A Human Race shows the power of dance in oppossing borders that exist between social realities as well as between street and highbrow culture.
The choreography confronts Le Sacre dus printemps by Igor Stravinsky with a political issue. Five people meet in a circle of sand. A fierce struggle for freedom, participation and recognition begins.
Le sacre du printemps is one of the most iconic works of all time. Not only because of Igor Stravinsky's music, but also because of Vaslav Nijinsky's choreography, for which the composer wrote his overwhelming masterpiece in 1913. Over the past century, Stravinsky's Sacre has inspired countless choreographers worldwide to create new interpretations, some of which are now almost as legendary as the primal version. This makes it a fraught piece of music, a complicated challenge for those who venture into it. French hip-hop dancer and choreographer Grichka Caruge dared to do it in his youth production A Human Race - The Rite of Krump. He reinterprets the Rite of Spring by asking the question: whom do we "sacrifice" in society, whom do we expel? What does it do to us to belong to a group or stand alone?
A 'Sacre' with political overtones
Five krump dancers meet in a circle of sand. They engage in a bitter struggle for freedom, participation and recognition that unites the group in a common race to resist and survive. The dance style krumping emerged in the 1990s in Los Angeles' African-American community as a creative outlet for the aggression generated by the wounds of social inequality, exclusion and racism. It is a raw, energetic and strong movement language in which authenticity and the expression of emotion are paramount. At the same time, krump is a peaceful and safe
