More doors open internationally for Joker Crew |18 February 2012

“We have established many contacts and are on several mailing lists since visiting Zimbabwe early last year and are fortunate enough to have actually been contacted after the battles,” said Ms Nancey.

She adds that since they began joining networking projects, an association from Reunion island called Soul City contacted the crew.

Nancey explained that Soul City has been organising what they call the Battle De L’Ouest since 2005.
“This is essentially a break dance team which brings together all countries from the Indian Ocean zone and East Africa,” said Nancey.

Julie says the reason Joker Crew was invited to the Battle De L’Ouest is to give the crew an idea of what the competition entails.

“I went their with Darrel Roucou – the leader of Joker Crew – for one week from October 29 – November 8,” said Julie, adding they had to pay for their airfares but while in Reunion everything was taken care of by the association including accommodation and transport.

“Darrel and I ended up taking part in two individual battles against dancers from Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, South Africa and Reunion. Darrel was involved in the 7-to-smoke where seven of the best dancers of the competition got together for a final endurance battle. I, on the other hand, did the RHIP (Respect, Humility and Important Performance). This actually encourages the dancers to be their own judges and critiques. It was great,” she said.

“It was the perfect opportunity to discuss future projects with different crews, network and expand our knowledge on battle, hip hop and break dancing,” she added.

The good news is Seychelles will see a very first hip hop festival called Break the Beat on August 14 with hip-hoppers from all over the world coming to experience it.

“The Break the Beat will be a 4 vs 4 battle, that is dancers in groups of four will battle against each other,” said Nancey.
The best thing about all this is our festival will be the host of the final hip hop selections where the last ones standing from the 4 vs 4 battle will find themselves competing in Battle de L’Ouest in Reunion this November.

R.C-T