Wild Cat

Press

“[…] Like seeds sprouting in slow motion, the dancers wind their way out of their roots in the floor towards the sun. […] One dancer moves so fast that the audience’s eyes can’t keep up and the moving dancer becomes blurred like a Francis Bacon portrait. […] The many poetic and artistic references and suggested associations liberate Lehlouh’s movement arsenal, which is strongly influenced by breakdance and B-Boying, from the eternally bolshie attitude of hip hop and rap. Like the music, which consists here almost entirely of rhythm and washes of sound, the dance gives the impression of a highly refined distillate of the sources from which it is drawn. […] An intoxicating evening.”
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 7 September 2018

Preview text

Sheep meets predator: The brand-new work by young French company Black Sheep, led by Saïdo Lehlouh and Johanna Faye shows that the outcome of this encounter is no foregone conclusion. Following their acclaimed piece “FACT”, which opened 2017’s festival, “Wild Cat” now focuses on their dance roots in hip hop. Or to be more precise, on B-Boying, one of hip hop’s supreme disciplines. Building on the skills of the five excellent dancers and Lehlouh’s experience of contemporary dance, the piece erects a monument not only to the dance form but also to the performers: Spotlighting B-Boying’s energy, feline suppleness and precision, not to mention disregard for gravity, it also leaves plenty of space for improvisation. Combined with a sensitive dramaturgy and set to an intricate electronic tapestry of sound, the perhaps unexpected result is – poetry.

(Approx. 50 mins.)

Watch a video on Youtube

7:15 pm Talk in the foyer

This performance will be preceded by an introductory lecture by Dr. Franz Anton Cramer.

cast & credits

Choreography: Saïdo Lehlouh
Dance: Ilyess Benali, Kae Carvalho, Hugo de Vathaire, Evan Greenaway, Timothée Lejolivet
Original music: Awir Léon, Floyd Shakim, J. Kid
Bookings: camin aktion

Production: Garde Robe
Co-Production: Initiatives d’Artistes en Danses Urbaines (Fondation de France – Parc de La Villette with the support of Caisse des Dépôts and Acsé)/ WIP Villette, Flow – City of Lille

With the support of DRAC Île-de-France for a project support 2018, City of Paris for a residency support 2018, ARCADI, Company Dyptik, Performance – Bordeaux, La Place, centre culturel Hip-Hop and of CN D Pantin in the frame of the studio program.

The company is in residency at Espace 1789 Saint-Ouen and at Houdremont – Scène Conventionnée de La Courneuve with the support of county Seine-Saint-Denis.

This performance is supported by the Institut français and by the French Ministry for Culture/ DGCA