Meaning “cage” in Arabic and German, this name indicates his open-mindedness and his refusal to be confined by one style.

From 1996 to the present day, he has created 32 plays, which have gone from strength to strength. In all, more than 2 million spectators have discovered his company’s creations in 4,000 performances in France and abroad, in 65 countries. To support hip-hop creation, he designed a venue for choreographic creation and development: the Centre chorégraphique Pôle Pik opened its doors in Bron in 2009. The establishment of this venue gave impetus to the Karavel festival, which has become a key event for hip-hop dance on the national scene.  In June 2009, the choreographer was appointed director of the Centre chorégraphique national de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne. He is developing a project entitled Dance, a window on the world, in which openness is the watchword. Alongside the creation and dissemination of his shows, he continues to work on training and raising awareness of hip-hop dance, by creating original encounters that promote access to the art of choreography and support for independent teams. In 2013, he created the Kalypso festival, giving hip-hop dance companies a new platform for visibility in the Paris region.

In March 2016, he was appointed artistic advisor to Pôle en Scènes in Bron, a project that brings together the Pôle Pik choreography centre and the Espace Albert Camus around a shared ambition for the dissemination, training and creation of live performance. It remains faithful to its artistic approach, proposing to build bridges between disciplines, to open up spaces and to invest them with an ever-widening audience. In January 2023, after 13 years at the helm of the CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne, he will relocate the Compagnie Käfig to the east of Lyon, in Bron and Saint-Priest, reconnecting with the area where he grew up. 

 A leading figure in the hip-hop movement since the early 1990s, the choreographer’s work is at the crossroads of multiple disciplines. Circus, martial arts, visual arts, video and live music are all grafted onto hip-hop dance, opening up new horizons for dance.  Her training took root at the age of 7 in the martial arts and circus arts of Saint-Priest. At the age of 15, his encounter with hip-hop culture led him to the world of dance. 

He founded his first company, Accrorap, in 1989, with Kader Attou, Eric Mezino and Chaouki Saïd. He developed this movement, born in the street, while at the same time experimenting with other choreographic languages, notably with Maryse Delente, Jean-François Duroure and Josef Nadj.

In 1994, the company presented Athina at the Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, a real success that brought hip-hop dance from the streets to the stage. To develop his artistic universe, he decided to found his own company in 1996, which took the name of his inaugural piece: Käfig.

Mourad Merzouki has been a member of the commission for choreographic creation of the DRAC Île-de-France and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. He is a member of the Caisse des Dépôts dance patronage committee and is listed in Who’s Who. He will be included in the Petit Larousse Illustré in 2019.