In the mid-90s, the style produced by the Parisian b-boying scene stunned the world with a new vision of breakdance. Wild Cat, Saïdo Lehlouh’s first choreographic attempt, created in 2018, foregrounds this style distinguished by its fluidity and its truly feline refinement. The dancer and choreographer’s stint as a breaker with the Bad Trip Crew informs the sincerity of his gesture which tends toward introspection and submission to gravity while lending explosive force to his performance within the circle.
Having cut his teeth on street dance, the choreographer offers an alternative sequel to his début show with his 2019 composition, Apaches. Saïdo Lehlouh makes use of the authenticity afforded by improvisation in a versatile stage piece that perpetually adapts to the context of each performance. Whether in a public space or on stage, Apaches arranges bodies and sets them to rhythm in a transitional space where the circulating energies and sincere intentionality are the message.
By taming the floor through touch, “Darwin” continuously builds a corporal vocabulary responsive to the needs of the moment. With his partner Johanna Faye, the other member of the Black Sheep dance company, Saïdo Lehlouh explores in Iskio (2015), and later in Fact (2017), the possibilities of speaking out in a choreographic dialog. Together, Saïdo Lehlouh and Johanna Faye created Earthbound (2021), a celebration through dance of the rebel and underground hip hop scene’s diversity which questions the stage’s performative codes.
