Acrobatic, goofy and super-fast: the biama battles redefining Ivorian dance culture
Fuelled by TikTok and street dance battles, the coupé-décalé offshoot is latest expression of Côte d'Ivoire's pop culture The 400-strong crowd, perched on plastic chairs and wooden benches in Abidjan's Yopougon-Selmer neighbourhood, roared with approval as Sauce Graine twisted and turned on the spot with speed and dexterity. The dancer, named after the Ivorian palm nut delicacy, was competing in a series of street dance battles set to biama, a frenetic offshoot of coupé-décalé, a type of percussive dance music popular across west Africa that originated in Côte d'Ivoire around the turn of the century.
