Ending our season with a hip-hop company? Yes, this coming Wednesday, May 9, our 14th season  concludes with the West Coast debut of Europe’s most acclaimed hip-hop company, Compagnie Käfig (pronounced Kay-Feeg) and the US premiere of two works performed by 10 astounding young Brazilian male dancers. This takes place at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 7:30 and tickets are available through our website with no ticket fees.

Normally we would have ended our season with our May 2 performance of Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. The company gave a beautiful performance, and we also were finally able to get our brand new 15th anniversary season brochure out at this show.

However, for a totally different dance experience, do not miss Compagnie Käfig.  The choreographer is Mourad Merzouki, and we have been following his truly original choreography for more than 10 years. We first saw Käfig at The Joyce Theater in New York, and Mourad is a genius for using hip-hop inspired movement to create something new and inspiring.

       All photos (c) Michel Cavalca

To give a little background about the works we are presenting this Wednesday, “Correria” and “Agwa,”  Mourad met the young Brazilian dancers in Lyon, France several years ago when they were performing with a Brazilian company from Rio. Mourad was inspired by their stories of growing up in the Rio favelas, the shanty-towns so prevalent in the large Brazilian cities. He created “Agwa” (“Water”) in tribute to the life-sustaining power of water. Just wait till you see these 10 guys moving acrobatically through a massive field of water cups.

Paul and I first saw “Agwa” at the Canadian arts market CINARS in Montreal two years ago, and we did everything possible to bring Käfig to Portland. An extended Canadian tour was planned, and at first venues on the east coast expressed interest in joining us on the American portion of the tour. That became unworkable, and so White Bird is now the only US stop for Compagnie Käfig and Mourad’s astounding works with the Brazilian guys.

In tandem with the evening performance this Wednesday, the company will give a special performance for 2,700 Portland Public School students and teachers, participating in White Bird’s annual Outreach Project with Portland Public Schools. For the past 12 years, we and PPS have collaborated on multi-disciplinary curriculum inspired by one of our dance companies. The theme this year is “Hip-Hop in Different Cultures.”

We are thrilled to welcome Compagnie Käfig—Mourad and his 10 Brazilian dancers—to Portland. We can’t wait for you to experience their amazing moves. There are 20% discounts for groups, students, seniors, and dancers—and we will have our ½ price student/senior/dancer rush at the door on Wednesday.

We end our season with Compagnie Käfig, and we can’t think of a more uplifting way to do that than with this wonderful hip-hop company.