We had a delight speaking with two incredible artists Les Twins.

When and how did you start dancing and what role does it play in your life?

The love of dance runs in our family: our roots are strong — we’re the last of 11 siblings, and when you’re from Guadeloupe, you know how to dance! Our mother was a singer and a dancer; everyone in our family has their own dance style. But in Sarcelles, being twins and dancers hasn’t always been an advantage. There are lots of reasons why we’ve never stopped moving. Our life has given us a lot, physically, to express through dance but it goes beyond movement. We have a lot to say. It’s about who we are, where we come from, and what we have become through dance.

If you had to name one life-changing event, which would it be?

When we realized that dance could take us so far. From that moment we decided to incorporate it in everything we do — video, personal style, music, staging, producing. We never do anything by halves. We both want to be the best. And thanks to a little brotherly competition and rivalry, we evolve a little more every day. Movement lets us transform emotion — everything we’ve experienced, everything we are is right there in our moves. 

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How do you express yourselves through fashion?

We wear pieces that stand out, that not everyone else is wearing. We want to express our own aesthetic with the things we wear. That’s what we tried to do with our capsule collection for Hennessy as well. It’s a real source of pride for us to be the bridge between Hennessy and fashion. We have experience in the fashion industry, so doing a Les Twins capsule collection was a perfect fit, and Hennessy really let us put it together the way we wanted. 

How did the collaboration with Hennessy come to life? 

Hennessy came to us with the question if we wanted to collaborate with them. Of course, we were very honored and it immediately felt good. What’s amazing to us is Hennessy’s willingness to make this collaboration so personal, representing France through two people of color whose story is two centuries removed from Hennessy’s story – and yet so similar. We had a very urban image of Hennessy because it’s been a part of our orbit ever since we started dancing: our friends order it in nightclubs, it’s part of street culture, and hip-hop especially. So it was a natural collaboration even if we don’t drink often, personally. To be masters of our art, of movement, we need to have complete control of our bodies. 

There are two original limited edition bottles designed. Each bottle features a likeness of one of you. Are there any differences in your characters?

We’re identical but different in life, in our personalities, and dance. We’re like yin and yang. When we dance together, the power is incredible. Each of us is strong on our own, but together we are unique. We bring together two different dreams. We succeeded in leveling up to go wherever we want, to open doors that never would have been open to us before. Les Twins are unique, but there’s also a lot more to us — together and individually — than meets the eye. 

How do you like to drink your Hennessy?

We both made our own cocktail together with Hennessy and mixologist the mixologist Clément Faure who captured our personalities and translated that into cocktails. Larry’s cocktail is called ‘CA BLAZE COCKTAIL’. It’s a fizzy cocktail with floral, spicy accents, it showcases the full-bodied of Hennessy Very Special combined with vanilla and elderflower. The cocktail of Laurent is called the ‘LIL BEAST COCKTAIL’. It’s a bit more reserved than Larry’s cocktail. The rich taste of Hennessy Very Special is complemented by notes of almond and nutmeg recalling French pastries, counterbalanced by the acidic tang of lemon juice.

What does Freedom mean to you?

Freedom to us is the ability to create. What we create is emotion, art, a street spirit. It’s like osmosis, a mix: we “dance” our life. Our movement is what makes us unique. 

Jan Schmid