Triple 8 Funk, a.k.a The Company of University Dancers – one of Auckland’s leading Hip Hop dance crews – brings their epic dance-theatre piece Bond 008 to this year’s Popular Culture section of Tempo.

Exploring the traditional themes found in Bond movies, of good, evil and ever-prevailing love through the medium of hip hop dance, Triple 8 live up to their reputable past and stun their fans with choreography so fresh it’s dripping.

I take my seat in a noisy theatre packed full of talkative young people and family members. Triple 8 seems to have created a strong community of followers outside of the dance world, a refreshing phenomenon to witness after seeing so many dance performances over the last couple of years that seem to only attract dancers themselves.

The lights go down and the support for this crew is proven as people around me uninhibitedly yell and scream in anticipation of the talent that is about to pop from the stage. This is obviously theatre for the people.

The journey of the piece is simple, consisting of a series of theatrical group choreographies woven together by the familiar Bond narrative. The choreography on the other hand is not simple at all but rather full of complexity and creativity; the execution just as impressive. We see powerful young women with performance energy to be desired by any professional dancer; we see confident young men demonstrate amazing agency over their fit and intelligent bodies, and a collective group energy that directly infects the audience with appreciation.

The costuming for the opening number and also the all male ninjutsu-esque piece is very refined, and needs to be congratulated.

I wonder to myself why hip hop choreographers (who often get labelled as ‘commercial’) generally aren’t taken very seriously in New Zealand by those that position themselves in the contemporary dance community, and why their work isn’t seen as an art…. Can someone get me a megaphone so I can shout to the funding bodies how unfair and hierarchical this is?!

Triple 8 Funk is a dance group that’s doing wonders for the sense of community in Auckland’s young people, and I think their dedication to this kind of work should be recognized more directly by those in a position to give them a hand.

While this group is absolutely FULL of talent, special mention has to be given to Emily Jackson and Chris Ofanoa for showing such performance maturity for such young dancers. A short piece near the beginning by Triple 8’s young up-and-comers, Lil Funk, is also a knock out, and I can’t believe that such conviction can come from such young bodies.

I would also like to personally recognise group founder Joel Gallarde for his dedication to Triple 8 Funk over the years, and I am sure that under his direction much more success will come for this group in the future. I bought a Triple 8 Funk t-shirt, and I’m going to wear it everywhere, seriously.

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