Salim Mzé Hamadi Moissi: L´Expat + Oulouy: Black

L’Expat is a dance solo about leaving, returning, and life across multiple cultures. In it, Salim Mzé Hamadi Moissi draws on his own experience as someone who lived away from home and, upon returning, is once again searching for a connection to his roots. With humor, energy, and precise physicality, he explores questions of identity, belonging, and cultural memory. The production speaks to crossing borders, returning home, and how, after years away from one’s own culture, a person’s relationship to their place of origin changes.

Salim Mzé Hamadi Moissi (France) is a choreographer, performer, and artistic director originally from the Comoros, an island nation in the Indian Ocean between the east coast of Africa and Madagascar. He is the founder of the Compagnie Tché-Za, through which he develops contemporary dance in the Comoros and connects it to the international scene. In his work, he blends hip hop, krump, contemporary dance, and traditional Comorian movement cultures. His work stems from a strong physicality, personal experience, and questions of memory, identity, and the relationship to the place from which one comes.

Black is a dance piece in which choreographer and performer Oulouy reflects on both the violence and the emancipation of Black identity in the contemporary world. Through a vulnerable yet celebrated body and a minimalist, symbolically charged stage, he references recent history, including the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd. The production combines dance, visuals, and music into a powerful chronicle expressed through the street styles of Africa and its American diaspora—from coupé-décalé and ndomboló to afrohouse and krump.

Oulouy (France) is a choreographer and performer originally from the Ivory Coast, based in Spain. In his work, he combines the street dance of Africa and its diaspora in the U.S. with a powerful visual and political statement. He is the creator of the works Black, Afrikan Party, and Kong, which have been presented on major international stages. He received an award from Catalan critics for the choreography of Afrikan Party.

This event is intended for audiences aged 12 and older.