In a weeklong festival of street-dance performances and competitions being held at Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, starting from July 30, one dance group perhaps stands out in particular for its emotionally charged performances.

As part of Compagnie Käfig, a dance company founded by French hip-hop dance choreographer Mourad Merzouki, a group of Brazilian dancers will be performing two works — "Agwa" (from the word "agua" meaning "water" in Portuguese) and "Correria" ("Run") — at the KAAT Street Dance Festival, Japan's first major festival of its type to be held at a public theater. Unlike most professional dancers, these Brazilian hip-hop dancers, who are all in their teens and 20s, are self-taught — and all of them grew up in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

"Their life was very hard, and so their raison d'être was to dance," said Merzouki in a recent interview, commenting on the group's background. "I think because the dancers grew up in a severe environment in which dance became their outlet, their performances are particularly powerful and appealing."