More than 80 dancers competed for titles at the national breaking tournament "Battle Time 2026 – youth breaking crews competition" at the Youth Cultural Centre in Burgas. The champions in the three age groups were picked in a final round called EMPIRE, the municipal enterprise "Youth International Cultural Centre" said.

Dancers from Sofia, Dobrich, Vratsa, Razgrad, Sliven and Yambol joined the hosts from Burgas. Hall 1 first held registration and qualifying rounds, and then EMPIRE began.

The organisers created the format, which differs from classic breaking contests. Dancers start alone, then face each other in pairs and in ever larger groups. The winner moves on and adds the beaten dancers to their crew, so dance "armies" grow. Beating a rival is not enough: each dancer must prove they deserve the "throne".

An under-12 category joined the programme because interest was high. In the over-18 group, all battles were fought to Bulgarian beats only.

Three judges scored the performances: Boyko Dzhelebov (DaLame), Stefan Georgiev (Shifura) and Ivan Zhelyazkov (Spago). Samuil Topalov (SAMM THE MAN) and Miro Markov (JOSE) hosted the event. Stefan Kolev (DJ Skill) and Anatoli Dzhokov (DJ Jokata) played the music.

On 18 October, the participants met for a joint training session in the same hall. They shared experience, got to know each other and danced together.

The tournament is part of the project "Burgas Youth – the Future Starts Now". Funding comes from the Ministry of Youth and Sports' 2026–2028 programme for youth centres in Bulgaria. The organisers worked with the Burgas breaking club Black Style Squad and the Bulgarian Breaking Federation.

The next tournament will be held in 2027.