With two major events, an unprecedented partnership celebrates the sport making its debut at the Paris Games
YouTube and FitDance have joined forces to celebrate the debut of Breakdance as a sport at the Paris Games. The partnership aims to create exclusive and innovative content that celebrates this urban dance, one of the pillars of hip hop culture, and which is now gaining space at the world’s largest sporting event. The event will take place between July and August and will culminate at SuperDance, the largest digital event in Latin America, now renamed YouTube Super Dance Breaking Arena.
“This partnership came about very naturally, given FitDance’s history,” said Bruno Duarte, co-founder of FitDance. “We’ve always dreamed of leveraging dance, and now we have the World Games, where Breakdance will appear for the first time as an Olympic sport. We saw what happened with surfing a few years ago, and the insight into the opportunity arose naturally from there. This event transcends the barriers of physical and digital, offering a unique experience for enthusiasts, dancers, choreographers and athletes, in a great opportunity that aligns with the company’s mission.”
“We like to take dance to another level. We realized that SuperDance will bring the same impact that big events have on a community, like Comic Con, for example. So FitDance will come to a big event, with a great structure, showing that dance, in addition to having a huge audience in the digital universe, also has the power to create strong experiences in the physical environment,” added Fábio Duarte, also co-founder of FitDance.
Victor Machado, a YouTube representative, highlighted the platform’s mission to develop various sports. “We believe that Breakdance is the connection between sports, music, dance and urban art. And all of these topics are relevant on YouTube. It is part of our mission to help develop all sports on the platform.”
The project also includes another major event: Esquenta SuperDance, which will take place in Moema, in the city of São Paulo, offering activations in a physical space dedicated to Breakdance. The structure includes studios and a special set design for capturing content from b-boys and b-girls, as well as urban dance workshops taught by the biggest names in the Brazilian scene. On July 13 and 14, the venue will host all the selections and preparations for the battles that will take place at SuperDance, ensuring that participants are ready for the big event.
The content will be diverse, including podcasts, choreography, battles and complete coverage of the event, all hosted on the FitDance and Super Dance channels, as well as channels by content creators on this theme, reaching more than 16 million subscribers on the channels. The idea is not only to celebrate Breakdance, but also to highlight its history and cultural importance. “As dance becomes even more popular as a sport, it will encourage people to practice the most diverse types of activities and sports. And, culturally, we will create an even stronger movement in favor of Breakdance”, commented Fábio Duarte.
The project highlights the trajectory of athlete Leony Pinheiro, one of the great names in Breaking. “Since the beginning of Breaking on the internet, YouTube has always supported us, being the first major platform to provide space for viewing our activities. Making a video training or dancing, recording Breaking competitions or the first steps of the new generation, has become part of our daily lives, our routine and that is what will ensure that with every second of music and video we are always connected, Breaking and YouTube”, stated Leony Pinheiro.
Esly Paiva, YouTube Brazil’s Creator Connection and Package Leader, highlighted the importance of dance and music for Brazilians. “We know that dance and music are Brazilians’ passions, and in our Brand Solutions area, we translate these passions into major projects. It would be no different with Super Dance Arena Breaking, which, in addition to embracing dance as a whole, has a special focus on urban dance and breaking, after all, it is a new category in the Olympic Games.”
The numbers prove it: 80%* of people say they use YouTube to learn more about the subjects they love (*YouTube Brandcast Research, BR, 2023). “I see that YouTube’s role is to deliver quality content to its audience. We know that users’ behavior, when something is happening, is to seek information. So much so that when surfing and skateboarding debuted at the Olympic Games, there was also a significant increase in interest. In other words, this project will help meet this increased demand for information related to Breakdance,” added Esly. “The union between the FitDance team and a highly representative athlete and b-boy from Brazil, such as Leony Pinheiro, to produce this content will go beyond the digital environment and make Breakdance tangible in two events, one of which is one of the largest events in Latin America, Super Dance.”
The interest in the activity also caught the attention of Mercado Livre, which joined the project as a strategic partner. “Mercado Livre is a strategic partner that has produced a lot of relevant content. When they saw the project, they fell in love. From then on, we were able to make this important partnership possible,” added Esly Paiva. “The Paris games are a relevant commercial opportunity for retail, and Mercado Livre understands this,” said Bruno Duarte.
With this initiative, YouTube and FitDance promote the sport at the 2024 World Games, paying tribute to Breakdance and contributing to the growth and recognition of this dance as a sport of high cultural and competitive relevance. “This project is the beginning of a new movement. We have incredible sponsors and this is an opportunity for future projects, where we will continue investing in dance”, concluded Bruno Duarte.
