French Revelation

Treaxy was 16 years old when he first started dancing Electro in the suburbs of Paris. “Before Electro I was dancing in the streets, experimenting with hip-hip, locking, popping, in fact everything that was on offer. At that time I really just lived to dance. It was how I expressed my personality.

“And I can remember when I first started dancing in this style – I was in a club, a big party on the outskirts of the south of Paris. I remember it very well, it was a great night!” he grins. “So yes, I was one of the very first Electro dancers.”

Electro has now developed into a dance craze, but no-one can do it better than the Elektro Kif gang, having been recruited by choreographer Blanca Li.

So what was it like having to dance as a team?

“We were very much individuals who had banded together, but even within the group we were constantly competing and pushing ourselves as well as each other,” Treaxy explains.

“Day in, day out, we would work on our moves and gestures and each day we would develop new moves. Before we realised it, a brand new style had emerged, well actually more like exploded, because it happened over a very short period of time. And it was completely different to other forms of street dance.”

But having to be part of a group brought its own problems.

“To be suddenly thrown into an artistic, disciplined environment was difficult for us and, at times, complicated,” Treaxy admits.

“We all became aware that our artistic freedom was not our own and instead of playing and dancing for fun we were actually working. But instead of rebelling against it we embraced it for the sake of the project, realising that we needed to become a lot more professional in our attitudes.”

The result is Elektro Kif. So is Treaxy proud of what they’ve achieved?

“I really enjoyed the process because it was a genuine collaboration between the dancers, who were free of mind, and the choreographer Blanca. We discovered ourselves step-by-step, and I’m very proud that I played my part in breathing life into this production. I know all the other dancers feel the same way too.

“And as I was there at the start, I have my place in this movement, and in the story and culture of Electro so far.”

So what next?

“Our Asian tour has just been confirmed,” he grins. “But my biggest dream is for everyone to know this dance style, for it to be part of life. I live this dance, literally, because it’s so energetic, youthful...and fresh!

“And Elektro Kif has taken something from the street, from an underground culture, and given it a place in mainstream culture, which has been amazing. So any kids inspired by Elektro Kif should continue dancing with a free mind, follow their hearts and try to remain positive in everything they do.”

Jerem admits he’s addicted to dance, and that Elektro Kif is his dream job even though it’s been incredibly hard. “It takes time to create something special like Elektro Kif and it’s a lot of work, but how could any of us have refused such an incredible experience? It’s been a revelation,” he says.

“At the very beginning, the possibility of working with a famous choreographer and director like Blanca Li was mind-blowing and to be given the chance to help create something that would give a much wider visibility to me as a performer, a respected professional performer, who only started out doing this for fun, was very exciting.”

Jerem has also been there from the start.

“All of the street dancers who were experimenting with Electro would go out to the same clubs and we started to recognise each other as teams. Team versus team, sets of friends versus sets of friends. We watched each other’s teams and then start to compete against each other. And then not only the individuals, but the teams, would start to develop distinctive gestures, moves and even an individual spirit.”

So does he still get time to go clubbing?

“Now the only training I do is dance. Dance, dance, dance. We rehearse for six to eight hours most weekdays, and then as often as possible we go clubbing and dance all over again,” he laughs.

“But it’s all been worth it and I am so looking forward to coming to Oxford because by reputation it is a very important English city...the university, the students, the architecture, the history and, of course, Harry Potter! We are all excited about coming to such an iconic, established city with a young and vibrant community...and of course, having the chance to strut our stuff.”

It was Blanca who spotted the Electro dancers practising their routines in a park in Paris and knew she had stumbled on to something big.

“The first time I saw it, there was something very fresh that one can only see during the first moments of a dance that has not yet come to maturity, in the creative passion that the interpreters have when they invent new movements with all their freedom and excitement.

“At that moment I knew that I was witness to the beginnings of a new dance style, full of promise, that might one day gather dancers from around the world. I knew immediately that one day I would create a choreography from that unique moment I had experienced,” she says.

So she held auditions for the best Electro dancers with the right personalities and experience for a project which at the time was un-named. And Elektro Kif was born.

So how would she describe Electro?

“It’s a fascinating and furiously fast hybrid of many street dance styles – breaking, disco, vogue, popping and locking and, in Elektro Kif, we mix this raw and emergent style of movement with contemporary dance and theatre.”

So where did the name come from?

“It’s simple. In French we say ‘Je kif’ often, it’s everyday slang for ‘I love it’.

“In English I guess you’d say ‘That’s really cool’ or ‘That’s sick!’ “It means the same thing for us, so Elektro Kif literally means I Love Electro.”

* Elektro Kif comes to the Oxford Playhouse on Tuesday and Wednesday. Call the box office on 01865 305305.