“Look out for the flying octopus!” — In conversation with Tentacle Tribe
Tentacle Tribe, PRISM © DoPhanHoi
Led by Co-Artistic Directors Elon "The Wandering Spirit" Höglund and Emmanuelle "Cleopatra" Lê Phan, Tentacle Tribe is an experimental street dance company from Canada. Combining hip-hop with contemporary dance, they are bringing their show Tentacle Tribe to Sadler’s Wells East later this month. I was excited to find out more about this colourful, illusion-filled work and what makes their choreography like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Tentacle Tribe, PRISM © DoPhanHoi
If someone was new to your work and style, how would you describe it? What makes it unique?
I think what makes our style unique is the time spent researching, we have at least 25 years of experience in fusion-type work. Tentacle Tribe blends together our shared knowledge in various movement philosophies ranging from popping and breaking to martial art. The style is organic and animalistic but still sharp and precise with many moments of illusion. Also, the way we move together as a group is quite singular. We’ve dissected partner work and our relation to other bodies in space in order to create morphing symbiotic structures, seamlessly weaving together.
You combine contemporary dance with street dance. How does this contemporary influence change the look and feel of the choreography compared to ‘traditional’ hip-hop?
With our fusion work, rather than copying and pasting styles together, we choose to dissect these traditional forms (breaking & popping) and then strive to blend the concepts fluidly. Moreover, the partner work and general storytelling leans our work towards the contemporary side
Tentacle Tribe, PRISM © DoPhanHoi
What should people expect from PRISM?
With PRISM, people can expect a dynamic performance full of illusions that will surely put you in a trance. The audience often speaks of visual feasts with colourful mandalas, a rhythmic voyage with six mirrors and five dancers.
The work responds to an ongoing philosophical conversation about the unseen, perception and contrasting opposites. What drew you to this concept for this show?
Art is a dialogue with the subconscious. Each of our shows, in one way or another, delves into the non-physical. The mirrors introduce both illusion and self-reflection, inviting us to question what we perceive. In three-dimensional reality, every element exists through its opposite: day gives meaning to night, light reveals darkness. Everything unfolds along a spectrum, each side defining the other.
Tentacle Tribe, PRISM © DoPhanHoi
What is one moment in the show that the audience should look out for?
Look out for the flying octopus!
Mirrors feature heavily in PRISM. Did this change or affect the rehearsal and creation process?
Yes, this was a big challenge since the mirrors are too big to bring into most of our usual rehearsal spaces. We had to do a lot of visualisation and really utilise the time we had with the mirrors. Also, the amount of time we spent on taming the walls, making them dance with us, as smoothly as us, was much more time consuming than we thought!
This process was also one of our longest, since it was our first time working with a set design. The design in London is actually our third version of the walls. It has been a long and telling journey for us to get to this beautiful piece and we are extremely proud of where it is right now!
Which choreographer are you most excited by right now?
Emmanuelle: I’ve always been a long-time fan of Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier’s work with Peeping Tom, using surrealism and impactful imagery.
PRISM by Tentacle Tribe is being performed at Sadler’s Wells East, London 8—11 October 2025.
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