On this site I've analyzed dissertations exploring the practices of Moroccan hip-hop musickers and contemporary dancers, videos tracing the evolution of the breaking scene, photos exploring the unseen moments of community through movement, and articles which fill out the details with nuanced analysis of how post-colonial and neoliberal discourses manifest in concept and practice. I argue that the practices of Moroccan street dancers allows individuals' agency to shape the cultural norm of what a "good Moroccan/Muslim youth subject" is, giving them space to display the body in public because breaking movement (due to it not being a Moroccan form/being a product of the West) evades negative historical or cultural connotation. However, it greatly serves the Moroccan states neoliberal agenda which seeks to globalize the society, legalize the spatialization of social classes, reduce the public labor force, privatize industries, have services provided by internationally-funded NGOs, and create new tourist markets. It does this through elements of the hip hop scene like huge state funded festivals, international competitions, lyrics which put the onus of responisbility for change on the individual instead of institutions, and more. Breaking in Morocco might remain complicatedly a product of Westernization and the colonial relationship with France, while giving individual Moroccans feelings of embodied agency, community and creativity. This case study gives interesting insight into our ever globalizing world and what happens when afro-diasporic, marginalized and/or subcultural art forms born out of resistance to institutional power meet neoliberalism and global capitalism. Further research could be done on specifically the Moroccan breaking scene (as I could not fine significant research on it as its own space, had to work through hip hop musickers which includes dancers but focuses on musicians, and contemporary dancers), as well as comparing how hip hop functions in Morocco to other countries in the MENAT region. I'm quite curious if Morocco's breaking scene's relationship to the state is unique or similar to other countries in the region.
Thanks so much for reading!
Citations:Alaoui Ismaili, Yassine. “From the Street to the Olympics.” Y O R I Y A S, https://yoriyas.com/gallery/streettoolympics/. Accessed November 27th 2019.
Borni, Karima W. Embodied Authenticity in Moroccan Contemporary Dance, Northwestern University, Ann Arbor, 2016. ProQuest, http://ccl.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ccl.idm.oclc.org/docview/1826355543?accountid=10141.
“Danse Urbaine Au Maroc (Archives) : HM Style VS The BBoys (Casablanca, 1999).” YouTube, Genius, 13 Nov. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsJXwwnp0jk.
Noeth, Sandra. “Working (with) Dance: Notes on Contemporary Dance and Choreography in Morocco and Tunisia.” Performance Research, vol. 17, no. 6, 2012. https://ccl.on.worldcat.org/oclc/4958568167
Red Bull BC One (2017). Thesis vs Lil Zoo | Quarterfinal | Red Bull BC One World Final 2017. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYrzsTehlcE [Accessed 7 Dec. 2019].
Salois, Kendra. "Make Some Noise, Drari: Embodied Listening and Counterpublic Formations in Moroccan Hip Hop." Anthropological Quarterly, vol. 87 no. 4, 2014, p. 1017-1048. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/anq.2014.0054.
Salois, Kendra. (2013). The Networked Self: Hip Hop Musicking and Muslim Identities in Neoliberal Morocco. UC Berkeley. ProQuest ID: Salois_berkeley_0028E_13618. Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m5xs8zxd. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3jm9z2n7
“The Lions Crew - Dance Saves Us.” YouTube, Mohammed Bouriri, 28 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUAQxcOqcNc.
Vox (2017). How the Bronx brought breaking to the world. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TMBWCcYs3o [Accessed 9 Dec. 2019].
All rights reserved for all photos to Yoriyas. Check out his website: https://yoriyas.com/