Samir Akika

Akika is a choreographer, director, curator and producer. Born in Algiers and raised in a suburb of Paris, he studied Physics, Mathematics and Sport in Paris and Miami before developing his interest in dance, which he studied at the Folkwang University in Essen. Since then he has worked as a freelance dancer and choreographer, closely linked with the Theater im Pumpenhaus in Münster and the Goethe-Institut.
His works tour internationally and have received many awards. As well as his acclaimed stage productions for adults, he also heads regular youth projects all over the world. 2009 – 2011 he received the top award for dance of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Spitzenförderung Tanz des Landes NRW).

In 2009 he founded the label Unusual Symptoms with his long-term production partner Alexandra Morales. From the season 2012/2013, Samir Akika/Unusual Symptoms will assume the theater and dance section at the Theater Bremen.

For Samir Akika, dance is an element of life, and performing an element of personality. Who am I? Where do I belong? What is important to me? His performers seek answers to these existential questions. They aren’t just dancers; they’re also actors, musicians and sprayers. They are specialists from the scene, rebels and those who are in the process of growing up. “Reality is strong enough for me”, is what Samir Akika says. The reality that this choreographer is most interested in aesthetically is found in the subcultures of the young.

He joins narratives, danced life strategies, allegoric film shots and live music like mosaic tiles into a portrait of a generation. Fully in line with his collective Unusual Symptoms, they are more sprayed than drawn: colourful, direct, fast, ironic and anarchistic. Their playfulness hints at the intuitively improvised; their intimacy is touching. Samir Akika is a culprit working on instinct, and he crosses borders. In “Headspin Critical Mess”, staged at the Essen Theatre, independent theatre meets the city theatre, opera singing meets beat boxers, breakdancers clash with piano. In “Young & Furious”, adolescents interview themselves, the society and the environment in three different languages.

In Akika’s current works, dance is no less than a confrontation with one’s own personality, and the stage is a space full of potential for different lifestyles. Life doesn’t always follow the rules. Neither does Samir Akika.

Young & Furious (2011)
9 performers – stage 14 x 10 x 6 m – 110 min

Me & my Mum (2010)
8 performers – stage 12 x 10 x 6 m – 110 min

Welle: Asphaltkultur (2009)
15–18 performers – stage 10 x 8 x 5 m – 90 min

Extended Teenage Era (2007)
7 performers – stage 10 x 10 x 5 m – 120 min