Compagnie Käfig Integrates Dance and Technology into the Final Week of the 2023 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

In the exciting final week of Festival 2023, Lyon-based Compagnie Käfig will return to Jacob's Pillow for the first time in ten years with a unique performance bridging dance and technology from Aug. 23-27 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. On the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage, Tulsa Ballet will make their Pillow debut as the first company from Oklahoma to perform at the Festival, in a week-long engagement from Aug. 23-27. Tickets for performances are on sale now. 

Also in Week 9 is a free screening of the documentary August Pace as a part of the PillowTalk lecture series. This fly-on-the-wall documentary follows the 2019 revival of the 1989 work August Pace, by the illustrious postmodern choreographer Merce Cunningham. And on Sunday afternoon, Compagnie Käfig artists Kader Belmoktar and Rémi Autechaud will guide a hip hop and freestyle dance workshop, open to beginner/intermediate dancers ages 16+. 

“Compagnie Kafig's Pixel is one of the most breathtaking integrations of dance and technology I've seen; the dancers move in and out of pixelated light and video projections and at times seem to have  super powers as they move,” said Pamela Tatge, Executive and Artistic Director of Jacob's Pillow. “I can't wait for audiences to see it. I'm also thrilled that we are presenting the Pillow debut of Tulsa Ballet – the first company from Oklahoma to ever perform at the Pillow. Artistic Director Marcello Angelini has put together a stunning program of contemporary ballet works that will showcase the company's beautiful dancers. Ballet against the backdrop of the Berkshire hills. What could be better?”

Founded by acclaimed French hip hop artist Mourad Merzouki, Compagnie Käfig will perform their signature work Pixel, a wondrous merging of virtuosic dance and technology created by Merzouki in collaboration with French digital producers Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne. Seen by audiences in more than 30 countries around the world, the show explodes into a 3D world of captivating digital light and video projections, which accompany dancers' movements. The piece aims to strike a subtle balance between the real and the virtual world, and between energy and poetry, resulting in a performance infused with a multitude of art forms.

In its Pillow debut on the outdoor Leir Stage, internationally acclaimed Tulsa Ballet will present three popular works from their repertoire. Nicolo Fonte's Divenire, a piece full of “energy, passion and joy,” (Tulsa World) and Andrew McNicol's Celestial Bodies both had world premieres at Tulsa Ballet in 2022. The company will also perform the pas de deux from Ode, which premiered at Tulsa Ballet in 2021, by Polish choreographer Katarzyna Kozielska, who is known for works “that span from the pure physical to the pure emotional.” (Ballet Herald) 

Founded by French choreographer Mourad Merzouki, Compagnie Käfig creates work at the crossroads of multiple disciplines and mediums, drawing on circus, martial arts, fine arts, video production, and live music to explore hip hop dance. Starting at age 7 at the circus school of Saint-Priest in Lyon, Merzouki gravitated to hip hop as a teenager, but the influence of circus arts persisted as he branched into choreography. In 1989, he co-founded his first company Accrorap, with Kader Attou, Eric Mezino, and Chaouki Saïd, which was acclaimed for bringing hip hop onto the concert stage. In 1996, Mezrouki sought to establish his own company. Paradoxically titled after the Arabic and German word meaning 'cage,' Compagnie Käfig took its name from Merzouki's first fully independent work, Käfig. This 1996 work charged the company with its message to refuse stylistic boundaries and extend hip hop's territory while honoring its social and geographical origins. 

Compagnie Käfig's signature work Pixel, to be performed as a full-evening presentation, utilizes light projections as partners for the dancers, dissolving boundaries between the digital world and the dancer's reality. The Jerusalem Post applauds Merzouki's choreography in Pixel: “None have so perfectly managed to marry the screen and the moving body.” Since its inception in 1996, Compagnie Käfig has produced 31 works that have reached 700 cities, 65 countries, and two million audience members. Acclaimed by The New York Times as “One of the most innovative troupes on the experimental dance scene,” Compagnie Käfig's work is a genre-bending and boundary-pushing exploration. 

The performances of "Pixel" by Compagnie Käfig-Mourad Merzouki are part of the Albertine Dance Season and received support from Villa Albertine.

Named The Official Cultural Ambassador for the state of Oklahoma, Tulsa Ballet is an internationally recognized company bringing classical and contemporary repertory to the Oklahoma stage. Founded in 1956 by husband and wife Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin, dancers who performed with the historic Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the couple wished to create a site of artistic excellence in the heart of the United States after a globe-trotting dance career. 

Jasinski and Larkin's contributions to dance were recognized in 1988, when they received the coveted Dance Magazine award. Marcello Angelini, the current Artistic Director of Tulsa Ballet, has continued the mission of the Jasinski family since 1995 with his commitment to presenting new works and building an ambitious repertory. Tulsa Ballet has presented over 70 new works in the past decade, all of which were either Oklahoma premieres, United States premieres, or World premieres. 

Today, Tulsa Ballet presents works created by the world's leading choreographers featuring its international roster of dancers. Angelini aims to preserve the classical repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, while also commissioning contemporary works to invest in the future of the art form. These works have toured nationally and internationally: the company has performed in five different countries, as well as The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and The Joyce Theater in New York.

In 2001, Compagnie Käfig presented the U.S. premiere of Dix Versions in its debut engagement at the Pillow. The company also performed in the Festival in 2012 and 2013. 

Moscelyne Larkin made her Pillow debut in 1955 with Michael Maule. Maria Tallchief, one of the Five Moons dancers – a renowned group of indigenous dancers in Oklahoma – alongside Tulsa Ballet founder Moscelyne Larkin, first performed at the Pillow in 1951. After her debut, she performed at the Pillow six additional times. The other Five Moons dancers have also performed at the Pillow: Rosella Hightower in 1946, Yvonne Chouteau in 1946 and 1953, and Marjorie Tallchief in 1963 and 1964. 

Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive: 

Compagnie Käfig performing Dix Versions, 2001:

https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/compagnie-kafig/dix-versions/ 

Compagnie Käfig performing AGWA, 2013:

https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/compagnie-kafig/agwa/

Maria Tallchief performing Sylvia Pas de Deux, 1951:

https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/maria-tallchief/sylvia-pas-de-deux/ 

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