One of the first contemporary circus collective in Morocco, Colokolo was created in 2013, in Casablanca, by artists from different backgrounds and urban dance performers. Residing in the Fabrique Culturelle des Anciens Abattoirs, the former slaughterhouse of Casablanca turned Cultural Factory, epicentre of the city's cultural and artistic avant-garde, the collective, whose members trained at the Ecole Nationale de Cirque Shems'y in Salé, has become a hub of excellence for the circus arts in the North African country.
While performing in their first shows, which introduced a “narrative” circus style, several members of Colokolo also specialised in aerial acrobatics with world-famous European groups, such as Bascule and Contrebande, as well as the CIE Flip and Fly from the famous Rotterdam School. This is reflected in their haute voltage show, a heart-stopping high-flying act called Chouf le ciel! (Look to the Sky! Or Take a look to the sky!). An electrifying mix of acrobatics, juggling, hip hop to traditional music. The jaw-dropping technique and euphoria of Korean and Hungarian-styleplankjumping are matched at groundlevel, where dancing and sounds from the Gnawa and Chaâbi traditions (a Maghrebi blend of rural and urban music) combine withcutting-edge electro and the wildest rap.
Look to the Sky are six men, five pairs of trousers and a dress; folk songs, a bride-less Moroccan wedding, a hamalate (a woman carrying merchandise to the Moroccan-Spanish border) and lots of flights at dizzying heights of up to nine metres, hovering on the impossible.