The “Real Boys”, a male dance group based in Abidjan, was formed in 2014 but had to wait until this month for a breakthrough when they performed their show “Ghetto” at the Abidjan Market for Performing Arts (MASA), one of Africa’s oldest and biggest artistic showcase events.<\/p>\n
Now the group hopes to take its mix of hip-hop, comedy and social messaging worldwide. Since MASA it has already received two offers to perform internationally and hopes to sign a contract soon, said founder Alexandre Wilfried Awa.<\/p>\n
“We had never imagined the Real Boys at MASA. It must be said that it is the grace of god,” said Awa, who goes by the nickname “Speed \u200b\u200bIvoire”.<\/p>\n
MASA, founded in 1993, is a way for African artists to gain exposure and often leads to international contracts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On a dimly lit stage in Abidjan one member of the dance group lies motionless on the floor, legs splayed, while seven others dance around him in an intense hip-hop routine meant to warn about the dangers of drug use and gang violence in Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":3507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,31],"tags":[7,14,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-3510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-music","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"yoast_head":"\n