Cie Chara is a Moroccan-German dance and visual arts company founded in 2022 by performer, photographer and choreographer Yassine Alaoui Ismaili and dancer, hip-hop scholar and choreographer Friederike Frost. Working between Morocco and Germany, the two artists bring together their distinct artistic practices to develop a shared choreographic language rooted in street dance culture, observation and documentation.
Cie Chara’s work explores transnational artistic exchange, the choreographies of everyday life and processes of social change. Drawing on street dance cultures and the individual experiences and perspectives of its members, the company creates work at the intersection of dance and visual arts, engaging with questions of identity, representation and cultural perspective.
With a postcolonial approach, Cie Chara challenges orientalist imaginaries and dominant representations of Morocco, seeking to create nuanced artistic perspectives that resonate with both local Moroccan and international audiences.
Communtiy engagement and pedagogic formats
Alongside its artistic productions, Cie Chara is committed to exchange and collaboration within Morocco’s dance scene, working with emerging and established dancers and contributing to opportunities for artistic development and professional growth.
Cie Chara offers workshops and lectures in a variety of contexts, including local dance spaces, art institutions and universities. With a background in dance, choreography, photography and academic research, Cie Chara provides artistic and pedagogic expertise for diverse formats and publics.
Awards
Cie Chara has won several awards, such as the TAKLIF Platform for young choreographers at On Marche Festival for Contemporary Dance Marrakech in 2023 and 2024, the Award of Grand Studio Bruxelles and Lezarts Urbaines at WIP Détours Festival Bruxelles.
About the choreographers
Yassine “Yoriyas” Alaoui Ismaili is a photographer, performer and choreographer. Yoriyas’ work is an intuitive observation of public space, a documentation of daily life and social change in Morocco. Urban and contemporary dance influences his artistic work, both in dance and photography.
Yoriyas received several art residencies and prizes, such as a residency from “L’Institut pour la Photographie Lille” (2021) or “Cité des Arts Paris” (2019), the award “Young Arab Contemporary Creation” of the “Friends of the Arab World Institute” in Paris (2019) and the “7th Prize for Contemporary African Photography” at Photo Basel (2018). His images have been published in the New York Times, National Geographic or the Guardian.
Yoriyas has been several times Moroccan breaking champion. From 2015, he curated for several years the HipHop program of the cultural space “L’Uzine” in Casablanca, where he coached and trained young hip hop dancers. He has worked as a dancer for Bernardo Montet, 2kFar or Mathieu Ma Fille in Morocco, France and Belgium, as well as choreographing own work such as “Gnawa Breakers” that has been presented in Morocco as well as in the Expo Universal in Milan, Italy.
Friederike “Frieda” Frost is a performer, choreographer, cultural manager and dance scholar who lives and works between Germany and Morocco. The fusion of dance styles and cultures, improvisation and physicality of movement characterize her artistic work – while always emphasizing the individuality of the performer.
Frieda Frost is a research fellow of “Kunststiftung nrw” for artistic research (2025-2026), was a Factory Artist at tanzhaus nrw in 2020-2022 and danced in dance and theater works at Schauspielhaus Bochum, Schauspielhaus Cologne, Opera Cologne, Pottporus e.V./Renegade or Festival tanz nrw.
She is completing a PhD on hip hop dances at the Institute for Dance and Movement Culture at the University of Sport Cologne, is member of advisory boards and scientific commetees and a founding member of the European Hip Hop Studies network. She published academic articles in international journals and books on hip hop culture, edited the book “The Body in HipHop” and created the @hiphopstudysunday that provides information on hiphop and dance literature, conferences and call for papers.
