Session 2 Style

Session 2 Style: Hip-Hop Dance at the Heart of Athis-Mons

For over two decades, the Session 2 Style festival has set Athis-Mons, a town in Essonne on the outskirts of Paris, vibrating to the rhythm of hip-hop culture. Born from the initiative of a local dancer and choreographer, driven by the desire to share a passion and allow amateur and professional artists to perform before an attentive audience, the festival has established itself in less than twenty years as a regional reference for the hip-hop scene.

Supported by the structure Les Bords de Scènes, which offers multidisciplinary live performances in Essonne, the festival works in close collaboration with two partner associations: 1*20*Cibles, which oversees the artistic direction of one of the stages, and Ki Val Ah. This tripartite organization allows for a rich program, balanced between high-level artistic performances and discovery spaces for novices.

A Multidisciplinary Festival Centered on Dance

While dance is at the heart of Session 2 Style, the festival embraces the entire hip-hop ecosystem in a multidisciplinary approach. Rap concerts are an important musical dimension, offering a sonic counterpoint to the choreographic performances. But it is dance—breakdance, popping, locking, and new urban forms—that gives the festival its unique identity.

The dance battles are the most anticipated highlights of the festival. Several formats coexist: 1-on-1 battles for soloists, crew battles for teams, and multi-style battles that showcase the dancers' versatility. Judges recognized in the national hip-hop scene ensure fair judging of these confrontations, guaranteeing the artistic legitimacy and rigor essential for attracting the best dancers.

Artistic Direction by Too High Spirit

One of the specificities of Session 2 Style is the artistic direction provided by Too High Spirit for the dance stage. This collective, recognized on the national scene, brings a demanding aesthetic vision and choreographic expertise that elevate the programming. The performances and shows it stages demonstrate the artistic maturity of a cultural form too often reduced to its "battle" aspect.

Transmission Workshops

True to the founding values of hip-hop culture, Session 2 Style places a central emphasis on transmission. The dance workshops offered during the festival allow participants of all levels to learn the basics of breakdance, popping, and locking, guided by benevolent and pedagogical professional dancers.

Documentary screenings, followed by conferences and discussions with figures from hip-hop culture, complete the festival's educational program. These moments of collective reflection on the history, challenges, and future of urban cultures are rare in the Parisian region's festival landscape; Session 2 Style has made them a hallmark appreciated by connoisseurs.

Eighteen Editions of Passion and Excellence

In eighteen editions, Session 2 Style has accompanied the evolution of hip-hop cultures, from their New York roots to the most contemporary forms of French dance and rap. The festival has hosted artists who have since achieved national and international recognition, demonstrating its ability to identify and promote tomorrow's talents.

The collaboration with the Mairie d'Athis-Mons (Athis-Mons Town Hall) ensures the festival's logistical and institutional stability, allowing it to focus on its artistic mission. This strong territorial anchoring is one of the keys to its longevity: Session 2 Style is not an event from elsewhere; it is a festival born from the territory, for the territory.