“One day, by chance, I found myself at a neighborhood party with the West Indian and Arab children of the fathers with whom I had been in the factory. They didn't know the working culture and didn't have this idea at all that they had a culture to offer. Whereas in hip hop, there was a joy in asserting one's difference. I became aware of the strength, of the lever represented by hip hop as an expression of the underprivileged classes. I wanted to film this. It took me 3 years to find financing. TV thought it was American subculture and didn't understand that it was an autodidact culture, different from that of Power. In addition, their samples, their DIY and montages resemble what I do in my films."

- Jean-Pierre Thorn

 In June 2009, Mourad Merzouki was appointed director of the CCN de   Créteil and Val-de-Marne (National Choreography Centre), where he has   developed his vision of dance as “an open window on the world”. Since   the creation of the Käfig Company in 1996, the choreographer has been able to expand the language of hip-hop by working at where multiple   disciplines intersect: circus, martial arts, contemporary dance and   more. His pieces are currently touring the world. Supported by the State and local authorities, the Centres chorégraphiques nationaux (CCN) promote the development of dance, both through the creative impulse of their directors-choreographers, but also by supporting choreographic artists of various styles, by presenting works and by raising public awareness of the art of dance.

Today there are 19 Centres chorégraphiques nationaux. The CCN de Créteil is one of the first to have been created, by Maguy Marin. Three of them are now run by hip-hop choreographers, in Créteil (Mourad Merzouki), La Rochelle (Kader Attou) and Rennes (FAIR-E collective).

Mourad Merzouki has been at the head of the Centre chorégraphique national de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne / Compagnie Käfig since 2009. He is developing an artistic project that is both open to the world and rooted in the territory, transcending aesthetic, cultural and social boundaries. Tours, workshops, residencies, the Kalypso festival : there are many opportunities to discover and celebrate hip-hop dance, an art form that has become, in over 30 years, a strong marker of the cultural identity of our heritage.