society

Meet the Dansaert Fleming

Mocking the young, hip, Flemish middle class in Brussels. That’s what Dansaertvlaming is all about.

You’d recognise one if they passed you in the street. They ride cargo bikes with a kid or two squeezed in front. They drink flat whites in coffee bars decorated with green plants. And they probably work in a startup on online content creation.

A few years ago, the TV maker Sara Leemans came up with a term for this demographic. She called them Dansaertvlamingen. The name refers to the fashionable Dansaertstraat in the downtown Brussels neighbourhood that is often called the Flemish Quarter.

Hold on, you might be thinking, aren’t they just hipsters? Or maybe millennials? You find the same sort of people in the trendy Zurenborg quarter in Antwerp or the Dok Noord in Ghent. You find them in hip neighbourhoods all over the world.

But there’s something different about the Dansaertvlamingen. For a start, despite the name, they are not considered authentically Flemish. They have chosen to live in Brussels, which is not Flanders. And they have adopted a lifestyle that isn’t really Flemish.

Leemans initially launched the concept on Facebook. But it only went viral when she migrated to Instagram and Twitter. Her concept went on to inspire the TV comedy series Dansaertvlamingen. It’s fun to watch, on your smartphone of course, sipping an organic coffee while you wait for your therapist appointment.

• brussels