Controversies arose as a British hip-hop dance group was announced to show their break-dancing skills in Beijing during the August 24 closing ceremonies, as a handover to London which will host the 2012 Summer Games.

Performers from urban dance squad ZooNation, pictured in the West End musical Into The Woods in this file photo. ZonNation will feature in the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony. [Agencies]

London-based ZooNation will join the Royal Ballet and disabled dance group Candoco in an eight-minute performance, representing British "national identity" at the Beijing Olympics closing ceremonies, according to Mail Online, the Daily Mail website.

The decision, described by London Olympic organizers as "the best of British, with a range of talent," triggered off controversy from both the United Kingdom and China as well.

Patrick Marnion, a Daily Mail critic, said the ZooNation show was one of the "liveliest, most exciting, youthful addition of the West End in many a year," on the news website.

But to some, the urban dance squad has nothing to do with the UK. In their minds, hip-hop is essentially from the United States.

"The visual language belongs to America and it is something Britain has no particular purchase on," Mail Online citing branding expert Peter York.

Chinese women clad in in red short cheong-sams, pictured at the 2004 Athens Games closing ceremonies, sing a Chinese folk song "jasmineflower". [Chinanews.com]

Chinese experts were also divided on their views on ZooNation's show at the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Ou Jianping, the director of Foreign Dance Studies at the Dance Research Institute of the China Arts Academy, said he was not surprised at the London's Olympic Organizers' choice.

"The organizers' choice anticipates the future taste of London," Beijing-based newspaper The First cited Ou as saying. "Though the Royal Ballet is elegant, it will not represent the popular taste of the British."

Zheng Xiaojiu, an Olympic researcher with Renmin University, held different views. "The United Kingdom is renowned for the culture of gentlemen, and therefore hip hop, a kind of dynamic hot dance, can not show the depth of its culture."

It is Olympic practice that at the close of each Games, the next host city has eight minutes to put on a performance.

Organizers of the Beijing Olympics produced a group of 12 modern singers clad in red short cheong-sams at the 2004 Athens Games, while the Australians kangaroos rode bicycles to mark the handover at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

(Chinadaily.com.cn June 17, 2008)