KRUMP 'N' BREAK RELEASE
A documentary piece on Krump and Breaking, seen through the eyes of two contemporary choreographers
Photo: Caroline Ablain
Our bodies tell our history: our roots, our way of living, the places we come from. Five dancers from France and Germany, and four styles, meet on stage: the expressive force of Krump, the acrobatics of Breaking, the permeability of Release and the listening of contact improvisation.
The dancers speak about why they dance, where they come from and what their movement means to them, live and in short films. The styles don't merge; they meet, answer and sometimes clash – with humour, openness and courage.
Magazine Danser
“Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter break the image of youngsters that have nothing to lose. Krump ’N’ Break Release situates itself perfectly in the documentary approach. Deliberately rough, this performance refuses all apparent aestheticisation. Its beauty lies in its veracity, in the encounter that it allows and in its simplicity. The dancers are here performers of themselves, explaining the genesis of Krump and Hip Hop.’’
UNIDIVERS RENNES
“This performance feels like a mutual invitation from two different worlds and the proof that the result is positive.’’
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Artistic statement
When Les Hivernales d'Avignon asked Malgven Gerbes and me to create a piece for urban dances, we had no real impulse. Two months later, during an exchange between Paris and Berlin, we discovered Krump by chance, and it was a shock: so much energy, so much going beyond oneself, such groove, and such attachment to a community and a way of life in movement. We recognised that intensity from our own commitment to dance.
For a year before the creation, we visited the Krump community in Paris, came to their sessions, danced with them and learned from them. We were guests, observers, sometimes partners – and in the end also the choreographers who had to set the rules of a professional rehearsal and touring schedule. An eight-hour rehearsal day was new for most of the dancers. Everyone took big steps towards each other, and the energy of the piece rewarded it.
Everything on stage is the dancers' own material: why they dance, which Krump family they come from, their rank, their Krump name. We came without expectations, imposed no dramaturgy for them to fulfil, and pushed no one to show what they did not want to show. Except for Raphael Hillebrand, a leading figure of the German hip-hop scene and a born speaker, the dancers were fragile with a microphone in their hands – and yet they shared their convictions with great generosity. That fragility next to the force of the dance is, for me, the heart of the piece. "Our dance is not aggressive, but expressive," they said.
We never aimed at a fusion of styles. Instead, the styles meet and sometimes clash: Raphael, the breaker, guides the audience through a body release session; the Krumpers dance duets with contact improvisation; and the smallest dancer in the group carries one of the tallest on her shoulders, thanks to the technique of contact improvisation. For the finale, Jim Sert composed a track rougher and more "Krump" than Krump itself.
The encounter changed me as a choreographer and as a person. It showed me what it can mean to live in black skin in the outskirts of Paris, in a life often concerned with sheer survival. Travelling with the dancers through French and German cities, I saw that classism and racism are real – and have real consequences.
Team & credits
Team
PROJECT, CHOREOGRAPHY Malgven Gerbes, David Brandstätter | DANCE, COLLABORATION Raphael Hillebrand, Waldo Pierre, Emilie Ouedraogo Spencer, Anthony Jean, Alan Page | DRAMATURGIC ADVICE Howard Katz | VIDEO Christoph Lemmen, Malgven Gerbes | LIGHT DESIGN Bruno Pocheron, Ruth Waldeyer | MUSIC Jim Sert, David Brandstätter | PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT Katja Kettner, Christine Elbel | TOURING Alix Pellet, Clémence Rey | PRODUCTION s h i f t s – art in movement | COPRODUCTION Les Hivernales d’Avignon; Le TRIANGLE, Cité de la Danse, Rennes; La Villette – Résidence d’artistes; fabrik Potsdam: Artists-in-residence; Uferstudios - Tanzfabrik Berlin | WITH THE SUPPORT OF Haupstadtkulturfonds Berlin; La Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles de Haute-Normandie; La Région Haute-Normandie
Performances
2016 Festival Pharenheit, Le Phare – CCN du Havre Normandie, at Le Tetris, Le Havre (FR) – invited again
2015 Le Triangle – Cité de la Danse, Rennes (FR) – French premiere | Opéra de Rennes (FR) – solo version | Festival Made in Potsdam, fabrik Potsdam (DE) | Festival des Cultures Urbaines, Canteleu (FR) | Festival Tanzoffensive, Lofft, Leipzig (DE) | Villette Street Festival, Parc de la Villette, Paris (FR) | Théâtre de la Joliette-Minoterie with KLAP, Marseille (FR)
2014 Uferstudios Berlin (DE) – premiere | Previews: Festival Pharenheit, Le Phare – CCN du Havre Normandie, at Le Tetris, Le Havre (FR, January), Les Hivernales d'Avignon (FR), Tanznacht Berlin (DE) – open studio, Question de Danse, KLAP Marseille (FR)
