Photo: Aaron Stratmann
His aesthetics have changed over the years. At first branded as the cinéaste among the young, up-and- coming contemporary choreographers because of his stagings that were a mixture of live video, dance and cinematic quotes, he has recently turned his attention towards western youth culture. He explores his topics through improvisation, discussions, questions, bodily “tasks“ and games, coupling them with the biographies and everyday lives of the performers. Approaching his themes via the differing perspectives of the people involved; his method of blending fact and parts made up, of private and social issues obliterates the constraints of reality and fiction, which is a quality that lends these works their distinctive characteristics: They are at once entertaining and sensual, delightfully meditative and, in a way, tragicomical.
Samir Akika is a choreographer, director and curator. Born in Algier and raised in a Paris suburb, he studied physics, mathematics and sports in Paris and Miami at first. He came to dance late and studied at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. Since then, he has worked as a freelance dancer and choreographer with a close bond to the Theater im Pumpenhaus in Münster. Apart from his acclaimed stage productions for adults he has already globally realized projects with adolescents from Johannesburg to Nuremberg, Berlin, Havana and Gelsenkirchen and on to Kampnagel in Hamburg.
