Choreography: Mourad Merzouki
Performers: Yann Abidi, Rémi Autechaud, Kader Belmoktar, Brahim Bouchelaghem, Rachid Hamchaoui, Hafid Sour
Lighting Design: Yoann Tivoli, assisted by Nicolas Faucheux
Music: Armand Amar
In collaboration with: Hugo Gonzalez-Pioli for the “Barock” section and AS’N for the “Freestyle” section
Sound Engineer: Vincent Joinville
Set Design: Mourad Merzouki in collaboration with Yoann Tivoli
Costumes: Emilie Carpentier

Produced by the Centre Chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne / Compagnie Käfig
Photo credit: © Benoîte Fanton

Cartes Blanches was created to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Compagnie Käfig. The title refers to blank sheets of paper, to the freedom to create, and to the possibility of writing and rewriting the story of an encounter, an adventure, and a friendship that has lasted twenty years beyond the different artistic paths later pursued by each individual choreographer and performer.
“It wasn’t easy to bring us all together,” explains Mourad Merzouki, “because our artistic journeys had diverged and they had all become well-known, with their own companies and tours. But when I suggested reuniting, they reacted with great enthusiasm. We met again in our forties — more mature, more open, and also more ‘effective.’ It was emotional to create a performance together again.”
Thus Yann Abidi, Rémi Autechaud, Kader Belmoktar, Brahim Bouchelaghem, Rachid Hamchaoui, and Hafid Sour return to the stage with Käfig, free to express themselves and create in turn, guided by Merzouki’s artistic vision.
The performance embraces the many styles of hip-hop while once again demonstrating the choreographer’s distinctive approach: using street dance not as a freestyle showcase, but as a narrative language.
A sofa, chairs, rugs — within this intimate living-room-like setting, Merzouki stages fragments of everyday life while also creating space for powerful solos enhanced by the lighting design of Yoann Tivoli, who has collaborated on every production by the company since 1996.