Zoellner Arts Center Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA 2013-14 Season Monday Matinée Study Guide Compagnie Kafig: Correria & Agwa Monday, January 27, 2014 at 10 a.m. Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University Welcome to the Monday Matinée at the Zoellner Arts Center On Monday, January 27, at 10 a.m., your class will attend a Monday Matinée performance of Comanie Käfig: Correria & Aqwa at Lehigh Univeristy’s Zoellner Arts Center Baker Hall. Companie Käfig - Mourad Merzouki, the troupe’s French director, has said that “käfig” can mean “cage” in both German and Arabic. But his structural cages free his choreographic imagination. Using this Study Guide You can use this study guide to engage your students and enrich their Zoellner Arts Center field trip. Before attending the performance, we encourage you to: • Copy the Student Resource Sheet on pages 2&3 for your students to use before the show. • Discuss the information on pages 4&5 About the Performance and Artists. • Read About the Art Form on Page 9, and About Brazil on page 11 with your students. • Engage your class in two or more activities on pages 13-16 • Reflect by asking students the guiding questions. • Immerse students further into the subject matter and art form by using the Resource and Glossary sections on pages 13-17. At the Performance Your class can actively participate sure the performance by: • Listening to the rhythms and expressive music that accompanies the dancers • Observing how the performer’s movements and gestures enhance the performance • Thinking about how you are experiencing a bit of Brazilian and Hip Hop culture by attending a live performance of samba, hip-hop and capoeira dance • Wondering at the skill of the performers • Reflecting on the sounds, lights, and performance skills you experience at the theatre We look forward to seeing you at Zoellner’s Monday Matinée. Table of Contents 1 Theatre Etiquette 4 2 Student Resource Sheet 5 3 About the Performance and the Artists 7 4 About the Art Form 9 5 About Brazil 11 6 Learning Activities and Resources 13 7 Glossary 8 PA State Standards and Core Curriculum About Monday Matinée 1 Theater Etiquette Be prepared and arrive early. Ideally you should arrive at the Zoellner Arts Center 20-30 minutes before the show. All for travel time and bus unloading or parking, and plan to be in your seats at least 15 minutes before the performance begins. Be aware and remain quiet. The theater is a “live” space - you can hear the performers easily, but they can also hear you, and you can hear other audience members, too! Even the smallest sounds, like rustling papers and whispering, can be heard throughout the theater, so it’s best to stay quiet so that everyone can enjoy the performance without distractions. The international sign for “Quiet Please” is to silently raise your index finger to your lips. Show appreciation by applauding. Applause is the best way to show your enthusiasm and appreciation. Performers return their appreciation for your attention by bowing to the audience at the end of the show. It is always appropriate to applaud at the end of a performance, and it is customary to continue clapping until the curtain comes down or the house lights come up. Participate by responding to the action onstage. Sometime during a performance, you may respond by laughing, crying or sighing. By all means, feel free to do so! Appreciation can be shown in many different ways, depending on the art form. For instance, an audience attending a string quartet performance will sit very still while the audience at a popular music concert may be inspired to participate by clapping and shouting. Concentrate to help the performers. These artists use concentration to focus their energy while on stage. If the audience is focused while watching the performance, they feel supported and are able to do their best work. They can feel that you are with them! Please note: Backpacks and lunches are not permitted in the theater.There is absolutely no food or drink permitted in the seating areas. Recording devices of any kind, including cameras, cannot be used during the performances. Please remember to silence your cell phone and all other mobile devices. 2 Student Resource Sheet Mourad Merzouki, the troupe’s French director, has said that “käfig” can mean “cage” in both German and Arabic. But his structural cages free his choreographic imagination. Although visually spectacular, the rambunctiousness of hip-hop dance can make it hard to transfer it from the street or dance club, where it can appear unfettered, to the formality of the stage, where its energy must be contained within bounds. This performance is an internationally successful attempt to theatricalize hip-hop. Each piece gains artistic shape by being focused on an overriding theme. “Correria” is based on the act of running, which can sometimes look funny and at other times turn emotionally powerful. The stage for “AGWA,” a tribute to water, is filled with hundreds of plastic cups, around which dancers perform increasingly virtuosic steps. 3 About the Performance and the Artists Viewing Strategy: • Stay focused on your purpose for viewing. • Before you get started, think of what you already know about the Hip Hop movement. Keep this in mind as you watch the performance. • Find out what the different elements of Hip Hop are and what influenced its development. • Compare and contrast the ways in which clothing choices and costumes express culture. • After the performance, sum up what you have learned. Compagnie Käfig, a French-based troupe of Brazilian dancers. Artistic Director Mourad Merzouki Born in Lyon in 1973, Mourad Merzouki began practicing martial arts and circus arts as early as a seven-year-old. At the age of fifteen, he encountered hip-hop culture for the first time and through it, he discovered dance. He quickly decided to develop this form of street art while also experimenting with other choreographic styles, particularly with Maryse Delente, Jean-François Duroure and Josef Nadj. The wealth of his experiences fed his desire to direct artistic projects, blending hip-hop with other disciplines. In 1989 he, along with a group of dancers, created his first company ‘Accrorap’. In 1994 the company performed Athina during Lyon’s Biennial Dance Festival; it was a triumph that brought street dance to the stage. Merzouki’s travels have led him into unchartered territory, where dance can be a powerful means of communication. In order to develop his own artistic style and sensitivity, Merzouki established his own company, Käfig, in 1996. In January 2006, Compagnie Käfig began a period of residence at Espace Albert Camus in Bron. The theatre became the venue of the Karavel Festival, created in 2007 under the leadership of Mourad Merzouki. The festival invites some 10 different hip-hop companies and other initiatives to the city. In parallel, Mourad Merzouki spearheaded the inception of a new center for choreographic creation and development: Pôle Pik opened its doors in Bron in 2009. In June 2009, Mourad Merzouki was appointed director of the Centre Chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne. He continues to develop his projects there, with an accent on openness to the world. In 17 years, the choreographer has created 21 shows and his company gives on average 150 performances per year around the world. Compagnie Käfig, a French-based troupe of Brazilian dancers. DANCERS Diego Alves Dos Santos known as Dieguinho Leonardo Alves Moreira known as Leo Cleiton Luiz Caetano De Oliveira Aguinaldo De Oliveira Lopes known as Anjo Cristian Faxola Franco known as Faxola Geovane Fidelis Da Conceição Diego Gonçalves Do Nascimento Leitão known as White Aldair Junior Machado Nogueira known as Al Franciss Wanderlino Martins Neves known as Sorriso Jose Amilton Rodrigues Junior known as Ze Alexsandro Soares Campanha Da Silva known as Pitt 4 About the Art Form Hip Hop Refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. Television and popular film showcased these crews and dance styles in their early stages; therefore, giving hip-hop mainstream exposure. The dance industry responded with a commercial, studio-based version of hip-hop—sometimes called new style—and a hip-hop influenced style of jazz dance called jazz-funk. Classically trained dancers developed these studio styles in order to create choreography from the hip-hop dances that were performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is practiced in both dance studios and outdoor spaces. Europe host several international hip-hop competitions such as the UK B-Boy Championships, Juste Debout, and EuroBattle. Australia host a team-based competition called World Supremacy Battlegrounds and Japan host a two-on-two competition called World Dance Colosseum. What distinguishes hip-hop from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dance crews often engage in freestyle dance competitions—colloquially referred to as battles. Crews, freestyling, and battles are identifiers of this style. Capoeira is a Brazilian art form which combines fight, dance, rhythm and movement. Capoeira is a dialog between players - a conversation through movement which can take on many shades of meaning. The details of capoeira's origins and early history are still a matter of debate among historians, but it is clear that African slaves played a crucial role in the development of the art form. Some historians claim that slaves used capoeira's dance-like appearance as a way to hide their training of combat and self-defense.