International hiphop dance symposium in Paris, 2025

In december 2025, the hiphop dance conference "Colloque international Faire connaissances : les danses hip-hop, terrains de recherche et d’invention" took place at La Villette in Paris, organised by the Centre National de Danse Pantin (CND Pantin).

 

Being part of the scientific commitee of the conference - we had prepared the conference, its open call and selection of papers since early Summer 2024 - i had the honor of giving an opening lecture as introduction for the conference. 

My lecture "Les danses hip-hop : nouveaux terrains, approches plurielles" gave an overview about academic research in hiphop studies, reflecting on terminology, questions of appropriation and representation, highlighting the african diasporic heritage of hiphop dances and, in brief, opening the conference with pointing out the diverse topics and fields of tension between academic, practical and artistic discourse. 

 

At the conference we had a variety of presentations, panels, film screenings, workshops and performances highlighting topics such as european hiphop dance history, formalization processes in Japan or China, hiphop dance education in France, promotion and funding in the UK, politics and ecosystems or social and cultural activism.

You can find out more about the conference here 

And you find the full programm here  

 

And exciting news: there will be a publication covering the diverese presentations of the conference! 

 

 

Scholarship for artistic research of Kunststiftung NRW

I am proud and beyond grateful to announce that i am holding a one-year scholarship of Kunststiftung NRW for artistic research, startig by October 2025!

My artistic research combines my hybrid perspectives as dance scholar, breaker and choreographer to observe, analyse and explore the artistic identities of urban dance choreographers - as well as my own choreographic signature. 

The project works in collaboration with the Centre National de Danse Pantin, Paris; the Institute of Dance and Movement Culture of German Sport University Cologne; the dance company LOW AIR from Lithuania and the choreographer Jonas Frey from Germany. It is enriched by collaborations with the American Arts Center Casablanca, Morocco and the tanzhaus nrw for a reserach residency.  

More infos about the research process and outcomes soon! 

 

Echoes in Motion - arts-based research between dance and beatmaking

ECHOES IN MOTION is an arts-practice based research project between dance and beetmaking, positioned in the context of hip hop studies and hip hop practices. It is part of the DFG-funded research project "Hip-Hop’s Fifth Element: Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Artist-Scholar Collaboration" between the Cologne HipHop Institute, University of Cologne, and the Department of Music, University of Bristol.

Within Echoes in Motion, the two hiphop-scholars Dr Jason Ng and Friederike Frost worked with the principle of call & response between dance and beatmaking. Both hiphop-practicioners – Jason is a beatmaker going with the aka „SUBNET“ and Frieda is a breaker going as „Bgirl Frost“ – they created sounds based on movement-sonic dialogues and reflections within a one-week research residency at the Cologne HipHop Institute.

During a work-in-progress presentation on 19.05.2025, Jason and Frieda shared their creative process and reflections on music making, dance-sound synthesis and hiphop research in a practical-theoretical presentation at the AEB at University of Cologne.

 

images credit: Cologne Hip Hop Institute / Breaking.Art, Hermann Bär 

 

Recap Video: