French dance company to bring Brazilian dancers to Purdue
February 4, 2015
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Compagnie Käfig will mash up contemporary dance and street dance forms with "correria" and "agwa" on Feb. 26 at Purdue University's Loeb Playhouse. The 7:30 p.m. performance is presented by Purdue Convocations with Friends support from Purdue University Dining & Catering.
In hits mid-teens, choreographer Mourad Merzouki, who grew up in an Algerian family with roots in France, founded a company that fused hip-hop street dancing with acrobatics. He founded his next group, Compagnie Käfig, in Lyon, France, in 1996, continuing to mash up contemporary dance and street dance forms. At a festival a decade later, Merzouki encountered an all-male company of Brazilian dancers from Rio de Janeiro, who inspired him to take his next formative step.
Working with these dancers, he blended the famed Brazilian martial arts known as "capoeira" with hip-hop, channeling the Latin and African roots of the movements. Directly out of this experiment come "correria" (running) and "agwa" (water), two 30-minute works that feature 10 male dancers.
Tickets are $32 for adults and $22 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Stewart Center box office at 765-494-3933, 800-914-SHOW or online through www.convocations.org/tickets
Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate performing arts presenters in the United States. Convocations brings a diverse array of world-class performances and intellectual encounters, connecting them to academic, local, and regional audiences.
Source: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-9712, aeeddy@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: A publication-quality photograph is available at https://www.purdue.edu/convocations/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/KAF-AGWA-Christopher_Duggan-001-300dpi.jpg
