Vinh Nguyen's Hip-Hop Hallucination

March 7, 2015

Trippy…

Last summer, we introduced you to hip-hop choreographer Vinh Nguyen, who blew us away with how he captured the paradoxically smooth, staccato quality of Lorde’s “Tennis Courts.” On Thursday, he demonstrated his artistry yet again, this time with a brilliantly thought-out concept video to French electronic band M83’s “Midnight City.”

The video follows a frustrated visual artist as he burns the midnight oil trashing sketch after sketch. He finally finds inspiration when his drawing of a fedora-clad man comes to life. (You know how excited we get when dance and animation come together…) The artist follows the man to a city rooftop, where they’re joined by four other men in fedoras—and then, naturally, the dancing begins.

Nguyen’s movement is perfect for M83’s swirly, trance-like vibe. It’s extremely detailed and fast—his dancers seem to have quadruple jointed appendages—but it’s performed with such a smooth ease that it’s almost hypnotic.

Does the hip-hop hallucination help the artist find his voice? You’ll have to watch to find out.