French performance hip-hop

CEBU, Philippines -  Brilliant performance. Amazing technique. Fantastic bodyworks and moves. Tres bien!

No wonder elektro-kif was met with a seven-minute standing ovation at curtain call last May 26 at the Ayala Activity Center. C’est excellent!

Earlier, Blanca Li Dance Company manager Stephane Hivert vowed that the first-ever French hip-hop performance in Cebu is something “we’ve never seen before.”

That promise was somewhat puzzling because what’s there about hip-hop we’ve not seen yet? We boast of being born in the Break Dance Era. We’ve body-rocked through the ages.

Before the 7:30 p.m. performance, we saw onstage at the activity center desks and chairs typically used in classrooms by foreign schools. We initially thought of a quiz bee that preceded the invitation from the Alliance Francaise de Cebu which centered on the hip-hop culture of France, aside from promoting French culture through language and film.

Later, it dawned on us those were paraphernalia for the dance. You know hip-hoppers – they would love to jump over tables and crawl under chairs. So, okay, we’ve seen those angst-laden facial expressions and gestures too, and the krumping, creep walking, and popping. So what’s new?

The French hip-hop spectacle showcased eight exceptional young elektro dancers who performed with admirable energy, featuring an especially composed soundtrack which is a mix of techno and elektro house Afro beat.

According to Hivert, Blanca Li Company “takes the urban street dance style elektro, a dazzling mix of breaking, disco, vogue, popping and locking, off the streets of Paris, then mixes it up with some theater, contemporary dance and an amazing soundtrack and gives us elektro kif.”

“It’s a show about the hopes and fears, friendships, fights and rivalries of an all male cast of eight exceptional young elektro dancers, following them through a typical day at college. It’s funny, fast, colorful and anarchic and features an exhilarating especially composed soundtrack by Tao Gutierrez, which mixes techno with elektro house, Afro beat, sampling, and classical music,” Hivert further emphasized.

It was also learned that elektro has been touted as the first indigenous French dance form since the can-can.

It was described to be a “seemingly loose yet precise synthesis of club and hip-hop styles, like a manic, total-body version of the intricate arm movements of voguing fused with the rippling energy of popping and the limb-throwing of locking as if on speed.” (FREEMAN)