Mixed up moves take the stage

Elektro Kif borrows heavily from tecktonik, a dance style that originates in Paris. Provided to China Daily

France-based Spanish choreographer and dancer Blanca Li will bring her dance show Elektro Kif to Beijing for the 12th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival.

The performance borrows heavily from tecktonik - a dance style that burst from Paris' nightclubs to explode around the globe in the 1980s.

It blends break dance, disco and vogue - plus plenty of pop-and-lock maneuvers for good measure - with more conventional contemporary dance.

Tecktonik is said to be the first new dance to have come from France since the cancan.

Elektro Kif is about hopes and fears, friendships and rivalries.

It follows a male cast of eight through a typical college day.

Settings include a basketball court and cafeteria. A clever scene takes place in an exam room, where students pass answers to one another using ingenious tricks.

Li recruited the cast from Paris suburb where the dance genre originated.

The members display unique personalities while also showing disciplined coordination.

Spanish music producer Tao Gutierrez's score mixes techno, electro house, African beats and classical.

Born in Spain in 1964, Li started her career at 12, competing on Spain's rhythmic gymnastics team.

She later traveled to the US and France to develop her dance career. Li has worked with many dance genres, including hip-hop, classical ballet and contemporary dance.

In Macadam Macadam - a performance of reference in the hip-hop world - she put a biker and roller skaters onstage with hip-hop dancers. Most recently, she choreographed Stella McCartney's London Fashion Week show.

The choreographer says she was inspired to create Elektro Kif and other street dance shows after seeing students electro-dancing in the park.

Li directed, choreographed and performed in her first movie, The Challenge, in 2002, as a tribute to American musicals transposed on French hip-hop.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn