Review from: Circusstad Festival, Theater Rotterdam Great Hall, Rotterdam; 3rd May 2025, 20.30
There is an almost absurd difference in scale in this festival between KA-IN, this show on Rotterdam Theatre’s vast main stage directed by Raphaëlle Boitel, and the small-scale street piece La Lévitation Réelle directed by her brother Camille Boitel. For a start, KA-IN has been created with the 13-strong Moroccan Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger.
The set is dark, with slats in the wall at the back that light comes through, while the ceiling is studded with oblongs that allow illumination as if from a lightwell. The sense is of being in an old walled city, shaded to the dark maximum, that is sometimes buzzing with life, other times silent. Within the city, an emerging youthful population – standing out in their colourful western clothing – tries to make sense of life, find love, breach boundaries and fight back against those who would hold you down, those who would oppress you.
Breakdancers are moved on by older citizens, families oppose a request for marriage, a woman is held back from making her own way, a man loses his mind, a rescue is effected, community enforcers knuckle down on individuals who challenges the norm. In the latter, in a Chaplinesque walk adopted by one of the acrobats is a hint of Boitel’s years spent performing with James Thiérrée.
Throughout, there is the most sensational acrobatic tumbling, directed by Sanae El Kamouni, from a furious flurry of somersaults in a market melee to a body launched through the air as a lover tries to connect with her partner. Acrobats stack two and three high, creating walls to mobility or societal change, and others leap, bound and climb in desperate attempts to overcome them.
Accentuating everything is Tristan Baudoin’s cinematic lighting which dramatically impacts our sense of what is happening, from a spotlight sweeping through the slats at the back of the stage, flickering through the performers and at times blinding the audience, to fast strobes that hold acrobats stationary mid-Arabian. Smoke practically fills the stage but there’s just enough to see a trapeze artist spinning at speed, at another moment a change in lighting reveals an acrobat moving with great poise on just his hands. A particular treat of Baudoin’s lighting is the moment he brilliantly blurs a cross-stage flurry of somersaults.
Conflict is at the heart of this show, not simplistic baddy versus goody, but concerning circumstances of crowding, generational opinions, historical borders, paradoxical positions, religious doctrine. Humanity, however, is to the fore and with it there is optimism. At the end, the crowd faces towards a light; light at the end of the tunnel, the prospect of a different and better future.
Whether you go for the acrobatics, for the emerging youthful world portrayed, or both, this is a compelling show.
Direction and choreography: Raphaëlle Boitel
Performers:
Hamidou Aboubakar Sidiki / Hip-hop dancer B-Boy
Mohcine Allouch / Hip-hop dancer B-Boy
Hammad Benjkiri / Base
Zhor El Amine Demnati / Hip-hop dancer B-Girl
Achraf El Kati /Acrobat
Bouchra El Kayouri / Acrobat, rope dancer
Youssef El Machkouri / Acrobat, base
Mohammed Guechri / Hip-hop dancer
Hamza Naceri / Acrobat
Kwatar Niha / Acrobat
Youssef Salihi / Hip-hop & popping danser
Hassan Taher / Acrobat, rope dancer
Mohammed Takel / Acrobat, juggler
Artistic collaboration, lighting, staging : Tristan Baudoin
Assistant director : Sanae El Kamouni
Original music : Arthur Bison
Choreography coach & trainer : Mohamed Rarhib & Julieta Salz
Partners technical creation : Thomas Delot / Nicolas Lourdelle / Anthony Nicolas
Amplification stage and sound : Joël Abriac / Tom d’Herin
Technical Director : Laure Andurand / Marine David
Production and Logistics Manager : Romane Blandin
Production and Distribution : Jean-François Pyka
Administration, Production & Development : Aizeline Wille
Tanger Acrobatique Group Director : Sanae El Kamouni
