Breakdancing was born on the streets of New York City in the 1970s, emerging alongside graffiti writing, deejaying and emceeing as a cornerstone of hip-hop culture, and it continues to be seen everywhere in the city's streets and subways. In Breakin' the City, German photographer Nicolaus Schmidt (born 1953) provides a portrait of breakdancers from the Bronx and Brooklyn, carefully describing their athletic feats against the urban fabric around them, on subway cars, in city plazas, on sidewalks and elsewhere, in 100 color photographs. Along with these dynamic action shots, in the second half of the book Schmidt presents striking portraits of the dancers in moments of repose, relating their often extraordinary life stories and his personal experiences with them.