Home

International Festival of the Arts outdoes itself

18.05.12

French hip-hop choreographer Mourad Merzouki said on Wednesday that he was nervous about how Taipei audiences would react to his newest work, YogeeTi.

He needn’t have worried, at least judging by the audience members at Sunday’s matinee at the National Theater in Taipei. He had them with the opening movement, when the 10 dancers, clad in gray or black long-sleeved unitards, moved in floorwork that was as pointed and sharp as knitting needles. The performers lined up horizontally with their legs moving in unison over and under, or scuttled back and forth like shuttles in a weaving machine.

That was the whole idea, of course, since YogeeTi was a collaboration with Taiwanese fashion designer Johan Ku (古又文) who has made his name with spectacularly clunky, yet often delicate, knits.

YogeeTi moved seamlessly back and forth between duets and group work, a male/female pairing or male/male, sometimes playful, sometimes challenging. The pops, hops and articulation of hip-hop were fused with modern dance, neither overpowering the other. Merzouki has taken the energy from the streets and polished it until it gleams appropriately for the stage.

Source: Taipei Times