MDC Live Arts & Olympia Theater Present French Algerian Dance Company Cie Herve Koubi
Miami, Jan. 18, 2018 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) MDC Live Arts, Miami’s most eclectic performing arts series continues its groundbreaking season, Ojala/Inshallah: Wishes from the Muslim World, partnering with Olympia Theater to present the breathtaking dance company Cie Herve Koubi in What The Day Owes to the Night at 8pm on Feb. 10 at the Olympia Theater.
Cie Hervé Koubi makes its Miami debut with a highly physical, fluid work featuring 12 French-Algerian and West African male dancers, hailed as a “stunning fusion of acrobatics, gymnastics, b-boying, modern dance and ballet” by The Washington Post.
The piece is an exploration and reconnection to the director‘s North African roots. The French-born choreographer Herve Koubi only learned of his Algerian heritage as an adult. The revelation prompted his first trip to Algiers at age of 25, where he held auditions, received 250 (mostly self-taught) dancers and selected twelve, whom he calls his “found brothers.”
The rest is choreographic history.
“I went to Algeria to make light in my dark [because unknown] history. I had to give life to my orientalist dreams, I had to do it with dance. I had to do it with dancers from Algeria using their specific skills. The youth of Algeria is like that, full of power, full of dreams also. Our paths crossed and gave forth this unique dance project,” Koubi said.
In addition to admiring their tremendous athletic skill, Koubi was impressed by his dancers’ ability to convey the meaning of this piece. Together with the elements of music, set and costume, they help bridge Koubi’s European upbringing with his roots on the other side of the Mediterranean. Dressed in flowing white, they exude grace and masculinity amid a backdrop of imagery evocative of Orientalist paintings and Islamic architecture, all to a musical score that combines Sufi song and Bach with Nubian composer Hamza El Din and the Kronos Quartet. The result is pure alchemy.
About the Artist:
Hervé Koubi grew up in the South of France where he studied both biology and dance at the University of Aix-en-Provence before graduating as a Pharmaceutical Doctor in 2002. After deciding to concentrate on a dancing career and graduating from the world-renowned Rosella Hightower School of Dance in Cannes, Koubi gained professional experience as a dancer with the Opera de Marseille as well as with Jean-Charles Gil and Jean-Christophe Paré, respectively former principal dancers with the National Ballet de Marseille and the Paris Opera Ballet. He is Associate Choreographer at the Pole National Supérieur de Danse since 2014 and at the Conservatoire de Danse de Brive-la-Gaillarde since 2015. Hervé Koubi was awarded the French medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
Koubi created his first personal project in 2000 (Le Golem) and has since collaborated with Guillaume Gabriel for all his creations, among them: Menagerie and Les abattoirs, fantaisie…; 4′30″.; Promenade de la Croisette in Cannes, Les Heures Florissantes for the Festival Cadence in Arcachon; as well as creating the contemporary and unusual work Moon Dogs — a Discovery of the movements of Hip-Hop. He’s created three works based on written works: Coppelia, une fiancée aux yeux d’email, The Supremes (with writer Chantal Thomas) and Bref séjour chez les vivants (with Roman Panassié). He also collaborated on video dance projects: Max Vadukul for Yoji Yamamato’s Chic Chef, Pierre Magnol for Body Concrete, and Ovoid Edges, Pierre Magnol et Michel Guimbard for Body Concrete 2, and Stephane Chazelon for Une Histoire de Traces. In 2009 he initiated a collaboration with Ivorian dancers from the Beliga Kopé Company for the creation of Un rendezvous en Afrique.
Since 2010, he has been working with a group of 12 dancers from Algeria and Burkina Faso, all now French residents, for several productions: El Din (2010-2011), What the day owes to the night (2013), Le rêve de Léa (2014), Des hommes qui dansent (2014), Les nuits barbares (2015), and Les premiers matins du monde (2016). In addition to its extensive touring in France for several years, the company’s 2016-2017 season featured a total of 65 performances in both Europe and North America.
WHAT: Cie. Herve Koubi: What the Day Owes to the Night
WHEN: Saturday, Feb 10, at 8 pm
WHERE: Olympia Theater
174 E. Flagler Street
TICKETS: $55, $38, $25 plus fees at www.olympiatheater.org
>> Click here for photos
>> Click here for video
To purchase tickets, and for more information about the 2017-18 MDC Live Arts Season, call 305-237-3010, or visit mdclivearts.org.
MDC Live Arts is Miami’s most eclectic performing arts series. Created in 1990 as Cultura del Lobo, MDC Live Arts has a celebrated history of bringing extraordinary national and international performing artists to Miami. The annual series presents today’s most exciting artists and designs meaningful engagement between these artists, the students of MDC, and the greater community. MDC Live Arts seeks artists from across the globe who push boundaries and honor traditions relevant to Miami’s diverse community, and aims to offer audiences opportunities to discover new ideas, perspectives and forms of expression. For more information, please visit www.mdclivearts.org.
Ojalá/Inshallah: Wishes from The Muslim World is made possible by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art’s Building Bridges Program. The Building Bridges Program is the grant-making arm of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, which is an extension of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The program supports national efforts to advance relationships, increase understanding, and reduce bias between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. The mission of DDFIA is to promote the study, understanding and appreciation of Muslim arts and cultures. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org/what-we-fund/building-bridges.
The programs of MDC Live Arts are made possible with the generous support of: Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; the National Endowment for the Arts; and National Performance Network (NPN). MDC Live Arts is a Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). Major NPN contributors include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Amal is a National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by MDC Live Arts in partnership with Su Teatro, MACLA and NPN/VAN.
Aabout the Olympia Theater
The Olympia Theater opened in 1926 as Downtown Miami’s palace for silent movies and vaudeville. Olympia Center, Inc., the non-profit organization managing the City-owned, historic venue on Flagler Street in Downtown Miami, has been working since 2010 to bring exciting new programming to Miami’s historic Performing Arts Center.
The Programs of Olympia Theater are made possible with the generous support of: Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the Miami Downtown Development Authority; the State of Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs and the City of Miami.
MDC Live Arts Contacts: Alexa Burneikis, Marketing Manager, 305-237-7733, aburneik@mdc.edu
Select requests: Lisa Palley, Palley Promotes, 305-642-3132, lpalley@bellsouth.net;