When urban extreme sport meets hip-hop in the theater

A spectacular fusion of hip-hop dance and urban extreme sports such as breakdance, inline skating, skateboarding, freestyle basketball, BMX and parkour are being showcased in the crossover production "Elements of Freestyle," which is being staged at Shanghai International Dance Center Theater.

Presented by the Netherlands' ISH Dance Collective, the show fully demonstrates the free spirit of underground culture in Amsterdam.

It features a handful of the world's top extreme sport athletes including veteran world champion skater Sven Boekhorst, parkour world champion Bart van der Linden, freestyle basketball player Michael van Beek, and the Netherlands' champion breakdancers Shane Donovan Boers and Arnold Put.

Violinist Vera van der Bie and cellist Annie Tangberg provide live music for the performance, who also showcase their improvisational skills when interacting with the athletes on the stage.

"For me it's always a dream to bring these really cool disciplines together," director and choreographer Marco Gerris told Shanghai Daily.

"We not only focus on the spectacular movements of the athletes, but also find a balance between the movements and the poetry of the performance which involves hip-hop and live music."

Born in Philippines and growing up up in Belgium, Gerris used to be an inline skater and dancer, who moved to the Netherlands later and founded the ISH Dance Collective.

"Belgium was very conservative for this kind of experimental performance, but Amsterdam is different," said Gerris.

"I started to learn about the city's underground culture and fell in love with its free and inclusive spirit."

"Elements of Freestyle" was created in 2016 when Gerris, already bearing some idea of how the production would be like, reached out to his extreme sports friends and together completed the creation of the show.

"You explain your idea and just give them the right freedom," said Gerris. "They will find the right obstacles they need on stage that can suit these varied disciplines."

Unlike extreme sport competitions, difficulty of movement is hardly the only goal for the performers, who need to avoid injuries during practice and rehearsals.

But the extreme sport and underground culture, including battling and jamming sessions, have been kept.

"To me it's very important to show them on stage, because that's our lifestyle, with freedom and individual expression being the core," said Gerris.

The tolerant spirit is also showcased in the music.

"We start with classic (music), but by half way the music changes and there comes electric guitar," said Gerris. "Later the music gets quite extreme, just like the extreme sports on stage."

"Elements of Freestyle" has visited many countries and regions including China's Hong Kong, attracting a lot of youngsters.

"I always hear complaints about young people don't go to theaters nowadays, that's because we don't have new attractive shows for them," said Gerris. "You have to make connections with them."

"Elements of Freestyle" has one more performance in Shanghai scheduled on Saturday evening.

Performance info

Dates: July 6, 7:30pm

Tickets: 80-680 yuan

Venue: Shanghai International Dance Center 上海國際舞蹈中心

Address: 1650 Hongqiao Road 虹橋路1650號