Body Mind Spirit

The French hip-hop dance group Wanted Posse did not disappoint the packed crowd at Taman Ismail Marzuki cultural center’s Graha Bhakti Budaya on Wednesday night.

Pump it: Members of the French hip-hop dance group Wanted Posse dazzle the audience with acrobatic moves during the show Transe at Taman Ismail Marzuki cultural center’s Graha Bhakti Budaya on Wednesday.

Those expecting to see just a few “pop-locking” and acrobatic “windmilling” moves left the show with more than they bargained for. The group showed just how far the limits of the human body could be stretched in a gracious yet powerful 40-minute choreography.

Wanted Posse’s performance, Transe, created in 2005, is an expression of the psycho-physiological state of trance in the form of theatrical hip-hop dance. It represents madness, anger and possession, the group says.

It is also the embodiment of the group’s sense of rhythm, physical strength and stamina.
The show started with seven dancers in oversized white shirts moving, giving out otherworldly facial expressions, and shouting peculiar sounds.

They quickly huddled and did a synchronized top rock, a move consisting of a string of steps executed while standing, with some dancers suddenly leaping out from the formation only to be caught by the others.

Later on in the show, Wanted Posse’s power-moves masters Junior “B-boy Junior” Bosila and Arthur “Artson” Grandjean, challenged each other to a “swipe” duel — a swipe being hip-hop dance vernacular for standing on one’s hands while thrusting one’s legs up in the air and rotating the torso 180 degrees.

The group that hails from the suburbs of Paris has been in Jakarta since Saturday, giving hip-hop
dance workshops to children in the city.

Their visit to Indonesia is part of Le Printemps Francais (French Spring), the cultural festival organized by the French Cultural Center (CCF). After Jakarta, the group is slated to perform in Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Balikpapan.

Wanted Posse, which won the 2001 Battle of the Year — the b-boy’s version of the world cup — is considered as one of the best hip-hop dance groups in the world.

Wednesday’s performance only saw seven of the nine members of the group perform. Kim “Kimson” Na’ sellu, the tall Wanted Posse member injured his shoulder while performing in EX Plaza, while Soria “Babyson” Rem, the only female in Wanted Posse could not join the team to Indonesia as she is three-months pregnant.

No limits: Two dancers from the French hip-hop dance group Wanted Posse do a simultaneous freeze. Ibrohim “Joyson” Njoya does a handstand, while Mame “Mamson” Diarra is in a boat pose. Behind, another Wanted Posse member lies on his side.

Kim said dancers were prone to injury when b-boying. Hip-hop dancers prefer calling their art b-boying, from the initial name of the dance that came about in the 1970s. The media reportedly dubbed b-boying “break dancing” when the dance became a fad in the 1980s.

“Injuries are common. However dancing is our way to express emotions, more than talking,” Kim said with the help of a translator.

“It’s hard to see my friends dance while I can’t join them,” he said during rehearsal prior to Wednesday’s performance.

And one certainly needs upper body strength and flexibility to carry out hip-hop dancing moves. What the small yet bulky B-Boy Junior did in Transe would be impossible without a high level of skill, strength and endurance.

B-boy Junior continued to amaze the audience throughout the show with his jaw-dropping moves: A floating plank pose on top of other Wanted Posse dancers’ back, a perfect hollowback — a still motion in which he leaned backwards in an extreme arch from a handstand, and walked using his elbow while keeping his feet up in the air.

Kim explained that all of the members of Wanted Posse were choreographers, with each of them contributing their ideas to Transe. Oosman “Babson” Sy said it took them a year to produce the show.

One of the audience members in a Q&A session after their performance asked why the piece was
so short.

“It feels short because you enjoyed it so much,” Babson said jokingly.

The show ended with an encore — each of the Wanted Posse doing a solo routine, and local b-boys performing on stage. One of the locals demonstrated his style blending b-boying with Jakarta traditional Ronggeng dance moves.

Babson praised local talents for their energy and unique style mixing the traditional and modern. “Technical skills can be learned but it’s important to have your own style,” he said.

Just like Wanted Posse, Kim added. While they learned from international experts, they also incorporated their own background into their group.

Kim is of Sierra Leone-Laos descent, while Babyson is a French national with Cambodian blood, and B-boy Junior moved to Paris from Zaire when he was five.

Babson said there was an African and Asian influence in their dancing.

B-boying started in France in the 1980s, Kim said. The dance phenomenon found its roots in 1970s New York, becoming a global trend on the back of the film Flashdance in the 1980s.

Nowadays, besides the US and France, b-boying has caught on in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the UK.

It is only in France, however, that hip-hop dance groups brings b-boying to the theater, Kim said. And a good job they did.