These days the world dances in Porto with their goals set in Paris

The World Battle is the name of the international festival of sports and urban culture that started this Monday, on the 28th of August, in the Alfândega of Porto, and is divided in two main competitions.

The main highlights are the four of the five stages of the BFG World Series, one of the qualifiers for Paris 2024, the games where breaking will debut as an Olympic sport.

Portugal, represented by Porto, has competed with 11 other countries for this battle, which will gather around 320 competitors on the 30th and 31st of August.

On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of September, cultural Olympiads will follow, in the words of Max Oliveira, responsible for the MXM Art Center, which organizes the event with the support of Porto City Hall, through the municipal company Ágora. There will be three days of battles, with more than 300 athletes and fans of the sport, to elect the winners of the World Battle 2023 title.

Other than the competitive side, the programme includes several dance workshops, a market, demonstrations and parties.

As hip-hop celebrates 50 years this month, Max Oliveira claims “it is a pleasure to be able to celebrate in Porto a culture that was born on the other side of the Atlantic, but that has our identity”.

Breaking has been going through a growing projection and has received some support from Porto City Hall which, through it, launched an inclusion programme, “Desporto no Bairro”, where the sport has been gaining a recognised merit and compliments on a national level.