Something special is typically happening at The Ringling and their Art of Performance series is no exception. This year, the Art of Performance 2023-24 season is dedicated to celebrating from Francophone countries. Next week, the Ringling looks to continue that celebration with Rave Lucid a dance performance by the company MazelFreten.

MazelFreten, founded in 2016 and based out of Paris, is the product of a partnership between two award-winning dancers, Brandon Masele and Laura Defretin. “Brandon and I first met on a french musical that we toured on for almost two years,” says Defretin. “At the end we were kind of fed up with doing the same stuff and following a choreography and routine that wasn’t our own material. That’s why we started to create something together. He’s an electro dancer and I’m a hip hop dancer, so since the beginning we really have mixed the two styles.”

In 2021, however, Brandon set out to create a tribute to electro dance–the first French urban dance that was created in the Paris-area nightclubs of the early 2000s. The dance style, which is a blend of different styles from across the world and moves along at the frenetic pace of 120 bpm became so highly commercialized to the point where it fell out of favor in the professional dance scene. Eventually, the electro dance scene moved underground, where dance battles and dancers like Brandon flourished within the street dance’s energetic and unique style. Rave Lucid is a tribute to the revival of a style that had fallen by the wayside and is rising in popularity once again. “With electro dance, you could have people of every culture partaking in it. In terms of technique, it’s something that is way more energetic and super intense because the bpm is so high. It’s super fast and mainly used with the arms–there are a lot of different types of movement with the arms to try and spread out the energy,” says Defretin. “What is similar between electro dance and hip hop dance is the importance of community. You don’t grow alone as a dancer, you grow with your crew.”

February 22-24, Dance Masterclass with Brandon Masele February 22, Historic Asolo Theatre, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota, 941-370-7399. 

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