Memorandum of Understanding

For Immediate Release

Delaware - In advance of Breaking’s debut in the Olympics at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, USA Dance President Ken Richards and Vice President of DanceSport – Breaking Division Zack Slusser are proud to announce that the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and USA Dance have entered into an agreement that establishes the roles and responsibilities to establish an Olympic high performance program for the DanceSport of Breaking and selecting and sending elite athletes to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the 2023 Pan American Games, competitions that qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, any NOC Event, or USOPC Breaking Activities.

USA Dance is the official Recognized Sports Organization for Dance by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the U.S. National Member body of the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), which is recognized as the official International Federation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) responsible for all DanceSport disciplines, including Breaking. Over the last 12 months, USA Dance’s DanceSport- Breaking Division, commonly known as Breaking for Gold USA, has been working to create a transparent national sports program to sanction competitions, train and support athletes, and train adjudicators in the internationally recognized judging system to identify elite athletes in the Youth, Teen, and Adult age categories to represent TeamUSA on the national and international level.

With the support of the USA Dance Breaking DanceSport Council, led by experienced leaders in the Breaking and Hip Hop Community, TeamUSA Bboys and Bgirls have experienced unrivaled success on the international level winning 14 medals, more than any other country, including 1 Gold and 2 Silver at the 2022 IWGA International World Games held in Birmingham, Alabama. This has been accomplished with the support of national and athlete level sponsors including the Silverback Foundation, Nike, a.ffati, Snipes, Red Bull, and Monster Energy.

Outside the Delegation level games, the agreement provides USA Dance with all commercial and non-commercial rights to the DanceSport Division of Breaking. More importantly, it creates a clear pathway for USA based athletes to qualify to represent TeamUSA at all international competitions including qualifying events for the 2024 Olympic Games and creates opportunities for both financial and high performance sport training support from both USA Dance and the USOPC. To view the agreement and learn more about Breaking for Gold USA go to https://www.usadance.org/BreakingDivision. To learn more about the USOPC’s Breaking program go to https://www.teamusa.org/USOPC-Breaking

For more information about USA Dance and this agreement, please contact President Ken Richards at president@usadance.org and Vice President of DanceSport – Breaking Division Zack Slusser at DanceSportBreaking-VP@usadance.org.