Acrobatic, goofy and super-fast: the biama battles redefining Ivorian dance culture

Source: www.theguardian.com · Section: headlines · Bias: Center-Left · Published: Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:00:14 GMT

Fuelled by TikTok and street dance battles, the coupé-décalé offshoot is latest expression of Côte d’Ivoire’s pop cultureThe 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 breathtaking 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. Continue reading...

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