Press Release
Yo Gee Ti
K11 Art Mall will host a conference by Mourad Merzouki, on the occasion of his coming with his company Käfig for the show Yo Gee Ti.
Since 1996, the company has performed 21 creations in more than 600 cities, gathering an audience of more than 1 million. In close collaboration with the Maison de la Danse of Lyon, the Käfig company has distinguished itself with Récital, a creation that led Mourad Merzouki to international recognition. Mourad Merzouki, one of the leading figures of the French hip-hop scene. With Yo Gee Ti, Mourad Merzouki begins a unique reflexion between Western and Eastern cultures, which arose from his encounter with Taiwanese dancers, and mixes hip-hop culture with traditional choregraphic patterns from Taiwan.
Mourad Merzouki will address, among other questions, his collaboration with Asian artists, the meaning and ideas conveyed by his work, as well as his impressions from this China tour.
Date Jun 10, 2013 16:00 – 17:30
Language – English / Chinese
Lecturer – Mourad Merzouki
Venue chi K11 art space (Shanghai K11 Art Mall, B3, 300 Huaihai Zhong Lu）
Lecturer - Mourad Merzouki
Born in Lyon in 1973, Mourad Merzouki has been practicing martial arts and circus arts from an early age. When he was 15, he discovered hip-hop dance. He created his first dance company with other dancers, Accrorap, in 1989, and his creation Athina was praised at the Biennale de la danse in Lyon in 1994, where he brought street dance on stage. In 1996, he set up his own company, Käfig, with which he then appeared on many stages around the world. Among his creations, we may evoke Récital (1998), which opened the doors of an international tour to him. In 2009 he was appointed director of the Centre chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne, and he was made knight of the Arts et Lettres in 2011, before being made knight of the Légion d’honneur in 2012.
The creation of Yo Gee Ti, in 2012, marks a new stage in his choreographer and dancer’s career. He took inspiration from his meeting with patterns and pratices of Taïwan dance to transform his own relation to dance and hip-hop. Thus he questions a wide range of problematics, such as the link between the West and the East, and the way one may reflect this matter through the artistic creation.
After their triumph in Taiwan, the Käfig company and Mourad Merzouki are in Shanghai for an exceptional show.
