Paris museum finds Olympic groove mixing hip hop, photo and art

As part of the "Cultural Olympiad", which explores the connections between art and athletics, the Carnavalet Museum in Paris is getting artist Safouane Ben Slama together with high school students for a workshop dedicated to photo and hip-hop dance.

For the first time in Olympics history breakdance, one of the main five elements of hip-hop, will take centre stage at the Games this summer in Paris. 

To mark the occasion, Paris' Carnavalet Museum is hosting workshops for school groups focused on mixing hip-hop and art.

Among them is the hip-hop section of Turgot High School, "one of the first of its kind in France", Maxime Boulegroun-Ruyssen, project supervisor at Carnavalet Museum, told RFI.

The Parisian high school students and their coach David Bérillon visited the museum with artist Safouane Ben Slama to take photos.

"It's a question of finding details, gestures and micro-gestures in the works in the museum, and putting them together to create a kind of choreography," explained Ben Slama.

Following this workshop, an exhibition will take place in June at Carnavalet that includes the photos and texts produced by the students.