BREAKIN’ CONVENTION FESTIVAL 2026 — THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF HIP-HOP THEATRE RETURNS

Image: Belinda-Law­ley

Fri­day 1, Sat­urday 2 & Sunday 3 May 2026   

Tick­ets from £15   

Tick­ets: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion kicks off this year with Fric­tion, an open­ing event of elec­tri­fy­ing battles and performances 

The world’s biggest fest­iv­al for hip hop theatre, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion returns to Sadler’s Wells Theatre in Angel this May bank hol­i­day (Fri­day 1–Monday 4 May 2026).

Foun­ded, cre­ated and pro­grammed by hip hop innov­at­or Jonzi D, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion has been held annu­ally at Sadler’s Wells since 2004. Over its twenty-two years, it has become a glob­al plat­form cel­eb­rat­ing hip hop cul­ture through dance, per­form­ance, and artist­ic expres­sion. Fea­tur­ing both UK and inter­na­tion­al artists, with the motto “around the world and around the corner”, the fest­iv­al hon­ours hip hop’s roots while push­ing cre­at­ive bound­ar­ies, prov­ing that the cul­ture remains as rel­ev­ant and multi-faceted as ever.

Across the week­end Breakin’ Con­ven­tion presents the full range of hip hop dance styles includ­ing break­ing, pop­ping, Krump, wack­ing and con­tem­por­ary dance with a num­ber of UK and world première per­form­ances. This year’s pro­gramme includes Com­pagnia Bel­landa (Italy) Joseph Toonga (UK) Rock Force Crew (USA) Let It Hap­pen (the Neth­er­lands) ILL-Abil­it­ies (the Neth­er­lands and Brazil), Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Youth (UK), IMD Legion (UK) with more to be announced.

Tak­ing over the full build­ing at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, there will be live DJ sets from esteemed mix­mas­ters, dance work­shops, live graf­fiti, cyphers, free­style ses­sions, and soul food, to accom­pany aud­it­or­i­um per­form­ances. This year, the fest­iv­al kicks off with Fric­tion on Fri­day 1 May, a spe­cial open­ing event of elec­tri­fy­ing battles and per­form­ances from hip hop theatre luminar­ies. Audi­ences are invited to join from 4pm on Sat­urday and Sunday, and the weekend’s pro­gram­ming is suit­able for ages 12 and over, with par­ent­al dis­cre­tion advised for young­er attendees.

In 2026, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion will also present a fam­ily-friendly week­end at Sadler’s Wells East in Strat­ford. The free Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Fam­ily Jam, run­ning from Fri­day 24 ‑Sat­urday 25 April, wel­comes future break­ers and pop­pers of all ages. The week­end will fea­ture per­form­ances in the foyer’s com­munity dance space, The Dance Floor, as well as food, work­shops, DJ sets, sample ses­sions, and com­munity showcases.

 Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2026, Fric­tion — Fri­day 1 May

Open­ing night Fric­tion, on Fri­day 1 May, launches the week­end with elec­tri­fy­ing foy­er battles, live DJs, and polit­ic­ally rich aud­it­or­i­um per­form­ances by Com­pagnia Bel­landa, Joseph Toonga, and the Rock Force.

Itali­an duo Com­pagnia Bel­landa, foun­ded by Gio­vanni Leonar­duzzi and Claudia Lat­ini, present La Dolce Vita, a UK première that straddles the line between pas­sion and pos­ses­sion, per­mis­sion and power. Fus­ing break­ing and con­tem­por­ary dance, the com­pany has developed a dis­tinct­ive move­ment lan­guage they term ‘floor-flirt­ing.’

Born to Protest: The Reframe, anoth­er UK première, is an all-female reima­gin­ing of Joseph Toonga’s work that deliv­ers a power­ful per­form­ance rooted in krump­ing. Ori­gin­ally con­ceived as Toonga’s first pub­lic work, as part of his Born to Mani­fest tri­logy, this iter­a­tion explores themes of power, defi­ance, and vul­ner­ab­il­ity from a female perspective.

Rock Force have cre­ated a new high-energy per­form­ance, mark­ing its world première at Breakin’ Con­ven­tion. Estab­lished in 1983, Rock Force Crew is the fourth gen­er­a­tion of the legendary bboy crew from Cali­for­nia, USA. Over the dec­ades, they’ve won count­less icon­ic battles, includ­ing first place at the UK Bboy Cham­pi­on­ships in 2025. This per­form­ance fea­tures bboys Mor­ris, Icey Ives, Kareem, and more.

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2026, Sat­urday 2 & Sunday 3 May

The weekend’s fest­iv­al pro­gramme includes two full days of per­form­ances. The lineup so far includes

Let It Hap­pen, ILL-Abil­it­ies, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Youth, IMD Legion, Com­pagnia Bel­landa, and Rock Force, with more names to be announced. As well, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion takes over the entire build­ing with dance work­shops, live graf­fiti, cyphers, free­style ses­sions, and more.

Norah, Yarah and Rosa col­lect­ively known as Let It Hap­pen will grace Breakin’ Con­ven­tion with a world première per­form­ance of their infec­tious brand of clas­sic hip hop dance. These actu­al sis­ters have become social media sen­sa­tions and have been dan­cing togeth­er since birth. Taught by their par­ents who passed on their know­ledge of the golden gen­er­a­tion, Let It Hap­pen have taken the bat­on, shar­ing their skills and gain­ing over a mil­lion fol­low­ers online.

Return­ing to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion by pop­u­lar demand, ILL-Abil­it­ies is a trail­blaz­ing all-star col­lect­ive of dif­fer­ently abled b‑boys from the Neth­er­lands and Brazil. This world première per­form­ance builds on their prac­tice, which defies any per­ceived lim­it­a­tions. Their extraordin­ary skills have drawn head­lines and packed ven­ues since their early days. ILL-Abil­it­ies will form part of the Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2026 UK tour.

Also return­ing to Sadler’s Wells in the Lil­lian Bayl­is Stu­dio, HOME­SICK is a piece con­ceived by Break Con­ven­tion Youth along­side Theo­philus and Jade Hack­ett. Developed over a twelve-week pro­gramme last Septem­ber, the work com­bines move­ment, spoken word, rap, and grime, reflect­ing how young Lon­don­ers con­sider their lives, envir­on­ments, and sense of belong­ing through col­lect­ive storytelling.

IMD Legion, an East Lon­don street dance crew foun­ded in 2010 by Omar Ansah-Awuah, present a world première at Sadler’s Wells. With mem­bers aged 10–16 from East Lon­don, Essex, and Kent, the crew offers a broad range of styles with each dan­cer spe­cial­ising in a dif­fer­ent street discipline.

Fol­low­ing their Fri­day night per­form­ance, Com­pagnia Bel­landa and Rock Force will also present work over the week­end, provid­ing addi­tion­al oppor­tun­it­ies to see their mas­tery in action.

This year’s Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Fest­iv­al at Sadler’s Wells Theatre is aimed at audi­ences aged 12+. For more inform­a­tion about the his­tory of hip hop, and a guide to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion, vis­it Our Hip Hop Guide — Breakin’ Con­ven­tion.

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2026 Tour (Sat­urday 9 May to Sat­urday 6 June)

 Imme­di­ately after the Lon­don Fest­iv­al, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion embarks on a nation­wide tour, trav­el­ling to towns and cit­ies across the United King­dom includ­ing its first dates in Can­ter­bury. Fea­tur­ing, TRAPLORD, Femme Fatale, ILL-Abil­it­ies and more acts to be announced shortly

The Olivi­er Award-win­ning TRAPLORD, cre­ated by pro­lif­ic artist and cho­reo­graph­er Ivan Black­stock will join the Breakin’ Con­ven­tion tour. Blackstock’s innov­at­ive body of work includes col­lab­or­a­tions with artists such as Bey­on­cé as well as solo per­form­ances, film and more. Explor­ing mas­culin­ity and men­tal health, TRAPLORD is an explos­ive fusion of move­ment and storytelling chal­len­ging racial ste­reo­types of Black men.

The 2026 tour lineup also includes Los Angeles-based trio Femme Fatale who are of French, Mex­ic­an and Korean ori­gin. Renowned for their slick and time­less per­form­ances, styl­ish music­al­ity and razor-sharp moves, Femme Fatale’s appear­ances at Breakin’ Con­ven­tion in recent years have been acclaimed by audi­ences and crit­ics alike.

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion tours to The Mar­lowe, Can­ter­bury (9 May), Roy­al Con­cert Hall, Not­ting­ham (15 & 16 May), Bel­grade Theatre, Cov­entry (20 May), Tram­way, Glas­gow (23 May), Brighton Dome, Brighton (27 May) Light­house, Poole (30 May), CAST, Don­caster (3 June) and The Grand, Black­pool (6 June).

Bey­ond the annu­al fest­iv­al and this year’s tour, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion runs a range of artist devel­op­ment pro­grammes, includ­ing Open Art Sur­gery and Back To The Lab, and has toured nation­ally and inter­na­tion­ally, includ­ing in the Neth­er­lands and the United States. Just last year, Academy Breakin’ Con­ven­tion offi­cially opened at Sadler’s Wells East, offer­ing the UK’s first Level 3 qual­i­fic­a­tion in hip hop theatre. This two-year course for 16–19-year-olds cov­ers sev­en ele­ments of hip hop dance theatre: Pop­ping, Break­ing, Emcee­ing, Social Dance, DJing, Music Pro­duc­tion, and Graffiti.

Jonzi D is a Sadler’s Wells Asso­ci­ate Artist Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Fest­iv­al per­form­ances in Sadler’s Wells Theatre are BSL inter­preted by Jac­qui Beck­ford and Vinessa Brant. 

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Rishma

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.

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