This week in the city, Compagnie Käfig (France/Brazil) comes to Harbourfront Centre as part of World Stage with Agwa/Correria from May 2-5, 2012 at the Fleck Dance Theatre. This marks the company’s return to Harboufront since 2004 with their sell-out production of Corps est Graphique.
Hip hop prodigy Mourad Merzouki brings France and Brazil together to create poetic urban dance with exuberant and explosive power. In 2006, Merzouki invited 11 young dancers from Rio de Janerio to the Lyon Dance Biennial to create Agwa/Correria. These dynamic Brazilian performers demonstrate a passion for dance, mixing complex hip-hop with capoeira, samba, electronic music and bossa nova.
In this inventive double-bill, Agwa takes place between tight corridors of little cups of water. This athletic and acrobatic piece examines the vital resource of water and it’s symbolism of renewal. Correria is a stylized endurance piece that lunges into a whirlwind of the frenzied modern world.
By avoiding all the social stereotypes, Compagnie Käfig has managed to assert a unique style all its own. While honouring its origins, the company has heralded the hip hop movement, winning over audiences as diverse as those of the dancers. With hip hop dance, the members of the company have, each in their own way, progressively trained themselves and have enriched a vocabulary. Merzouki's endeavor to engage urban youth extends beyond choreographic creations, introducing hip-hop and contemporary dance culture to the public through their performances and in workshops and master classes.
Born in Lyon, France, Mourad Merzouki is the artistic director of Compagnie Käfig, which he founded in 1996. Merzouki started learning martial and circus arts when he was seven-years-old. As a teenager, his discovery of the hip hop culture led him towards the dance world. He soon decided to develop his hip hop movements with more professional goals. Merzouki blends his experience in circus and martial arts with hip hop dance and culture to create works that have earned him choreographic awards from the International Dance Festival in Wolfsburg, Germany, La Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques and Lyon’s Lumières de la Culture.
Performance details:
Wednesday, May 2, 2012: 8pm
Thursday, May 3, 2012: 8pm
Friday, May 4, 2012: 8pm
Saturday, May 5, 2012: 8pm
Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West.
Tickets: $45, $36 (seniors and artsworkers), $15 (CultureBreak – children and youth 13 to 25 years-old) available at Harbourfront Centre’s Box Office. Call 416-973-4000,email tickets@harbourfrontcentre.com or visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage!
May 3 performance will be followed by a free talkshow for ticket holders. Hosted by The Dance Current's Kathleen Smith, the talkshow is an opportunity for audience members to engage in conversation with Mourad Merzouki and dancers from the company.
