Hip-hop theater is a form of theater that presents contemporary stories through the use of one or more of the four elements of hip-hop culture—b-boying, graffiti writing, MCing (rapping), and DJing. Other cultural markers of hip-hop such as spoken word, beatboxing, and hip-hop dance can be included as well although they are not always present. What is most important is the language of the theatrical piece and the plot's relevance to the world. Danny Hoch, the founder of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, further defines it as such: "Hip-hop theatre must fit into the realm of theatrical performance, and it must be by, about and for the hip-hop generation, participants in hip-hop culture, or both."

Bintou Dembélé is a dancer and a choreographer who is recognized as one of the pioneer figures of Hip hop dance in France. After having danced for more than thirty years in the Hip Hop world, Bintou Dembélé has been the artistic director of her own dance company Rualité since 2002. Her work explores the issue of the memory of the body through the prisms of colonial and post-colonial French history.