From time to time I get asked questions regarding Breakin' via social media and I do try my best to answer everybody and every question. A question I have been receiving a lot recently is "how do you keep your powermoves as an aging dancer?" especially from people rediscovering dance.
It's true, it can become more difficult as we age but we can keep on top of it or get back into it.
The quick answer is:
Condition your bodies to withstand such dynamic movements again.
PLEASE: DON'T JUST JUMP IN SPAMMING 10000 ATTEMPTS AT A POWERMOVE, WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG IT'S FINE BUT WHEN OLDER THAT IS JUST GOING TO GET YOU HURT!
And the long answer:
Take it slow, breakdown each movement - assuming you can do them already. Focus on understanding what it is that makes each of them work. What's the required technique? What changes could add strength, speed and style to these moves?
An example of this for windmills would be: The distance between hands in starting the windmill, your angles on your wrists whilst starting the movement, the combination motions using push and pull of each arm that work together to make the effort needed seem less, the area of the back that helps roll the mill smoother (on top of shoulders with a hunch to make the back more round)... Etc...
This is the depth you should be breaking down these movements. At this depth very minimal changes can make so much difference to the movements, they can make what feels impossible become possible, they can change your energy cost from everything to absolutely nothing and so much more.
The combination of these minimal changes through your broken down areas ultimately make these movements happen.
It is here you want to condition your body for optimal performance - at this point you will have discovered the technique, strength, speed and style; which would have reduced your injury risks to a minimum and now you can repeat, repeat repeat for consistency.
Some more basic breakdowns/things to think about for moves are:
For Swipes - Think about your wrist angles, make sure your arms are working as pairs when throwing, throw across the chest rather than above the head, hip height is very important, the higher the better and make sure it is consistent throughout the movement.. Etc...
For Flairs - Again wrist angles are very important (however I find whats needed changes when it comes to doing one or multiple), the forearm distance to hips (closer is easier to to hold up but further away adds power but becomes unstable), focus on each legs height at front of the Flare, similarly look at your hip height at back, for style i find it is better to have straight legs - pointed toes helps with this.. etc
I hope that helped some others who may not have been confident enough to ask the question.
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