08/01/2008 > MOROCCO

The Tecktonik dance craze sweeps Morocco

For more than a year the French streets and metro stations have been invaded by ‘tecktonik’ dancers. Born out of a mix of electro and hip-hop moves in a suburban nightclub, the dance has now found its way onto the shores of Morocco. Young Moroccans haven’t only adopted the popping and locking dance-moves, they’ve also taken on the ‘Nu Rave’ style clothing and futuristic hair cuts to match. Not quite fitting with traditional Moroccan culture, the wave hasn’t gone down quite so well with older generations.

Post your questions to Larbi, our Observer for Morocco.

The contributors

Larbi

Omar

Members of ‘Team Teck Up’ show off their moves

Video from Mohamed Zainabi, posted 2 December 2007

"It’s not a gay dance"

Omar- a member of Team Teck Up and known as Da Crip- tells us his Tecktonik story.

I found about Tecktonik when I was looking for electronic music online about a year ago. It was just by accident that I came onto a French blog with loads of Tecktonik videos. Being a massive dance fan already, I took to the idea straight away, especially the off-beat style and the clothes. Through Tecktonik I've made new friends. We get together to talk about what's going on, swap dance moves, teach each other steps. We've created our own team and we were even in the weekly Moroccan newspaper Le Reporter. Reactions to our entourage are quite mixed. Lots of people say it's a gay dance, but that's not true at all. Just because it's fashionable to dress well and take care of your appearance doesn't mean you're gay. Our families don't particularly love our new dress-sense, but they don't mind it either, as long as it doesn't get too crazy and stays respectful to others. Nothing has stopped the phenomenon get so big. Loads of young people do it and everyone knows about Tecktonik."

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Karim, 15, filmed by a member of his ‘team’

Video posted 22 December 2007

Pupils at a Moroccan school taking their first Tecktonik steps

Video posted 22 December 2007

The scene in Algeria

Fans are also growing on the other side of the border in Algeria. ‘Joke Diamond’ is one of them.

Despite insults from conservatives who think tecktonik is ridiculous and gay, it’s getting bigger and bigger in Algeria. I think that the movement is even more important here than in Morocco. The first official tecktonik night to take place outside Europe was here, and well-known dancers from France came over for it.

I filmed this video near the Algerian National Business Institute."