Sol Invictus (Compagnie Hervé Koubi)

About This Event

A Chicago debut for choreographer Hervé Koubi's company, blending contemporary dance, hip hop, and capoeira and other martial arts into a single, physically ferocious piece named for Rome's 'invincible sun' deity. Not ballet, not breakdancing — genuinely its own thing.

Koubi's own story shapes everything about this company. He grew up in France, trained as a pharmacist before switching to dance, and believed himself to be of French and Italian descent for most of his life — until his father, on his deathbed, showed him a photo of Koubi's own grandfather in traditional Arab dress. At 25, that single photo sent him to Algeria in 2009 searching for a heritage he'd never known he had. He recruited the company's dancers on that trip — eleven from Algeria, one from Burkina Faso — mostly street and acrobatic dancers rather than classically trained ballet performers, and built a choreographic style around their existing skills: capoeira, martial arts, gravity-defying acrobatics fused into contemporary movement.

Worth knowing: showtime is 7:30 PM, and tickets start at $57 — check harristheaterchicago.org for seating.