Photo : Outoungou © Kenji
Outoungou
Hip-Hop Evolution
(France - Mayotte)
Spectacular Mahorais hip-hop
Four young hip-hop dancers from Mayotte came together with Réunionese choreographer Cédric Kenji Saïdou to work around the current social issues on the island. The performance fizzes with contagious energy, rooted in the power and honesty of its lively street dance style.

Last year, the Mahorais association Hip Hop Evolution and Réunionese choreographer Cédric Kenji Saïdou’s Montpellier-based company came up with the idea of this contemporary dance show. Through the overlapping narrative of their personal experiences, from Comoros immigration, to life as child waiting for immigration papers, French citizen rights, and the search for a national identity in mainland France, four young Mahorais dancers created Outoungou, subtitled [sou(f)france], a play on words combining “suffering” and “France”, with contagious choreographic energy rooted in the power and honesty of its lively street dance style.

Abdallah Haribou and his association, Hip Hop Evolution, worked for years to develop breakdance in Mayotte, a small French island département with a population of 227,000, lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. When the Mahorais from Lil’Stylz took home top prize from the Montpellier Battle of the Year (BOTY), the striking rise of hip-hop dance suddenly found itself under the spotlight.

Using the Réunionese choreography of Cédric Kenji Saïdou and his Montpellier-based dance company, the association created Outoungou [sou(f)france], drawing its subject matter and energy from the social, geopolitical and cultural controversies of the island. Four young Mahorais hip-hop dancers (Sasuké, Ankif, Seimoune and Yasser) recount their stories and experiences about locals demanding their French citizenship rights, immigration from the Comoro Islands, immigrant children waiting for papers, and the search for a national identity on the French mainland. The performance tells the honest story of their internal struggle through dance.

This lively street dance marked by allusions to African and Comorian culture, with circus acrobatics, rare intensity and highly contagious energy.

BIOGRAPHY

Hip Hop Evolution is a non-profit association created by Abdallah Haribou and Sophie Huvet, dedicated to the development and organisation of cultural and artistic projects around hip-hop dance in Mayotte. A thousand amateur dancers participate annually in the association’s projects in Mayotte. These projects focus on artistic education, creation and production, festival organisation, Mayotte Battle of the Year qualifications and various open stages, alongside support to help amateurs become professional dancers. The Outoungou project is choreographed and directed by Cédric Saïdou, aka. Kenji, founder of the Montpellier-based Kenji Company which is dedicated to artistic creation, hip-hop dance teaching, and artistic exchange between Metropolitan France, the French Overseas Departments and Territories and rest of the world.

DISTRIBUTION

Choreography : Cedric “Kenji” Saïdou
Music : Loïc Léocadie with the participation of Diho, Del and the Mbiwi group from Kani-Kéli
Direction : Chloé Schmutz
Dancers : Sasuké, Ankif, Seimoune and Yasser
Production : Hip Hop Evolution

Friday 06 July 2018
20:00 > 21:00
Place Hoche, Rennes
Saturday 07 July 2018
20:00 > 21:00
Place Hoche, Rennes
Sunday 08 July 2018
17:00 > 18:00
Place Hoche, Rennes

40mn
Free
Métro : Sainte-Anne / Bus : C1-C5-9-12-36-51-70-71 / Arrêt de Bus : Sainte-Anne . Place Hoche / Vélo : Place Hoche

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The association is supported by the City of Rennes, the Brittany Region, the Ille-et-Vilaine Department & the ministry of culture.

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