Lilou

Other interests: Music, Kung Fu

Credo
“We are all different, unique, so don’t be a stereotype. If you dance with the capacity of your body and work hard, you can become perfect in your own way!”

Titles

• 2004 1st place,
  Freestyle Session Europe
• 2005 1st place,
  UK B-Boy Championship, Best Single Dancer
• 2005 1st place,
  Freestyle Session Korea
• 2005 1st place,
  Red Bull BC ONE, Berlin, Germany
• 2006 participation,
  Red Bull Beat Battle, London, UK
• 2006 participation,
  Red Bull BC ONE, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• 2007 participation,
  Red Bull BC ONE, South Africa
• 2007 1st place,
  KB B-Boy World Master, Korea
• 2008 1st place,
  Hip Hop Game, Italy
• 2008 Judge,
  Red Bull BC One, France
• 2009 1st place,
  Battle of the Year, 1-on-1, Germany
• 2009 1st place,
  Red Bull BC One, New York, USA

Profile
Ali Ramdani aka LILOU is one of the world’s most outstanding and unique B-Boys, the current champion of the Red Bull BC One and the only one who took the trophy home twice!. LILOU has an extensive history with RED BULL BC ONE. In his first year competing, which was 2005 in Berlin Germany, he took the championship! In 2006, he returned but was eliminated early on in the battle. In 2007, he was selected as one of four wild card B-Boys to compete in Johannesburg, South Africa. He liked the vibe there and says that Africa is his continent because he is Algerian. By the semi-finals, LILOU had won the crowd over so completely with his strong spirit and amazing moves that everyone was chanting “LILOU! LILOU!”…even after he was eliminated and others continued to battle! He recalls, “In South Africa, when the people showed me so much love and screamed my name—that will be one of the best memories for the rest of my life. That was better than money or a title!” 2008, in France, he was one of the judges for the RED BULL BC ONE and in 2009, he returned to battle and did what nobody had done before, he won for the 2nd time!

LILOU first witnessed Hip Hop at the age of 6 when he saw some MCs and B-Boys on TV. Since his youth, he had been a practitioner of Popping and Locking but by 1997, he got serious about B-Boying. Like many true school B-Boys, he embraced more than one of the foundational elements of Hip Hop culture adding, “My friends have a Rap crew and sometimes I rap with them.”

His dance name is his family’s nickname for him since he was a baby. He explains that “Ali” became “Alilou” and then it turned into just “LILOU”. Initially his family was not supportive of his career in Hip Hop but reports, “Now it’s my job, so they agree with it.” Living the dream, LILOU makes a living as a professional B-Boy. One of his future goals is to raise a family of his own.

In 1999, LILOU and several of the B-Boys he practiced with formed the Pockémon crew. Alone or with his crew, he has been taking titles internationally since 2003. Career highlights include winning Battle of the Year 2003 with his crew and winning RED BULL BC ONE 2005 by himself. He won the MVP title at the 2005 UK B-Boy Championships and the following year, Pockémon won the crew battle in the same competition. Other favorite battles include winning Freestyle Session Europe 2004 & 2005; Freestyle Session Korea in 2005; KB B-Boy World Masters 2007 in Korea and Hip Hop Game 2008 in Italy.

He appears in a lot of major B-Boy battle DVDs and his work in the Chemical Brothers “Midnight Madness” video is absolutely stunning. He even has his own character in a Sony Playstation videogame, “BBoy the game”!

Style wise, LILOU likes freezes and flavor but he strives to be a well-rounded B-Boy, mixing everything together and creating his own personal moves. His signature move is a variation of the air-chair. He is known for his classic footwork and power moves but is famous for “threading” where he creates the illusion of weaving his limbs through other limbs.

When it comes to battle strategies he explains, “In my mind, it’s like war – a battle of two different schools of dance like in the Kung Fu movies.” This makes perfect sense because LILOU actually has a black belt in Kung Fu! He earned it at the age of 16. The martial arts mentality helps with his B-Boying. He observes, “Just like in Kung Fu, you have to anticipate the move your opponent is going to come out with and you’d better have an answer to that. You need to learn new moves and combinations and develop your style all the time if you want to be a winner.”

His stage presence is enormous as evidenced in the 2007 RED BULL BC ONE where he won the crowd’s collective heart! LILOU enjoys being on stage as well as playing with the audience. He feels it is most important to show personality when battling explaining, “I like it when the dancer plays with his opponent and shows him who is best with a confident smile. Yes, it is a competition but you should like what you do and you should show that to the judges and the audience. A B-Boy has to be complete. He has to have knowledge and charisma. He has to work on everything and make it his own—the powermoves, footwork, freezes and dancing on beat! You can practice everything, except charisma, and without charisma, you can’t win.” What LILOU won’t do in a battle is talk a lot. He likes to let his dance do the talking.

Among the many items that LILOU wears when battling to express his individuality, he sometimes wears a I’m Muslim Don’t Panic t-shirt or keffiyeh to express solidarity with his brothers and sisters who are facing great adversity. He recognizes that there are many wars around the world for territory or for money but his battles are on the dance floor!

LILOU lists his greatest influences as Michael Jackson, Zidane, Mohammed Ali and Jamiroquai. He admires their careers, their charisma and recognizes them for being legends in their respective area of expertise.

“I have participated in many competitions all over the world, but the RED BULL BC ONE is definitely the biggest 1 on 1 competition. The atmosphere is indescribable. When you are backstage just before the competition you can feel your heart beat really hard and fast.” - LILOU