Breakin’ Convention 23 - 20 Years of excellence
Image: Comapny Nicolas Huchard by Belinda Lawley
Celebrating 20 years of excellence, on the 50th year of the inception of Hip Hop, is a huge milestone for Breakin’ Convention and UK Hip Hop. It goes without saying that this festival has shaped a generation that will never doubt that their talents and culture can exist within theatre.
We started jumping with Jonzi and Jacqui as they introduced Breakin Convention’s inaugural youth company. Here a star was born as a white spotlight centre stage illuminated a young person ferociously krumping to a bassy track, embodying every sound and anchoring the cohort. Gully South Block followed with a fury of krump duets and trios, lit in red brought the opening of the festival to a close. As I have been saying for the past 4 years, the most exciting thing in theatre is the emergence and development of Krump theatre. It was glorious to see these young artists carrying the torch.
South Korea is home to some of the greatest dancers on the Hip Hop scene and Movers certainly proved that. From brilliant moving tablos and architectures to live beatboxing and bboy battles, they left no coin unturned. Effortless precision and creativity left us deeply satisfied.
Max Revell, the first BBC young dancer winner from the hip hop category, like BC youth dance company, showed us why it's an extremely exciting time to be a part of this community. Revell began downstage huddled over, his shadow (a businessman wearing a fedora) projected on the cyclorama and hands moving meticulously in sync to a voice over. Slowly we saw that his projected head was in fact his foot holding his hat. His face, covered by his suit. The illusions continued as he revealed that he had his suit on backwards. Finally Revell finished with a beautiful duet with his briefcase. This is the beginning of an inspirational career for this young artist.
Special guests the Legendary twins, Kevin and Keith Smith- the original bboys and renowned among hip hop culture, as the first people to go down to the floor, honoured Jonzi D with an accolade way more fitting than a MBE: an award from State Assembly of New York for his contributions to Hip Hop. It was a beautiful moment to witness and of course well deserved for the man who coined Hip Hop Theatre.
Justin De Jager’s Threading Theatre; a collaboration between the dutch choreographer and UK dancers created a new piece of theatre centring threading rather than it being a technique in breakdance. The flexible trio emerged, hands attached to their feet then when finally released, kept their fingers interlaced for the entirety of the piece. The dancers created holes and pathways for each other to pass through but also to get stuck in. They ran, danced and weaved seamlessly with and around each other leaving the audience in a dreamy, meditative state. We were invited to witness their detailed weaving world. The piece ended with the trio finally setting themselves free.
Ghetto funk collective ending the first half with perfection, lockin’ with the energy and pazaz of James Brown and the synchronicity and ease of the Nicholas brothers. Every solo was dynamic and powerful and even in silence, no beat was missed. They even managed to create a 70’s chic living room as a set change. The Dutch collective left us with a joyous piece of beautifully crafted choreography.
The second half followed beautifully from where Ghetto Funk Collective left off. Company Nicolas Huchard featured The Barefoot Divas, an all female force that blew us away with their hypnotic and contagious performances and unisons that can only be described as ancestral. A section of the piece was a voiceover of Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman, highlighting each dancer's beauty, grace and fireceness. This is a sisterhood that I want to join.
ILL-Abilities quite literally defied gravity and logic. Seeing two (Redo and Samuka) of the eight members perform the most complex choreography on one leg (Samuka) or with one arm (Redo) blew every single audience member away without question. It was incredibly lyrical and exhilarating and I felt honoured and privileged to be a spectator.
There would be no convention without Boy Blue. crafting choreography old and new for this 20th edition embodied the timelessness and legacy. As usual a multitude of styles crafted into cacophony of excellence.
Criminalz, a crew featuring Les Twins, Rubix and Missy, ended the night with four freestyle solos. Of course, the talent of these 4 artists is undeniable but I was left confused by the choice to finish the night with this act given that we had just witnessed 8 other acts who had meticulously crafted choreography for this event.
Breakin Convention has a 20 year legacy that will only continue to innovate and inspire the Hip Hop community to achieve its true place as the king of culture.