Coupé Gwada Blondinette:The little French Girl who could Coupé Décalé

Have you seen the video of the Blond French Girl dancing to the French West African music, Coupé Décale?This young French girl dances the Coupé Décale with such ease and energy. As you begin to watch the video, you are skeptical that she can really pull off ANY dance. Then, her winding legs and gyrating hips draw you in and you watch the ENTIRE video.  Her dances truly make you wanna say “DAYUM!!!”

When this video was posted on Facebook, it immediately attracted tons of comments.

One friend wanted to learn the entire dance.

Another friend wrote on facebook, “all joking aside, who the hell taught this little girl to do that?!!!”

Will this French girl help American discover another form of moden black music, other than the R&B and hip hop that dominates? Will American youngsters dance to a new music? I would hope soo…

Below is some information about the music the young girl is dancing to…
 
What is Coupé Décale?

Having clubbed in the disctheques of Paris, I am quite familiar with this music and its gyrating dances.  Though undeniably Ivorian, this urban music was actually created in Paris. Since 2002 Coupé Décalé (literally, to cheat someone and run away) has become the preferred party music of African clubs. Though it isn’t sophisticated, it’s very moving on the dance floor because of its fast rhythms and chants.

What is Coupe Gwada and who is Jessy Matador?

The song the girl is dancing is called Coupe Gwada. Gwada is the colloquial term for Guadeloupe, a French Carribbean island. This song was extremely popular in Paris last summer. The singer, Jesse Matador, comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

What is this Coupé Décale dance?

As you can see from the video above, the litte French Girl copied her moves from the video of Jesse Matador. If you ask me, I think she did the dance better than any of the people in the video. The Coupé Décale dance is a full body dance, that for Americans, is similar to the Jamaican dances seen in videos. If you want to learn the dance, check out the video below.


 

Comments

[Viajera]

Yup, she is awesome! Her routine reminds me of what great dancers me and my friends were in high school. While I'm kinda "tut tut" when I see kids dancing like this in public (I think that most of the dances are too sexual for little kids), I giver her props for her "mad skills". :D
Wonder if Blondie is from an African country... She NAILED those moves! Of course, kids are like sponges.
Ya know, it is so weird the extremme similarities between dances that come out of the Caribbean & Latin American, the African continenet, and African American dancehalls. While knowing the historic/cultural similarties which may feed this, they don't quite explain it all. Coincidence? Blatant copy-cat business? :D I guess it doesn't matter, cuz it's all good. It's just damn eerie to look at all these videos and see elements of the Butterfly and the Della Move that I used to do as a kid in the Caribbean.
Great post!!

[Cynthia]

Wow! I'm envious, I want to move like that but I don't even know where to start. Looks like so much fun and wonderful exercise!

[ann]

I just saw the Jesse video. Why are all the women white looking and the men are dark? Dark tone women do not dance any more? There is no way I would support any african or AA men who do not support African or AA women. I do not care for hiphop, it has a way of putting A/AA women on the side while elevating other race women. I would never buy that music. It's low level trash to me. Yes, hiphop seems to be all over the globe.

[Brandy]

While I don't abhor hip hop, I am glad that I wasn't the only one who noticed that all the brothers were chocolate and the sisters were butterscotch. lol Curious to know how that affects young people of Congo and other African countries. I've seen it here in the U.S. When will we learn?

Thanks for the background info on the video. I was wondering the origin of the song and dance style.

[Robin]

That was just TOO COOL. I agree about one thing: I get really uncomfortable seeing "little" kids doing sexual moves; just doesn't feel right. But there's no denying this girl can move! Very impressive! My husband takes a Zumba class at his job and even HE knows how to do it! I WANT TO LEARN IT! Looks like so much fun!