Zak and Angelo ~ La Belle Affaire (Another Fine Mess!)

1 original hip-hop concept, 2 performances
Choreography and performance: Aurélien Kairo (Angelo) and Abderzak Houmi (Zak)
With the artistic accompaniment of Burat and Rita Burattini

A hip-hop dance duo that turns performance into a cartoon, telling stories about what friendship is and the vitality that comes from it. Angelo and Zak, our two heroes, just want to succeed but they’re broke, so they invent a world in their own image.  The performance is poetic and somewhat eccentric, falling somewhere between the Deschiens’ wacky comedy and silent films.

Following his 2007 show J’arrive! (I’m on My Way), his 2009 Alliance Française tour of Washington, New York, Puerto Rico, the Raymond Kabbaz Theater in Los Angeles and the Institut Français in Haiti and the standing ovations and awards he received at the Francophonie games in Beirut, Aurélien Kairo has proven once again with his indoor performance of Zak and Angelo and his outdoor performance of La Belle Affaire (Another Fine Mess!) that he is a performer who is impossible to categorize. As a hip-hop dancer, he has found a way of creating a completely unique style, borrowing from the evocative power of mime and theater, the agility and impact of hip-hop and the conceptual dimension of contemporary dance.

J’arrive! (I’m on My Way) is an homage to Jacques Brel’s greatest hits, transcribed with humor into the language of hip-hop. In this new show, Aurélien Kairo and Abderzak Houmi revisit the incredible universe of “the illustrious Burattini Family.” It was his unexpected encounter with them in 2008 that got the ball rolling on this new adventure.

The Burattini Family is one of the most renowned street theater companies in France. Using traditional puppets and with a fair-like atmosphere, they use  parody, marvelous special effects and unbridled trickery of all kinds to reinvent fairy tales and great literary myths in an undisciplined, interdisciplinary approach.

This side-splittingly funny show explores the ups and downs of a couple of guys from the ‘hood and their hectic existence as café waiters. Zak and Angelo remind us of the burlesque comedy teams from the good old days of vaudeville. The first guy is alert, dynamic, impatient and enthusiastic about every idea that comes along. His sidekick is somewhat of a dreamer, who is always calm and has an angelic nature but who gets slowly infected by his buddy’s energy.

Throughout this self-conscious encounter of different comic styles, Aurélien covers over the tracks that might show what influenced him and brings onto the stage with him two traditions from popular culture: carnival-style street theater and hip-hop dance.

The show, directed by Maguy Marin, was first performed in its lighter format (La Belle Affaire / Another Fine Mess) at the National Choreography Center in Rieux-la-Pape before being completed and performed indoors (Zak and Angelo).  It has received support from the Rhône-Alpes Region, the Initiative for Urban Dance Artists, the Frappaz Ateliers of Villeurbanne, Lyon Flows and the Space Malraux of Joué-lès-Tours.

Suitable for performances in various environments, the show has been conceived in such a way that it can be performed either indoors or outdoors, depending on the requirements of the venue.

The Program

Shows suitable for all audiences for ages 10 and up

La Belle Affaire / Another Fine Mess (Outdoors – 35 minutes)
or
Zak and Angelo (Indoors – theater setting – 50 minutes)

The performance may be followed by a discussion period with audience members and may then be followed by a series of fifteen minute hip-hop dances with the following options:

• A passage from the performance J’arrive! (I’m on My Way) (song, Les Vieux “Old Ones”)
• A passage from The Hip-hop Acrobats taken from the street repertory of the De Fakto Company
• A demonstration of “pure” hip-hop
• An interactive initiation to hip-hop

The performers reserve the right to make the final choice of performance based on the technical equipment of the performance space.

Workshops

Aurélien Kairo and Abderzak Houmi can also give teaching workshops on hip-hop dancing:

• Lessons in the techniques of Hype/New Style, Break Dance, Poppin/Boogaloo/Smurf and contemporary dance;

• Discussions on the choreographic work of the artists as related to the performances offered; composition of the choreographies, improvisational work in response to music.

The performers

Aurélien Kairo

At age thirty, Aurélien Kairo already had a successful career as choreographer and trainer of professional dancers, though he had had a successful career as a dancer himself.  He has performed with Béjart and Pietragalla, as well as with less classically oriented companies, such as Accrorap and Kafig, with whom he has toured globally.

In 2000, in Geneva, Maurice Béjart gave the young dancer carte blanche to perform a short work called All Around the World in public. Following that performance, he danced in several other works for Béjart, including L’Enfant Roi (Child King), The Jerk, The Presbytery and The Bolero.
Since 2005, Aurélien Kairo has placed his talents at the service of Marie-Claude Pietragalla, performing in Human Conditions at the Zenith of Lille and of Nantes, the Sports Palace in Paris and the Space Malraux in Joué-lès-Tours, among others.

From the street to the theater, from the country to the city, connecting with audiences of all generations is at the heart of Aurélien Kairo’s creative approach.  He creates a spirited language that is danced, not spoken, and that benefits from many different influences.  Emotion, laughter, and the weight of feelings have an essential role in that language.

Abderzak Houmi

In January 2001, Abderzak founded the company, X-Press. His background in dance is a combination of what he learned on his own and the meticulous training he received at different periods at various dance centers. Having gleaned a great deal from watching performances as an audience member, as well as having acquired a lot about dance through his insatiable curiosity and the ability to always start afresh, from the very start of his dance career he has been constantly searching between academic choreography and personal style.

Abderzak Houmi has reprised a role with the Kafig company for the performances based on La Fontaine’s fables.  Following a global tour of that show, he appeared in D-connected, a work from the De Fakto company.

De Fakto Company

Since 2002, the De Fakto Company has performed the D-connected show thirty times, Hip-Hop Acrobats forty times, and J’arrive (I’m on My Way) over a hundred times.

These shows have been performed in the following venues and festivals:

Cultural programming in Villette; Lille 2004, European capital of culture; Dancing in Lille; Theater of Vienne; House of Dance in Lyon; Theater of Saint-Quentin/National Scene; Off Festival of Avignon; Opera of Lille; Hip-Hop Festival & Co. in Poitiers; cultural programming in Joué-lès-Tours.

The company has received support from the following organizations:

The France Foundation, la Caisse des dépôts et consignations (a French public enterprise serving the general interest and economic development); the regional association for cultural programming of Rhône-Alpes; the national center of dance in Lyon; the Region of Rhône-Alpes; the national center for choreography in Rillieux-la-Pape/Maguy Marin.

Links

http://www.compagniedefakto.com
http://yacast.dailymotion.com/video/xatw97_interview-daurelien-kairo_creation?from=rss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7tBii27DxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKEamkV8Lsc&feature=related

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