Review: COMPAGNIE KÄFIG: PIXEL at John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts

Contemporary dancers Compagnie Käfig had its audience gasping, laughing, cheering – and ultimately leaping to a standing ovation on the final night of its three-performance run of Pixel at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre on September 1.

Compagnie Käfig merges elements of hip hop with modern dance, circus, and technological wizardry in its highly innovative production, Pixel, which has been seen by audiences in more than 30 countries around the world, including their performance in August at the famed Jacob’s Pillow Festival.

In creating Pixel, artistic director and choreographer Mourad Merzouki collaborated with digital artists Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne to merge innovative light projections with dancers’ movement to explore the connections between virtual and living environments. 

At times human muscle and sinew is the focus, other times digital brilliance captures our attention. Light projections nod to nature: waves, snow, bubbles, stars. Dancers and technology seamlessly merge – there’s a playful interaction between the two.

As much as the technical wonder adds an exciting new element, even without the added extras these dancers are stunning, strong and completely captivating. The 11 dancers featured in Pixel (Remi RMS Autechaud, Rachi ZK Aziki, Kader Belmoktar, Daravirak Bun, Sabri Mucho Colin, Ibrahima Ibou Mboup, Julien Seijo, Maxim Thach, Paul Thao, Nina Van der Pyl and Medesseganvi Swing Yetongnon) have energy, freshness and precision to spare. They are a cohesive ensemble, yet there are moments that feature the talents and techniques of individual dancers.

Choreographer Merzouki is working at the intersection of dance and state-of-the-art technology yet he plays with one of human’s earliest technological feats: the wheel. There’s a dynamic hip hop dancer on rollerblades, an artist circling within an acrobatic Cyr wheel, dancers powering forward on their bellies on wheeled boards. Artists bend their bodies into wheels. Dancers spin on the stage like wheels.

Movement fills the space – top to bottom, side to side. From back spins on the floor to tossing dancers in the air, rolling by on skates, spinning in a hoop, slithering on the stage or flipping in a handspring. Even tiny knee-high robots – fancy cousins to a Roomba vacuum – roll by from time to time. Light projections spin, bounce and stretch within the Eisenhower’s proscenium arch and, at times, reach across the floor.

Armand Amar’s music design bridges the natural and technical worlds with both modern and classical elements. It is full, lush and driving, featuring strings, keyboards, percussion and brief vocals.

The Kennedy Center audience was diverse – tweens with parents, gray-haired balletomanes, Doc Martens next to Louboutin heels. Yet Pixel found ways to dazzle and engage its varied audience, prompting the 1,100 attendees to a rousing standing ovation. The artists were visibly moved by the response.

The company last performed at the Kennedy Center in 2014 – let’s hope we don’t need to wait nearly as long to welcome the innovative company back to the area.

Runtime: 70 minutes with no intermission

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