Accrorap

• 1989
• France

In 1989, dancer and choreographer Kader Attou founded the hip hop collective Accrorap with a band of like-minded artists, some of whom have gone on to forge choreographic careers of their own. This was to be the start of a remarkable, international, collective adventure. The company immediately set about transcending their origins, striking up a dynamic dialogue between Hip Hop and contemporary dance. Their approach to art was inspired by a profound commitment to the principle of creative exchange, bringing together acrobats and street dancers of all kinds with fellow dancers from the four corners of the world.

Thanks to Accrorap, Hip Hop became an established force on the contemporary dance scene.
Kader Attou’s style is informed by a diverse array of cultural influences (Algerian, Indian, Brazilian and more). His vision of dance is defined by its constant exploration of ideas of identity, the fundamental force shaped by upheavals, clashes and contradictions: assimilation and exclusion, the esoteric and the popular, modernity and tradition, Europe and Africa, East and West, spontaneity and meticulous preparation…

Kader Attou is at the forefront of contemporary dance, imbuing the discipline with a new vocabulary, a new sense of meaning, a new purpose.
In 2008 he was appointed Director of the National Centre for Choreography in La Rochelle, becoming the first hip hop dancer to head such a prestigious institution.