Tecktonik, the underground dance movement borne seven years ago in a cheesy suburban nightclub on the outskirts of Paris, is now an official sensation. Conceived as a club night at the Metropolis, Tecktonik has since expanded into a dance and Internet phenomenon. The 21st-century trend has now infiltrated Parisian nightspots and begun garnering international attention largely thanks to file-sharing websites.

A visit to YouTube or Dailymotion can confirm it. A search for "Tecktonik" (or perhaps one of its pseudonyms, “Tck” or “Milk Way”) results in dozens of videos showcasing teens and twenty-somethings’ hip hop-meets-rave moves, many of which have been viewed hundreds of thousands (and, in some cases, millions) of times. Pages of comments follow these amateur home videos proclaiming accolades like “J’adore Tecktonik!” And the trend isn’t just visible online. With the help of coverage on websites like one of France’s preeminent cultural blogs, Fluokids, it’s spread from the suburbs to the streets.

A mix of hip-hop and techno dance, Tecktonik was the talk of this year’s Paris Techno Parade – an annual dance music festival that took place in Paris in September. Since then, it’s become an increasingly visible French fixture – in the club scene and beyond. Teams of Tecktonik dancers will hold face-offs around the city, including in the centre near the The National Museum of Modern Art at the Centre Pompidou. Typically outfitted in skinny jeans and slim-fitting jackets, topped with futuristic haircuts and occasional eye-makeup, Tecktonik subscribers are easy to spot. The trend borrows heavily from Cyberpunk, yet is often cited for parallels to London’s Nu Rave movement.

Teki Latex a well-known Paris-based electronica/dance/hip hop artist and member of TTC, offers his thoughts on the trend:

Tecktonik originated at a party by the same name, which started in a club called Metropolis, right outside of Paris. It has a really bad image; everyone dismisses it as being a corny club for cheesy suburban kids. I went there once it was insane, dancers everywhere going crazy, mad kids with weird goth, glowstick looks. It’s basically one of the biggest clubs in Europe, and the biggest club in France.

The kids in Paris are going crazy about Tecktonik. It’s the first time there’s a young, cultural movement for kids that [has gotten] this big in France. They’re dancing with their iPods in their ears in the middle of the street. It’s insane.

You see kids with corny mohawks and mullets rehearsing their moves while walking down the street, everywhere, all the time. It’s mad popular and when it started getting big all the hipsters were dissing it. Then I made a post with Hianta on Fluokids explaining how cool it was… and a few months later, Yelle has Tecktonik dancers in her video.

It doesn't have much to do with the whole Nu Rave movement though. These kids have never heard of the Klaxons or Nu Rave or anything related to that. They listen to "hard style" and "jump style" (modern, slower forms of gabber), and radio-friendly electro house. From the Swedish mafia stuff (Ingrosso, Steve Angelo, Axwell), to stuff like the Egg, Mondo, Antoine Clamaran -- stuff that's considered a lot less "hip" than Nu Rave, but is actually really good popular dance music. Their T-shirts are typically [a] Tecktonik-branded black tee, with the Tecktonik logo on it in various colors. Tecktonik is actually a brand. They started with the parties at Metropolis, but now they sell shirts, they have an official dance team, they do fitness classes, they even have their own energy drink and hairdressing salon. It's a really fascinating thing.

With everyone from middleclass suburbanite French teenagers, to the artists they’ve long emulated, this cultural trend is ripe for potential growth. Few people in the U.S. have heard of what so many Europeans consider the next big thing. Our advice: get your glow sticks ready, Tecktonics is coming to a club near you.



~Alisa Gould-Simon

Special thanks to Red Foxx

First photo by Francois Lafite via Flickr
Third photo by Francois Lafite via Flickr
Fourth photo by Tolitoli via Flickr
Fifth photo by Megapress via Flickr