The Aesthetics of Institutionalization: Breakdancing in France

Abstract

La danse hip-hop is the French equivalent of what the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Dance defines as “breakdancing”. It arrived in France from the United States around 1980 and for many years remained a characteristically teenage and quasi underground activity that was performed in basements, on streetcorners, and in the shopping malls of working class suburbs. It is part of the “hip hop movement”, or “hip hop culture” which comprises other means of expression, such as DJing, rap, and graffiti, and commends norms, called “positive values”, such as tolerance, respect and non-violence. Twenty years later, breakdancing is now widely (although not unanimously) recognized in France as a genuine art form and an exciting “trend in modern dance”. It engages professional dancers and choreographers in organized dance companies that produce hip-hop ballets in a theatrical format on legitimate stages. These productions call for high budgets and a sophisticated division of labor. They benefit from public policy for the arts and social development and government funding at the local, regional and national levels. La danse hip-hop also attracts ever wider paying audiences, mostly, but not exclusively, young people. It is taught in schools all over the country and reviewed by well-known dance critics; it has evolved an elaborately structured verbal and choreographical language and is the focus of aesthetic and moral discourse by those who produce it, those who sponsor it and those who view it.