Hip-hop meets Sufism with UCSD-bound French dance troupe Compagnie Hervé Koubi

sd-1515531773-55mwejekuf-snap-image — Compagnie Hervé Koubi’s members don’t defy gravity, but their dance performances certainly make it seem as if they do.

Jan. 13, 2018

9 AM

What happens when the worlds of hip-hop and Sufism meet and merge on stage at a dance performance? You can find out when Compagnie Hervé Koubi makes its area debut Wednesday at UC San Diego. Led by French choreographer Koubi, 41, the 12-man troupe of African and French Algerian male dancers will perform “What the Day Owes to the Night” (“Ce Que le Jour Doit à la Nuit”). Named after a novel by Yasmina Khadra, it combines elements of Capoeira, Algerian street dancing, martial arts, hip-hop, gymnastics, contemporary dance and whirling dervish-inspired spins. “Night” also incorporates classical and Nubian music, plus imagery that draws from Islamic architecture.

ArtPower! presents Compagnie Hervé Koubi — “What the Day Owes to the Night”: 8 p.m. Wednesday. Mandeville Auditorium, 9500 Gilman Drive, UC San Diego, La Jolla. $28-$46. (858) 534-8497 or artpower.ucsd.edu/

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga

Arts | Coolture

George Varga

Veteran San Diego Union-Tribune pop music critic George Varga began drumming in rock bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, Varga has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing at the U-T and is a voting member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to providing live coverage of the Grammy Awards and festivals from Coachella and KAABOO to the 1994 edition of Woodstock, he has interviewed everyone from Ray Charles, Miles Davis and Britney Spears to Willie Nelson, Kanye West and Bruno Mars. A double first-prize winner at the 2018 Society of Professional Journalists awards, Varga is also a contributing writer for Jazz Times magazine and has written for Billboard, Spin and other publications. After attending San Diego City College and San Diego State University, he created and taught the 2002 UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga lives with his wife in North Park.