Ismael Mouaraki
Of French and Moroccan origins, Ismaël Mouaraki discovered urban dance at the age of twelve in his native region, Nancy, France. He discovered the contemporary choreographic language in contact with the choreographer Xavier Lot in residence at the André Malraux Cultural Center (National Stage of Vandoeuvre), with whom he collaborated as a performer for over three years. A helping hand that allowed the artist to emancipate himself.
Artist and entrepreneur of body and mind
For him, dance is a vector of social phenomena and the human condition: when Ismaël begins a research process, it is to discover the imprints left by our cultural and social environment, which inevitably sculpt our bodies.
Whether in Loops (2008), in the duo Slam en/Corps (2009) in collaboration with the slam poet Queen KA, in his solo RefleXction (2010), or his group pieces Lien(s) (2016), oZe (2019), and Phenomena (2019), everything revolves around the notions of polarities, control, domination, and the perception of the individual within the group. In his latest creation, Le sacre de Lila (2022), he brings together 10 dancers from Quebec and Morocco on stage to celebrate the sacred rituals of his country of origin.
From his first steps in hip-hop to the presentation of his works in renowned international spaces such as the Agora de la danse in Montreal, the Lincoln Center for the Arts in New York, the PAMS in Seoul or the Internationale Tanzmesse nrw in Düsseldorf, Ismaël Mouaraki has taken artistic and creative risks. Self-taught, Ismaël knows the paths that lead to surpassing oneself. As a choreographer, dancer and teacher, Ismaël works on the development of dance through choreographic commissions in Canada and Europe, as a teacher in professional training centers such as the École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal, or alongside renowned choreographers such as Xavier Lot, Tony Masckott, the Accrorap company, Philippe Découflé, Hélène Blackburn and Dominique Porte.
He choreographed the Pink Carnaval parade presented in honor of fashion designer Jean-Paul Gauthier at the Just for Laughs Festival. This production, freely inspired by Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco, is a meeting of dance, circus, and visual arts. More recently, Ismaël worked with aspiring circus artists from the National Circus School in Montreal on Pop-Corps, a short creation from the Triptych program by Marc Béland, Edgar Zendejas and Ismaël Mouaraki.
In 2019, he is co-recipient of the Prix Envol awarded by the Prix de la danse de Montréal and the Conseil des arts de Montréal ex aequo with the company Tentacle Tribe, which values the cultural diversity of the Montreal dance community.
Again at Prix de la danse de Montréal, he received in 2023 the award for the best choreographic work given by the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec for his piece Le sacre de Lila.
