Like for many others, hip-hop became a way for choreographer Rauf Yasit to free himself as a child from the drabness of his everyday life in Germany and dream beyond it. Graffiti and tags on the walls of houses appeared to him like cracks, behind which completely unknown worlds and new cracks opened up, such as urban dance which he made his own. Along his journey from enthusiastic child to professional dancer, the playful beginnings turned into a hard-fought pursuit for recognition in the international scene, which has also has undergone significant professionalization. For ›CRACKS‹, Yasit, who currently lives and works as a sought-after hip-hop choreographer in Los Angeles, returns to the country where it all began for him and, together with the newly founded Urban Arts Ensemble Ruhr, goes in search of traces of the liberating cracks and dreams of childhood and the narratives that have shaped the dancers' bodies, intertwining the present and the past in a tense dialogue between childlike play and professional ambition, naive curiosity, and flawless functionality.

As part of the STREET DREAMS Festival.

Choreography: Rauf Yasit Choreographic assistance: Christian Zacharas Performance: Jonas Krämer, Wenta Ghebrehiwet, Tonia Kyriakou, Stefan Stiller, Melena Tortoh, Leo Vara & Maxim Kuznetsov Dramaturgy: Sebastian Bös Set: Aaron Stratmann Costume: Frederike Coors Sound design: Kilian Unger Light design: Birk Andre Hildebrand Light: Moritz Bütow Artistic director: Zekai Fenerci Assistant to the artistic director: Uta Graßhoff Production management: Maryline Ogboko Production assistant: Eva Pageix

A production of the URBAN ARTS ENSEMBLE RUHR in cooperation with PACT Zollverein. Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW as part of the Neue Künste Ruhr program and the City of Herne.