Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr & Rauf Yasit (RubberLegz)

Cracks.

For RubberLegz alias Rauf Yasit, as for many others, hip hop became a place where he could free himself from the dreariness of his everyday life and dream away: Graffiti and tags on the walls of buildings seemed to him like cracks, behind which completely unknown worlds opened up - like urban dance. Today, nothing works without it. This is because the childhood game has long since become a fiercely competitive business for recognition on the international scene, so much so that it has become professionalized.

For "Cracks", Yasit, who lives and works as a sought-after hip-hop choreographer in Los Angeles, returns to the country where it all began for him - and sets off with the Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr in search of traces. They resurrect the liberating cracks and dreams of childhood, ask about the stories that shaped the dancers' bodies and allow the present and past to meet in a tense dialog between childlike play and professional aspirations, naïve curiosity and flawless functionality.

Founded in 2023, the Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr is Germany's first funded professional ensemble from urban culture. It sees hip-hop as a democratic art form and choreographic language for a young, diverse generation. In its productions, it combines street energy with artistic precision - raw, reflective and radically contemporary.

"An evening full of darkness, anger and harshness... makes you feel the strength of the young dancers, their confidence and the joy of life." (Deutschlandfunk)

"Rarely do you experience so much authenticity on stage. Frenetic applause" (Westdeutsche Zeitung)

Choreography: Rauf Yasit
Choreographic assistance: Christian Zacharas
Dance: Lisha Chen, Jari Harder, Jonas Krämer, Maksim Kuznetsov, Tonia Kyriakou, Toschkin Schalnich, Melena Tortoh
Stage design: Aaron Stratmann
Costume design: Frederike Coors
Sound design: Kilian Unger
Lighting design: Birk-André Hildebrandt
Lighting: Moritz Bütow
Artistic direction: Zekai Fenerci
Production assistance: Eva Pageix

"Cracks" is a production by Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr and Pottporus in cooperation with PACT Zollverein. The Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the "Neue Künste Ruhr" program and by the City of Herne.