International Hip Hop returns during the Dance Center’s 40th Season with France’s Compagnie Käfig February 20-22

CHICAGO, IL – The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago’s 40th season expands internationally, welcoming Compagnie Käfig/CCN Créteil et du Val-de-Marne with a double bill encompassing hip hop and Brazilian dance styles. Performances are February 20–22, 2014 at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

Mourad Merzouki, artistic director of Company Käfig and director of the Centre Choregraphique National (CCN) de Creteil et du Val-de Marne in France, is at the forefront of the international hip hop dance scene. Käfig’s double bill of Correria and Agwa derives from Merzouki’s encounter with 11 young male dancers from Rio de Janeiro at the Lyon Dance Biennial in 2006. Their individual stories about life in the favelas (Brazilian shanty towns) and their determination to make something of themselves inspired Merzouki to create two works showcasing the young Brazilians’ astonishing acrobatic skills and dazzling virtuosity in a combination of samba, hip hop and capoeira dance styles.

Residency Activities

There will be a post-performance conversation with the artists Thursday, February 20 and a pre-performance talk with Merzouki Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m., both free to ticket holders. Merzouki also will participate in The Dance Center’s new DanceMakers series, which features leading contemporary dance artists offering insight into their choreographic process, on Monday, February 17, 6:30–8:30 p.m. at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. In celebration of The Dance Center’s 40th season, DanceMakers sessions are free. Preregistration is required.

Merzouki and Compagnie Käfig dancers will participate in “B-Real: A Look Inside Urban Movements,” a convergence of local, national and international hip hop and house dance music workshops, performances and conversations February 17–March 1. All events are free; more information is available at colum.edu/Dance_Center/performances/b-real/

Compagnie Käfig/CCN Créteil et du Val-de-Marne

Compagnie Käfig found its artistic dimension within the fusion of styles. It combines a sense of humor with gravity and flavors its works with the hip-hop vocabulary as well as a spirit that is open to other choreographic and artistic languages. Since the company’s founding in 1996, its members have focused their energy on creating new works and touring. Born in Lyon in 1973, Mourad Merzouki began practicing martial arts and circus arts as young as seven years old. At the age of 15, he encountered hip-hop culture for the first time and through it, he discovered dance.

This is Compagnie Käfig’s second appearance since its Dance Center debut during the 2001–02 season.

Funding

The Dance Center’s presentation of Compagnie Käfig is funded, in part, by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew Mellon Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Arts Midwest Touring Fund, a program of Arts Midwest supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Illinois Arts Council and General Mills Foundation. Special thanks to the Cultural Service at the Consulate General of France in Chicago.

The Dance Center

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, named “Chicago’s Best Dance Theatre” by Chicago magazine and “Best Dance Venue” by the Chicago Reader, is the city’s leading presenter of contemporary dance, showcasing artists of regional, national and international significance. Programs of The Dance Center are supported, in part, by the Alphawood Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, New England Foundation for the Arts, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Irving Harris Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation and Arts Midwest. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. Special thanks to Athletico, the Official Provider of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy for The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and the Friends of The Dance Center.

The Dance Center’s 2013–14 season continues with Raphael Xavier (Feb. 27–Mar. 1), Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (co-presented with the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University and The Joffrey Ballet at the Auditorium Theatre Mar. 14 and 16) and Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group (Apr. 3–5).

Ticket Information

The Dance Center presents Compagnie Käfig/CCN Créteil et du Val-de-Marne February 20–22, Thursday–Saturday at 8 p.m. at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. Single tickets are $26–30; subscribers who order tickets to three or more performances during the 2013–14 season save 20%. All programming is subject to change. The theatre is accessible to people with disabilities. For information, call 312-369-8330 or visit colum.edu/dancecenter.