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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Compagnie Hervé KOUBI: Sol Invictus

Jan 23–28, 2024
175 8th Ave, New York, NY 10011, USA

The men and, now, women of Compagnie Hervé Koubi spin on the floor, fall from a platform made of their fellow dancers’ shoulders into a soft nest made of their arms, and tumble through the air—like a vision. For Sol Invictus, the latest evening-length work from this French company with North African roots, billows of parachute cloth and the tight weave of soft-palmed drumming supplement the loose garments flaring around the dancers’ limbs to create this silken dream. But whatever the show, it is a Koubi signature to soften normally bravado steps (the b-boy head spin, the capoeira kick) so they appear at once organic and mystical. Chez Herve Koubi, plain stuff becomes poetry. —Apollinaire Scherr