Anna Holmstrom (left) and Niranh Chanthabouasy, whose stage name is Lil' Rock, from the Flying Steps dance troupe are pictured in Toronto on Tuesday October 14, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO - Germany's acclaimed Flying Steps dance troupe combine Bach and breakdancing in the new show "Red Bull Flying Bach," which is making its Canadian premiere at Toronto's Massey Hall on Thursday.

When asked what it's like melding the street style of dance with the music of the German classical composer, troupe member Niranh Chanthabouasy admitted: "I wouldn't say smooth."

"First thing, it's very hard to understand the music of Bach," said the German dancer, whose stage name is Lil' Rock. "Because as a b-boy you're used to dancing to break beats or hip hop, where you really understand the music because you have the current beat going on and a rhythm."

Enter renowned conductor Christoph Hagel, the troupe's co-artistic director and piano player who was already used to such unusual pairings, having staged adaptations of operas at unorthodox venues including Berlin’s E-Werk techno music club and a Berlin underground station.

Hagel explained the structure and system of Bach's music to the dancers so they could easily hear the melodies and themes and try to isolate them with different choreographies.

The Flying Steps was founded in Berlin in 1993 has won four Breakdance World Championships. In the new show, the crew combines urban dance and ballet with the live performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier."

Seven breakdancers of the Flying Steps perform a series of vignettes alongside contemporary/ballet dancer Anna Holmstrom of Sweden.

"In the dance world I would say that a lot of people understand how difficult (breakdancing) is," said Holmstrom. "But I think also that you can see in this project that it actually belongs onstage also, or that it has a place in the finer arts. It's not that ballet is better than breakdancing. Some people may think that breakdancing is still just kids fooling around, but I'm getting inspired every time I see someone breakdance."

Holmstrom got her start as a gymnast, competing with the national team in Sweden for 10 years before training with the Royal Swedish Ballet school. She had also studied contemporary and jazz, and done a touch of hip hop, before joining the Flying Steps.

"You're always finding new ways to move and you're always finding something that hasn't been seen before, and that's something that's really inspiring me to push my limits," she said of breakdancing.

Chanthabouasy, who hails from Frankfurt, Germany, has been breakdancing since 1992 and joined the group around 2005.

He loves the style of dance because it's ever-evolving, especially in the Internet era.

"Before there was the Internet, you could really see, 'Ah, this is the French style, this is the Italian style,' because they all trained together in their own spot," he said. "But now that we are so connected through the World Wide Web, the style gets around pretty much."

The popping and locking scene, in particular, has evolved quite a bit from its original West Coast/funk music roots of the '70s, he added. "In the West Coast, like Fresno or L.A., they were dancing to funk music and around the '80s they started mixing it into the b-boy or breakdance community where you always had some people doing breakdancing, some people doing popping and locking and the robot, and then they just put it together."

"Red Bull Flying Bach" has already performed around Europe, Australia and the U.S. After the Toronto stint ends Sunday, it runs at Montreal's Theatre Maisonneuve from Oct. 23-26.

The performers say some audiences go "crazy" for the show, screaming and dancing on the spot.

"We had one boy in New Zealand just a month ago, in the ending routine, he went up in the aisle and he started standing on his hands and trying to breakdance during the show," said Holmstrom.

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News from © The Canadian Press, 2014