A major figure in hip hop choreography since the 1990s, Mourad Merzouki embodies an art in perpetual transformation. He began training in martial arts and circus arts at the age of 7 in the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest, before discovering hip hop at the age of 15, a seminal encounter that has shaped his entire artistic career.
In 1989, he co-founded the Accrorap company with Kader Attou, Eric Mezino and Chaouki Saïd. Together, they helped take hip-hop dance from street battles to national and international stages. Their piece Athina (1994) marked a turning point in this artistic legitimization. In 1996, Mourad Merzouki founded his own company, Käfig – a word meaning “cage” in Arabic and German – as a manifesto of freedom: refusing to be locked into a single style or form, while honoring the heritage of the street.
Mourad Merzouki’s unique aesthetic is a blend of hip hop, circus, martial arts, visual arts, live music and video. He constantly explores new choreographic territories, without ever denying the social, geographical and political roots of hip hop culture. This openness has led him to collaborate with artists from a wide range of backgrounds, creating a universal stage language driven by emotion, poetic gesture and physical commitment.
In addition to the 37 pieces created, some of which have become emblematic (Pixel, Boxe Boxe, Vertikal…), he has conquered more than 65 countries with over 4,000 performances, reaching more than two million spectators. In parallel with this worldwide recognition, Mourad Merzouki is heavily involved in the transmission and structuring of hip hop as an artistic discipline in its own right. In 2009, he founded the Centre chorégraphique Pôle Pik in Bron, then created the Karavel festival, which has become a key event on the French hip-hop scene.
That same year, he was appointed director of the Centre chorégraphique national de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne, where for thirteen years he led a project entitled Dance, a window on the world. He advocates access to culture for all, support for emerging companies and a cross-disciplinary approach. He also founded the Kalypso festival, which energizes the hip-hop scene in the Paris region.
In 2023, after leaving the CCN de Créteil, he brought the Compagnie Käfig back to Bron and Saint-Priest, returning to the territory of his beginnings. The same year, he was asked to choreograph the free ballet for the French artistic swimming team in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in collaboration with coach Julie Fabre. He infuses a more organic and committed style, choosing the song Mesdames by Grand Corps Malade to deliver a powerful message.
During the 2024 Olympics, his company is also performing as part of the Trokad’héros project, in front of the Eiffel Tower, bringing together 30 dancers and street artists for four days of performances in front of 55,000 spectators.
Recognized by his peers and institutions (Petit Larousse illustré 2019, DRAC, Caisse des Dépôts, Who’s Who…), Mourad Merzouki embodies a vision of dance at the crossroads of worlds, genres and audiences. He defends a generous art form in motion, which refuses to be compartmentalized and encourages dialogue between cultures, disciplines and emotions.
