BWW Interviews: A Conversation with Zekai Fenerci of RENEGADE, Germany's Premier Hip Hop Dance Company

RENEGADE (under the umbrella of the Pottporus Association) realizes free dance theater productions with national and international partners, dancers, choreographers and cultural institutions - with a focus on street art. The hallmark of Renegade Productions is the equal combination of different dance styles and the influence of the artistic elements of street art (graffiti, breakdancing) and takes this principle nationally and internationally acclaimed. Renegade was awarded the main prize at the theater forced NRW 2004, the Herald Angel 2004, the Guardian's Best Physical Theatre and the Fringe First Award 2004. Recently, Renegade was invited to the Germany Dance Platform 2012 in Dresden, presenting one of the 10 best dance German productions.

Founded in Herne in 2003, Renegade immediately managed to gain a place in the European off-theater scene with its first project, "Rumble," a Hip Hop interpretation of Shakespeare's classic "Romeo and Juliet". After much acclaimed victories at NRW Theaterzwang 2004, Germany and the international Fringe Festival 2004 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the crew started touring through Europe, India and the Middle East and joined the Harare Festival in Simbabwe, Africa. As far as directing and choreography are concerned, Renegade regularly works together with young and praised freelance choreographers like Samir Akika, Patricia Noworol, Julio Cesar Iglesias Ungo, and Lorca Renoux.

The Patricia Noworol Dance Theater (PNDT), a NYC-based company committed to the creation of unique dance and physical theater performances that demand life, passion, and physicality, presents the U.S. premiere of Patricia Noworol's latest work ?Culture over the course of three evenings June 13 - 15, 2013. Celebrating its five year anniversary, PNDT is joined by the award-winning Hip Hop troupe, RENEGADE (Herne, Germany), in this risk-taking, provocative piece that sharply criticizes institutionalized culture and business.

Broadwayworld sat down recently to discuss Renegade with its artistic director, Zekai Fenerci.

Q. What prompted you to found Renegade in 2003?

A. Before 2003, I was engaged with the Hip Hop Scene on several projects. Then a theater from Herne gave me a DVD of some French group and asked me to give my opinion. This was the first time I saw break dancers performing in dance concerts. I was fully aware that the dancers from that French Group were not very good, but it planted an idea in my mind: "Why can' we do that here on our own?" It seemed simple enough. Then In 2003 I met Markus Michalowski and Lorca Renoux, both of them graduates from the renowned Folkwang University in Essen. They had contacts within the theater community, and we got together and discussed the idea of creating breakdancer theater pieces.

Q.When did hip-hop first catch on in Germany?

A. The first Hip Hop Movements appeared right at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 198s. It started gaining popularity and receiving attention in newspapers and television.

Q. Why was the company founded in Herne, not some major German city?

A. The Ruhr-region is Germany's most populated area, where many big cities are very close to each other. It's a working area with multicultural influences. So it's a welcoming environment.

Q. How would you define Hip Hop?

For me, Hip Hop is all about power. It's a very adaptable art form. I see Renegade's challenge in how we can give Hip Hop Culture a new element with dancing. In Germany, there is a very strong emphasis on the division between high culture and so-called sub-culture, so I am trying to promote an equal understanding of different dance styles. We open up to other institutions and organizations I always clearly say that Hip Hop is not a trendy decoration, but a serious component within a complex society.

Q. The company's first project, Rumble, an interpretation of the Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was first produced in 2003. Why did you pick Romeo and Juliet? How did audiences respond to this in Germany and other countries?

A. The first production offered audiences easy access to a well known play. We received international and national attention from the theater world. So we started to gain recognition.

Q. Do you look at Hip Hop as something standing alone, or merging with other dance forms?

A. Our work doesn´t understand Hip Hop as something that stands on its own, but a form that can borrow from modern, ballet and bring them together to find a new format, a new way of expression, where the individual keeps his unique style. It's also about the personalities, the characters, and also the people involved in the work. For instance, in ?Culture a production was strongly developed as a process, where the personalities of the people on stage are very essential.

Q. Renegade works together with young talented artists such as Lorca Renoux, Samir Akika and Malou Airaudo. How do you choose the artists you work with?

A. As the artistic director, I decide, and it has a lot to do with the ideas we create within the Renegade team. It's also a very intuitive decision. We are the only ensemble in the North-Rhine Westphalia area that doesn't work with a fixed ensemble structure. Most dance companies work like that, but we are very open and experimental. It's risky, but very interesting.

Q. How did the collaboration with Patricia Noworol start?

A. When I met with Patricia I knew right away that I would like to work with her. It was her personality, energy, and professional experiences. Ruhr 2012 in North-Rhine Westphalia was about to happen, so there was a lot of money for cultural projects at that time, and I asked her to be in charge of the youth productions, development and projects that we were planning to do. Patricia was here for almost the entire year, doing everything from educating the youth to presenting her work at many important events. She also directed two Youth Productions Hömma! and Es geht um Sie, that were met with rave reviews and considerable audience acclaim. Es geht um Sie was also invited to the Explosive! Youth Theater Festival in Bremen in 2011.

Q. How are you associated with Pottporus?

A.I am very connected with the Hip Hop Culture and with the ideas that I find and develop within this network. I always want to explore new ways and Pottporus offers the space to do that. It´s like a house; we feel at home there and can create our ideas and think in new directions all the time. As the artistic director, it is my responsibility to always be in a process to reach the goals that we have set for ourselves.

Q. What are some of your current productions, and how many new productions do you produce every year?

A. Every year we produce two to three new works. At the moment we are performing Out of Body, by Julio Cesar Iglesias Ungo and ?Culture by Patricia Noworol. We will produce two new productions at the end of this year. One will be collaboration with Susanne Linke, the grande dame of German Dance Theater. The other will be a collaboration with Alexis Ferrera Fernandez, a young choreographer and dancer from Cuba who is currently based in Spain.

Q. Are there any differences / similarities between earlier Renegade productions and the recent one, Patricia Noworol's ?Culture, that will be presented in NYC?

A. With ?Culture, Renegade is really exploring a new way of presentation, thanks to Patricia's ideas on dance theater. She likes to break the wall, the connection that exists in performing arts between the performer and the audiences. The biggest difference to me is that ?Culture doesn´t fulfill the expectations that people who know Renegade might have. It is not easy accessible, and that's its power, not its weakness. Of course, you also get passion and beauty, it's all there, but you also get irritation, moments of conflict, contradiction and anger. That´s a big difference compared to other pieces we've done before. The piece really challenges the dancers and the spectators alike. You can't watch and be neutral and go home afterwards. It brings you into another sphere that isn't about escape, but one where you confronting a new form of reality in an aesthetic and sensual way.

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