Breakdancing to Bach

Like what I’ve said before, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has been my weakness and I’ve never really warmed up to his music compared to say, works from the early 20^th century to give an example. But recently, I’ve been challenging myself to dig into things that I've avoided before including Bach's works. So far, I’ve surprised myself for the unusual ways that I’ve employed to further appreciate Bach and his music. The last time, it was through Glenn Gould and a graphic novel about him. This time, it’s through a breakdancing group dancing to the music of Bach.

I stumbled upon the documentary Footwork & Fugues/Footwork und Fugen (2011), directed by Jochen Schmoll and Sebastian Tischler, through theEuroArts channel in YouTube. The documentary focuses on the breakdancing group the Flying Steps and opera director Christoph Hagel working on a very unusual collaboration: the Flying Bach project. In this project, the Flying Steps dancers Benny Kimoto, Brahim Zaibat, Gengis Ademoski aka Lil Ceng, Khaled Chaabi aka KC-1, Michael Rosemann aka Mikel, Niranh Chanthabouasy aka Lil Rock, and Vartan Bassil along with Yui Kawaguchi create a new dance routine set to the music of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier Part I. Hagel believes that Bach’s music can be brought to the streets while Flying Steps choreographer Bassil believes that breakdancing deserve to be regarded as a legit art form and can be brought to a bigger stage.

A huge gamble trying to combine these two very unlikely styles together pay off big as the project takes off immediately after its premiere. The Flying Bach literally sends the dancers flying all over the world bringing breakdancing and Bach’s music to a new light. It is amazing to see the dancers’ performance received warmly at the Bach festival in Leipzig which is the composer’s hometown.

The only thing that was missing after watching the documentary was seeing the Flying Bach in its entirety. The show is still being toured so there is still hope that it might reach the Philippines soon. The nearest they’ve gotten so far was in Singapore back in early 2014.

All of this breakdancing talk is taking my focus away from Bach and might draw me away from the keyboard and lure me instead into the dance floor!