Dance is probably the most spectacular discipline in Hip Hop culture. And at the beginning of 2023, one of the discipline's biggest events was taking place: H Quality, which took place at the end of January, with several high-level battles in several categories. And since we couldn't miss it, Project X Paris was obviously there as an official partner!
Dance, the backbone of hip hop
Hip hop culture, which has become massively widespread across the globe, rests on five pillars, and has done so since its inception. Rap, of course, but also graffiti, DJing, beatboxing and breakdancing. Like the other pillars, breakdance, or break for short, was born in the early 70s at parties organized by the great DJ Kool Herc in New York, and was an instant revolution. Seeing all these young people spinning on their heads, performing hyper-perilous acrobatic figures at ever-faster speeds, gave an incredible energy to the hip hop movement. Even in France, hip hop culture was imported through dance long before people started rapping. Because dance is a truly international language, and the emotions it conveys travel better than any words. And the American dancers who came to show us all this in the 80s returned home shocked by the fervor with which the event had been received. Since then, the movement has gone from strength to strength.
Obviously, dance is a little less popular in the media than rap. It has to be said that break dancing is a very broad discipline, but it's also a highly technical one (and therefore inevitably less "mainstream"), and requires optimum physical condition, especially if you want to practice it at a high level. As with all hip hop disciplines, competition is at the heart of the concept, and dance battles have become a veritable cultural phenomenon, even inspiring a number of films, particularly in the 2000s, such as StreetDance, Sexy Dance, Honey and many others. Over the years, levels have risen, techniques have been perfected and several major schools have emerged, along with different categories of figures. Even in France, there are a few legends of the discipline, such as Karim Barouche (sadly deceased) and his Aktuel Force crew, who opened the way in France.
H Quality, the must-attend station wagon event
We've been talking about the importance of competition in hip hop dance, and it's just as well: at the start of 2023, a very important competition for the discipline took place, the H Quality, on January 21 and 22. This multi-part competition has been held every year for 9 editions now. The concept is simple: 3 categories, 1v1 dance battles, group choreography battles and a choreography competition. The mission will be to perform the best choreography in front of a jury made up of experts in the discipline, including, for the choreography contest, the M'Passi brothers, whose eldest son Richard is one of the pioneers of the discipline in France. A little extra pressure for the participants, but given the level of the performances, they managed it perfectly.
Several musical styles were featured, including the 1v1 Battles, where there were three categories: Hip Hop, Pop and House. The Hip Hop 1v1 final was won by Deyvron, who you may know if you follow the scene. The Poppin' final was won by Noah, and the House final by Candyman. We also salute Crazy D for their victory in the Bronze category of the Choreographic Competition, as well as Coal Squad, Upside Down and Rise, who all put in strong performances in their categories. The hip hop warriors took to the stage and put on quite a show for the packed audience. The kind of event that gives a real boost to the movement.
Project X official partner of H Quality 9
So it was obviously a pleasure for PXP to become an official partner for the entire contest. A partnership that materialized in a number of ways, including a handsome 600-euro gift voucher from Project X Paris awarded to the winners. Perfect for the next contest! We also deployed a number of attractive communication tools to let people know we're backing the event to the hilt, with our logo appearing at the end of every video teaser posted by the organization. We were also present on the flyers distributed throughout the Ile-de-France region for the occasion, as well as on the numerous posters promoting the competition. We publicized the event on our social networks, and H Quality played the game well, with the brand's advertising banner displayed in the hall, as well as a luminous logo projected onto the walls of the hall during the contest.
So we're delighted with the way this collab turned out, but also, more generally, to be a partner in a hip hop event of this scale. Because, as you know, hip hop culture is the central source of inspiration for streetwear today, so we're perfectly at home in a world that suits us. You could see this for yourself, particularly at the Ocelot store show, where Project X Paris was very much in evidence, and where the choreography of the models/dancers made quite an impression. Dance, and break dancing in particular, is truly spectacular and conveys emotions better than any words can, so we hope to continue our partnerships with this kind of event. While we're waiting for the next collab, we'd like to thank the H Quality organization, which was top-notch, as well as the many people who came out to see the performances and give the dancers their strength. Not forgetting, of course, the performers, dancers halfway between top-level sportsmen and artists, who gave us a real eyeful!