While nomads by definition live on the move, Puqu and his nomadic peers live for the moves - that is, for break dancing.

Like many b-boys (break-dancing males) on the isolated grasslands flanking Qinghai province's Yushu, when the 13-year-old and his peers aren't studying or herding yaks, they're somersaulting, spinning, twisting and otherwise perfecting their b-boy skills to music unheard (at least by others).

Secluded highlands sparsely inhabited by ethnically Tibetan nomads may seem an unlikely foothold for the acrobatic dance genre believed to be born in New York's inner city in the 1970s.

But it has spread across the grasslands like wildfire - in this case, prairie fire - to become local boys' preferred pastime.

"Tibetan dances require music," Puqu explains at the elementary school of his native Qumahe township.

"Break dancing is something we can do anywhere. It's freer."

While the nomadic b-boys say the dance style suits life on the grasslands, it was not only unknown, but also virtually unknowable, to them several years ago, since electricity was scarce.

Yege township elementary school student Rongzhongja says he was amazed when he first saw break dancing on TV about four years ago.

"I'd never seen anything like it," the 14-year-old says.

"It seemed unbelievable."

His classmate, 15-year-old Chenhin Xiro, explains: "We were inspired by TV and then started teaching ourselves."

About 5 percent of Yege's households had electricity in 2011. Far fewer had TVs. Now, every household has both, thanks to government investment.

Local children, who knew little out of the outside world, say they discovered break dancing was one of the new things they learned about from TV they could apply to nomadic life.

"There's not much to do here. So TV is the main source of entertainment, especially in winter," former Yege Primary School teacher Tseringben explains.

The other is dancing, especially in the summer.

Locals cite a Tibetan saying: "If you can talk, you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance."

"I love to dance with my friends. But it makes me tired," 14-year-old Rongzhongja says, panting after practicing with friends during recess.

His former classmate, 17-year-old Renzembdorlgyee, has since joined the bigger group of b-boys who dance at Qumalai county seat's middle school.

"It's a special type of dance," Renzembdorlgyee says.

"It's great exercise, more so than other ways of dancing."

Puqu agrees break dancing is healthy fun. But he believes it's much more.

School performances for typically illiterate parents with little knowledge about the outside world naturally feature the dance genre, to herders' delight and surprise.

Parents are impressed by their kids' moves and stunned that such complicated choreography hails from cultures they don't know.

"Other people love it when we dance like this," Puqu says.

"It helps us spread joy."

 

 

Break dancing has become all the rage among Qumalai's nomadic youth since TV arrived in the area a few years ago.