BREAKIN’ CONVENTION 2022 INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF HIP HOP DANCE THEATRE — FULL LINE UP

BREAKIN’ CON­VEN­TION 2022 
INTER­NA­TION­AL FEST­IV­AL OF HIP HOP DANCE THEATRE 
Sadler’s Wells, EC1R
Fri­day 29 April — Sunday 1 May 2022
Per­form­ances from 6pm 
Tick­ets: £15-£40
Tick­et Office: www.sadlerswells.com

Sadler’s Wells’ annu­al fest­iv­al of hip hop dance theatre is back for its 19^th year, plat­form­ing innov­at­ive, authen­t­ic dance rooted in the streets and presen­ted live on stage from Fri­day 29 April — Sunday 1 May 2022.

This year’s fest­iv­al fea­tures UK and inter­na­tion­al artists in an excit­ing line up of tal­ent hos­ted by Sadler’s Wells Asso­ci­ate Artist and Breakin’ Con­ven­tion founder and Artist­ic Dir­ect­or, Jonzi D. In true Breakin’ Con­ven­tion tra­di­tion, audi­ences are encour­aged to arrive early for activ­it­ies in the foy­ers includ­ing live DJ sets from award-win­ning mix­mas­ters, pan­el dis­cus­sions, impromptu dance circles, graf­fiti art, plus dance work­shops with artists.

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion is delighted to today announce the full line-up for the 2022 Festival.

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Artist­ic Dir­ect­or, Jonzi D said: “Our inter­na­tion­al pro­gramme is back! In spite of the glob­al­isa­tion of polar­isa­tion, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion will be an oppor­tun­ity to prac­tice some peace, love, and unity while hav­ing fun!”

Inter­na­tion­al acts fea­tur­ing on the Sadler’s Wells stage:

On Fri­day 29 April, Com­pag­nie Niya arrive at Breakin’ Con­ven­tion with Gueules Noires. Cho­reo­graphed by Rachid Hedli, the work pays a heart­felt trib­ute to the migrant work­ers of the Nord-Pas de Cal­ais Min­ing Basin, includ­ing his fath­er. Retra­cing life in the mines, Com­pag­nie Niya’s razor-sharp break­ing and pop­ping skills cre­ate evoc­at­ive images of solid­ar­ity, struggle and fra­tern­ity. Hedli’s dynam­ic and poet­ic sta­ging is amp­li­fied by ori­gin­al music by Romu­al Houziaux.

Renowned dan­cer and cho­reo­graph­er Ant­oinette Gomis from France makes a wel­come return to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion this year. Hav­ing per­formed and toured her showstop­ping homage to Nina Simone in 2016, Ant­oinette show­cases a strik­ing new work along­side four male dan­cers on both the Sat­urday and Sunday. Antoinette’s phys­ic­al dex­ter­ity and effort­less cho­ro­graph­ic style has earned her count­less accol­ades plus the respect of both hip hop and dance enthu­si­asts world-wide.

On Sat­urday and Sunday, D1 Dance Com­pany, a group of 12 dan­cers from Peru, per­form an excit­ing work with Lat­in and hip hop influ­ences, inspired by the company’s per­son­al lives aim­ing to reveal per­son­al trans­form­a­tions which have inspired col­lect­ive change in Peru. Also per­form­ing on both days is B‑boy Mr Kriss, dan­cer, artist and musi­cian from Prague, mak­ing his Breakin’ Con­ven­tion debut.

Urb­an and con­tem­por­ary dance crew Oxy­gen, based in the Neth­er­lands, make their Breakin’ Con­ven­tion debut with highly cre­at­ive work com­bined with visu­al illu­sion effects. Also hail­ing from the Neth­er­lands is Yvonne Smink, who brings her unique blend of pole and break­dance to the fest­iv­al for the first time.

In 2020 US based poet jes­sica Care moore, mas­ter of waack­ing Axelle ‘Ebony’ Mun­ezero from Mon­tréal, Canada and Soweto Kinch, one of the UK’s finest Jazz musi­cians, came togeth­er to col­lab­or­ate on the acclaimed film Our Bod­ies Back, dir­ec­ted by Jonzi D. The work presen­ted a power­ful ren­der­ing of Black women’s voices, affirm­ing exper­i­ences of pain and trauma as well as pride, power and beauty as lived by gen­er­a­tions of Black women all over the world. Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2022 sees the trio reunite to per­form a new work; this time live on stage.

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion sees the première of a brand-new film and sequel to Our Bod­ies Back, Auto­cor­rect. Dir­ec­ted once again by Jonzi D, this time the film will rep­res­ent Black male voices fea­tur­ing ori­gin­al Boy Blue mem­ber and Magic Mike Live dan­cer, Theo ‘God­son’ Oloy­ade, Drew Dollaz of Next Level Squad and Abdul Abdanger, founder of Uganda’s hip hop dance organ­isa­tion Batalo East. They will per­form to music by Soweto Kinch and poetry by the much-acclaimed poet, musi­cian and writer Saul Williams.

UK acts fea­tur­ing on the Sadler’s Wells stage:

Ahead of its Hip Hop Theatre Academy open­ing as part of Sadler’s Wells East in 2023, Sadler’s Wells and Breakin’ Con­ven­tion have been build­ing con­nec­tions with hip hop artists in east Lon­don. Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2022 opens with a per­form­ance from new col­lect­ive EAST­ab­lish­ment, a group of 12 young dan­cers aged 16–24 from across East Lon­don. They will per­form a new work by Nicey Bel­grave and Kel­sey ‘Hydro’ Miller of the award-win­ning hip hop dance theatre com­pany Boy Blue.

In 2008, BirdGang Dance Com­pany appeared out of noth­ing, onto the Breakin’ Con­ven­tion stage. This year, the fest­iv­al stal­warts return with some tricks up their sleeves with more of their high-impact, avant-garde dance con­tent, rooted in hip hop cul­ture and com­mer­cial dance styles.

Far From The Norm, led by Olivi­er award-win­ning cho­reo­graph­er Bot­is Seva, return to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Fest­iv­al with a pas­sion­ate, krump and con­tem­por­ary piece fea­tur­ing clas­sic­al music.

East Lon­don based dance duo Homebros take to the Sadler’s Wells on the Sat­urday and Sunday. Being one of the pion­eers of the Afro Dance industry in the UK, they have been at the fore­front of push­ing Afric­an cul­ture, know­ledge and dance around the world. Homebros arrive on the Sadler’s Wells stage with their work which show­cases their afrobeats and krump expertise.

Take 1 Dance from Not­ting­ham will also appear on the Sadler’s Wells stage on the Sat­urday and Sunday. Com­pany cho­reo­graph­er Wil­lis Rose has taken the group’s work for world­wide events such as, World of Dance, the Olympics and for pop artists.

Lili­an Bayl­is Stu­dio acts:

Inter­na­tion­ally renowned Aus­trali­an cho­reo­graph­er and b‑boy Nick Power presents his piece Between Tiny Cit­ies in the Lili­an Bayl­is Stu­dio. Dan­cers Aaron Lim and Erak Mith per­form the duet in the round, blend­ing the raw, wild energy of b‑boy battles with skil­ful impro­visa­tion and cho­reo­graphy, offer­ing a cross-cul­tur­al per­spect­ive on style, cul­ture and loc­al­ity. Between Tiny Cit­ies is per­formed as part of a UK tour.

Watch our inter­view with Jonzi D to find out more!

www.breakinconvention.com

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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds

Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

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