution beyond the realms of Breaking by increasing understanding of judging systems within the mainstreaming process of subcultural activities, and expanding knowledge on adjudication methodology in artistic sports.

Aside from my research, dance continues to play a huge part in my life. I recently had the honour of being the Competition Manager for the 2022 WDSF European Breaking Championship in Manchester, the first European event on the Olympic qualification pathway. This experience afforded me the opportunity to fully engage in the processes required to bring Breaking to the Olympics, and a greater appreciation for the challenges in presenting Breaking as a sport whilst maintaining cultural integrity. It gave me further confirmation of the relevance of my research, particularly during this unique opportunity to investigate the transitional period in the year leading up to and including Breaking’s debut on the biggest global sporting stage.

I am in the early stages of my PhD journey, having started as a full-time student in October 2022. This project has provided me with the opportunity to combine my passions for dance and sport, and I am fortunate that Buckinghamshire New University has expertise in both areas. I am very much relishing the opportunity to fully immerse myself in this research process and look forward to what the future may hold.