Born in Chicago and raised in Memphis, Lil Buck discovered street dance when he was 12 years old and studied ballet for two years while on scholarship at the New Ballet Ensemble in the US.
Lil Buck gained significant attention in 2011 for his unique performance set to Camille Saint-Saëns’ «The Swan,» which was filmed by director Spike Jonze. This performance showcased his ability to seamlessly combine the fluid, intricate movements of the Memphis street dance style known as «jookin’» with the elegance and grace of classical music, capturing the attention of both the dance world and the general public.
In 2016, in collaboration with NOWNESS, Lil Buck opened a magical dialogue between ballet, street dancing, and painting at the Foundation Louis Vuitton Museum in Paris by guiding the audience through the Shchukin Collection.
Did he create ballet? No. Did he create street dance? No. Did he innovate by performing dance in an art gallery? No. But by bringing together these universes that were living apart in a totally unexpected way, he truly created a unique artistic fusion, thus establishing himself as a pioneering figure in the contemporary dance scene. Did the world need what he pioneered? I believe it did, because we have a fundamental need to beautify and enlighten our existence: the need to be filled with wonder.
While we, at Amarenco, collectively focus all our efforts on deploying regenerative projects, we also aim to break down silos between worlds that have traditionally existed apart, doing so in a completely unexpected way. We do this because we believe we are addressing another fundamental need: the need for hope. Can we truly keep moving and reach anywhere without hope? Well, let’s collectively reflect on that…
Here are, according to me, our most important milestones in 2023 in our journey of hope, in our collective efforts to connect all these most improbable worlds:
• The clarification of our science-based approach to regeneration and its integration into all our governance bodies, such as our Investment Committee, Executive Committee, Ethical Committee, and boardrooms.
• The systematic implementation of our regenerative approach in the selection of new projects.
• The beginning of the deployment of our regenerative approach on a selected number of existing projects in our portfolio.
• The clarification of our regenerative business model, with first results targeted for 2024.
Wishing you pleasant reading.