Vibe Vibe
  • News
    • Entertainment
    • National
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Movies & TV
  • Music
    • Videos
    • New Releases
    • Live Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Music Premieres
  • Features
    • Digital Covers
    • Opinion
    • Lists
  • Style
    • Fashion
    • Lifestyle
  • Vixen
  • Viva

Follow Vibe

The Vibe Mix Newsletter

All things VIBE. Daily - Straight to your inbox.
Whoops!
By subscribing, I agree to the
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
All things VIBE. You have signed up and will start receiving the Vibe Mix Newsletter immediately.
Entertainment National Sports Events Movies & TV

Interview: 'Flying Bach' Brings Classical Music & Breakdancing Together For A Unique Experience

June 13, 2016 - 4:46 pm by Mikey Fresh TWITTER

Meet the member of Germany's Flying Steps B-boy crew. 

As hip-hop continues to hit new milestones and break barriers across the world, Berlin's b-boy crew, Flying Steps, are out to lead a new wave of dancers.

Late last month, team members Benny, Ana, Vartan and Gengis hit the iconic Masonic venue in San Francisco for their grand debut of Flying Bach 2016 on the West Coast. Partnering with Red Bull, the German squad mixes the music of Bach with breakdancing for one captivating showcase of raw talent and skill.

The sounds of Johann Sebastian Bach’s "The Well-Tempered Clavier" was reworked in a way that brings hip-hop together with classical music. VIBE was in attendance on opening night to witness the thrilling adaptation of one of the composer's most cherished works. The walls between high society and hip-hop culture were broken down as the story about six dancers and one teacher, rehearsing for their big day, came to life before our very eyes.

Throughout all the onstage arguments, laughs, fights and surprises, the movements from the Flying Steps creates a unique story line that doesn't need words to grab you. The combination of visual excitement and audible bliss is like no other musical on the planet. Right before the big show, VIBE spoke to the F.S. members about their moving production.

Click through to the gallery ahead to hear from Benny, Ana, Vartan and Gengis.

1
5

2
5

On how the Flying Steps came together:

Vartan: For me and Benny, it all started with competitions [between] our crews and traveling a lot. It was the end of the 90s, so we stopped battling his crew and after that, we became friends. That's how we came together, but I think it's little bit of a different story between us all.

I think every time we were searching for people, it was not just because they were good dancers, but also what their mentality was and how their personality [matched]. It's really important that you have somebody on your side that has a similar way of thinking since we are together so much. I think it is important that we feel like a family.

In our country, there was no such respect for breakdancers. They have no respect for us, so we have to do something with the different culture. We want them to understand what we are doing.

In b-boying, you start to create your own style, but we can also choreograph something and we can dance to all  kinds of music. Also, breakdancing grew up and it’s a professional thing now. Often people ask me, ‘Vartan, how long will you dance?’ and ‘Why won’t you do a normal job?’. But this is a serious job what we are doing!

We started with passion but now we’ve become professionals. And this is our job, to dance and for people to take it what we’re doing serious.

But we’re also so happy to be here in America. When we first came in touch with breakdancing, it was like all the movies we saw from America like Beat Street, Breakin’ and Wild Style, and all the different crews. We look up to them. They were our role models and we want the same. We're happy that we can bring something back, something to show them what we’re doing with this breakdancing thing.

We started with this project in 2010 in Germany and we never thought that we would make a world tour. It was just for our country and for our city, and now we are touring worldwide with this one project. It’s so crazy and it was in more than 30 countries, and we had more than 400,000 live viewers. We still can’t believe it.

3
5

On what it means to bring Flying Bach to SF: Gengis: We practiced there at The Masonic for rehearsal and we saw that it’s a really good stage. We travel around the world and many times when we come to a new venue, you get a certain feeling as a dancer onstage. It’s a location that we really love. [The Masonic] is a big location, and of course, we’re really happy to be in America to bring the show here. Red Bull makes sure everything is right, so we’re really happy for everything that everybody has worked so crazy for. Flying Bach brings different generations of people together.
4
5

On bringing a female presence to the all male team:

Ana: I’m actually not a B-boy myself, but I’m a contemporary dancer in this project, and I think this is a nice thing to give the project because for me, I’ve always been interested in acrobatic movements since I did gymnastics. I’m starting to learn a bit of it as well.

I grew up with two older brothers, so I’m quite used to these kind of things. But I think it’s both ways around. If I’m getting tired of them, they’re also getting tired of me in the same way [laughs].

5
5

On the importance of crossing cultures: Benny: In the beginning when we started, it was to earn respect for this project from high culture, from the older people, to show them how artful breakdancing is. [Crossing] cultures is really important especially the classical culture, so we came up with this idea to also show the young people ‘Hey, classical music can be nice.” I think people will go in and they will see great dancers and they will listen to great music. And this type of crossover makes it so much more interesting, I think. [It] also changes your style, you know, because also for us we think that a real good dancer has to dance to any kind of music. So, it’s always good to be open. In general, Flying Steps, we always think that we are free. Of course we know the rules of hip-hop. We have been in the game for more than 20 years. We already battled at the Rock Steady anniversary in the ‘90s, and everywhere in the world. But it's just to be creative, to bring something new, you know, I will say that the history with Red Bull and what we have is the best, it’s also now 16 years old. All the other people in government in Germany and Berlin were like “Classical and Breakdancing do not fit together,"but Red Bull team was the only ones that believed in us. 
In This Story:
  • b-boys,
  • breakdancing,
  • hip-hop,
  • Music
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • EMAIL ME
19
View the next gallery
Father's Day Gift Guide: 16 Things To Buy Dad This Year

The Vibe Mix Newsletter

All things VIBE. Daily - Straight to your inbox.
Whoops!
By subscribing, I agree to the
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
All things VIBE. You have signed up and will start receiving the Vibe Mix Newsletter immediately.

Top Stories

News

6h ago

R. Kelly Charged With 10 Counts Of Aggravated Criminal Sex Abuse, Court Date Set

Features

10h ago

Lupe Fiasco Talks New World Water And Why Conscious Music Works

Lists

2d ago

The Mysterious Death Of Tamla Horsford And 6 Things You Should Know

  • News
  • Music
  • Features
  • Style
  • Vixen
  • Viva
  • Contact Us

Vibe.com is an affiliate site of Billboard, a subsidiary of Prometheus Global Media, LLC.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Ad Choices
  • Copyright
  • Billboard
  • The Hollywood Reporter
  • SPIN
  • VIBE
  • Stereogum