For choreographer Rauf Yasit, as for many others, hip hop became a place where he could free himself from the dreariness of his everyday life and dream away: Graffiti and tags on the walls of buildings seemed to him like cracks, behind which other, better worlds opened up – like urban dance. Today, nothing works without it. The children’s game has long since become a hard-fought business for recognition on the international scene, so professionalized has it become.
For CRACKS, Yasit, who lives and works as a sought-after hip-hop choreographer in Los Angeles, returns to the country where it all began for him – and sets off with the Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr in search of traces. They resurrect the liberating cracks and dreams from childhood, ask about the stories that shaped the dancers‘ bodies and allow the present and past to meet in a tense dialog between childlike play and professional aspirations, naïve curiosity and flawless functionality.
Choreography: Rauf Yasit Choreographic assistance: Christian Zacharas Dance: Wenta Ghebrehiwet, Tonia Kyriakou, Stefan Stiller, Melena Tortoh, Leo Vara, Maxim Kuznetsov, Jonas Krämer Dramaturgy: Sebastian Bös Stage: Aaron Stratmann Costume: Frederike Coors Sound design: Kilian Unger Lighting design: Birk-André Hildebrandt Lighting: Moritz Bütow Artistic Director: Zekai Fenerci Assistant to the Artistic Director: Uta Graßhoff Production Management: Maryline Ogboko Production assistant: Eva Pageix Photo: Oliver Look Video: Young-Soo Chang
A production by Pottporus in cooperation with PACT Zollverein Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the New Arts Ruhr program and by the City of Herne
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