IT’S more commonly associated with the gritty neighbourhoods of New York in the 1970s and 80s, but it's Scotland that is now at the forefront of a resurgence in breakdancing across the world.

Leading the revival of urban street dancing has been Scotland's most celebrated breakdancing crew, The Flyin' Jalapenos, who will be performing in Glasgow next week. When Christopher ‘Sideshow’ Maule formed crew with his friend ‘Wee Super Steve’ in 2002 they simply wanted to emulate the ageing heroes of their youth. Today, The Flyin' Jalapenos boasts 40 members and a network of teachers training up dancers - known as b-boys and b-girls.

On Saturday the crew celebrate their fifteenth anniversary with a showcase at the Glasgow School of Art, where they first practised breakdancing. The event, featuring dance battles and live music, will be a celebration of the crew’s achievements and the revival in breakdancing - or breaking - culture.

Breaking is recognised as the dance element of hip hop, but b-boys and b-girls also dance to other music including funk and breakbeat. The dance includes a series of different movements, most notably the ‘toprock’, performed standing up, the downrock, performed on the floor, and more acrobatic ‘power moves’. Although breaking hit Scotland in the early 1980s, the scene stagnated.

Maule says: “When I first started out there wasn’t much going on – it was just us messing around. I was lucky because I had an older friend who used to sneak me into clubs where the older guys were holding events, but there wasn’t much of a scene. In Glasgow, it was important for us to get a space to train. From 2004 onwards, for 10 years, we had a space at [Glasgow venue] SWG3. When the crash happened in 2008 a lot of arts funding got cut so there were less projects to get involved with, but we kept on going.”

Maule and his crew travelled around Europe, learning from what he calls the “worldwide hip hop family” and building links with other scenes. They also observed workshops and how young dancers were taught abroad.

Dmitri ‘Deeman’ Cechov, one of the younger members of the Jalapenos, teaches children in the Shettleston area of Glasgow. He was invited into the crew after moving from Lithuania to Scotland, and says the welcoming atmosphere of the crew was a key reason he joined.

He said: “When I moved here my impression was that there was a different mentality. It’s not just a dance scene but a community. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. The focus is constantly on getting new people involved and passing on knowledge. I think one of the things young people find so appealing is that sense of community and the social aspect. They tend to first get involved when they’ve seen something cool on TV, but then they start to learn about the culture of teamwork and collaboration.”

With more and more kids getting involved in these workshops the demand for regular events is booming. The hip hop education organisation, The State, run regular battles in Edinburgh while Glasgow is served by the bi-annual Resurgence breakdance conventions.

Chaz Bonnar, aka Chaz B, who organises Resurgence, was a member of the Flyin’ Jalapenos crew for four years.

He says the Jalapenos have been “accountable for the growth of the scene since the 2000s” and that the best way for youngsters to develop their skills is to coming along to events like the celebration of breakdancing in Glasgow on Saturday.

“To get into breaking it’s important to get educated,” he said. “The Flyin’ Jalapenos have really educated a lot of people about breaking, including me. And now the scene is starting to grow again. There are more kids involved and there’s more events, like the ones I organise and The Jam Piece events organised by Emma Hamilton in Edinburgh.

“There are all sorts of ages, races and background. I’m a good example – I didn’t have social skills, but breaking helped develop my confidence.”