BREAKIN’ CONVENTION — THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DANCE RETURNS TO SADLERS WELLS

By Rishma • On Events

The Ruggeds — cred­it Yomi Rabiu (@yo.yomi)

Sadler’s Wells Theatre
Fri­day 2, Sat­urday 3 & Sunday 4 May 
Tick­ets: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

A cel­eb­ra­tion of hip hop cul­ture, the world-renowned fest­iv­al Breakin’ Con­ven­tion returns to Sadler’s Wells in Angel over the first week­end in May. Fri­day her­alds Fierce Fri­day, a brand new Breakin’ Con­ven­tion event head­lined by The Ruggeds and Mounia Nas­san­gar at Sadler’s Wells Theatre which will open the fest­iv­al in style and will be hos­ted by BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Fee Mak.

Foun­ded, cre­ated and pro­grammed by hip hop innov­at­or Jonzi D, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion is the world’s biggest fest­iv­al of hip hop dance theatre, held annu­ally at Sadler’s Wells since 2004. Over its twenty-one years, it has become a glob­al plat­form cel­eb­rat­ing hip hop cul­ture through dance, per­form­ance, and artist­ic expres­sion. Fea­tur­ing both UK and inter­na­tion­al artists, 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 show­cases an extens­ive range of UK hip hop tal­ent through­out the fest­iv­al, as well as inter­na­tion­al acts from France, The Neth­er­lands, and bey­ond. Tak­ing over the entirety of Sadler’s Wells in Angel, audi­ences are encour­aged to join from 4pm on Sat­urday and Sunday. As always, there will be live DJ ses­sions from award win­ning mix mas­ters, dance work­shops, live graf­fiti, cyphers, free­style ses­sions, and soul food to enjoy, as well as the per­form­ances in the theatre. Fierce Fri­day, as well as the weekend’s pro­gram­ming, wel­comes audi­ences aged 12 and over, with par­ent­al dis­cre­tion advised for young­er attendees. 

Breakin’ Convention’s fest­iv­al pro­gramme dis­plays a full range of hip hop dance styles includ­ing break­ing, pop­ping, krump­ing, thread­ing, funk and waack­ing. Across the week­end, audi­ences will be able to see per­form­ances from some of the world’s lead­ing acts, includ­ing Mounia Nas­san­gar (France), The Ruggeds (Neth­er­lands), Saïdo Lehlouh (France), Birdgang (UK), Simeon ‘Kar­din­al’ Camp­bell (UK), Chandenie Gobard­han (Neth­er­lands), Ker­on Pro­verbs (UK), Lauren Scott (UK), Max Rev­ell (UK), with more excit­ing names to be announced. 

In 2025, as well as the first iter­a­tion of Fierce Fri­day, Breakin’ Con­ven­tion will also host a fam­ily-friendly week­end event at the brand new theatre Sadler’s Wells East in Strat­ford. The free event Breakin’ Con­ven­tion Fam­ily Jam will throw open the doors to future break­ers and pop­pers on Fri­day 25 – Sat­urday 26 April, and will include per­form­ances in the com­munity dance space in the foy­er aka The Dance Floor, food, com­munity show­cases, work­shops, sample ses­sions, and DJs. Also new to Sadler’s Wells East in 2025 is Academy Breakin’ Con­ven­tion, the new full-time fur­ther edu­ca­tion pro­gramme for 16 to 19-year-olds which offers train­ing in all aspects of hip hop – the first of its kind. Find out more inform­a­tion here Home — Academy Breakin’ Con­ven­tion (academybreakinconvention.com).

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 2025 – Fierce Friday

On Fierce Fri­day, join­ing Breakin’ Con­ven­tion for one night only is inter­na­tion­al waack­ing icon and mod­el Mounia Nas­san­gar, with her latest incred­ible work S.T.U.C.K. Fea­tur­ing a cast of female dan­cers, Nas­san­gar seeks to find an answer to men­tal and phys­ic­al block­ages, turn­ing con­straint into free­dom using waack­ing – a dance of urgency and expres­sion, born of oppression.

Along­side Nas­san­gar on Fierce Fri­day, and then appear­ing across the week­end, The Ruggeds, cur­rently one of the most suc­cess­ful b‑boy crews in the world, return to BC by pop­u­lar demand to cel­eb­rate their 20th Anniversary with a brand new show, fea­tur­ing live music and Olympic-stand­ard breaking.

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2025 – Sat­urday & Sunday

Along­side The Ruggeds, per­form­ing on the Sat­urday and Sunday of Breakin’ Con­ven­tion is French cho­reo­graph­er Saïdo Lehlouh. Lehlouh is known for his work through­out the 2000s with the break­ing group Bad Trip Crew, and now brings a bold, defi­ant piece to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion. Danced as a col­lec­tion of solos by a group of break­ers who nev­er leave the space, but also nev­er dance in uni­son, the piece high­lights indi­vidu­al­ity and solitude, and the import­ance of community.

Move­ment archi­tects and lead­ers in UK hip hop Birdgang also join the line up at this year’s Breakin’ Con­ven­tion. A dance com­pany as well as an edu­ca­tion hub, Birdgang was cre­ated in 2005 with a mis­sion to rewrite ste­reo­types and the status quo. Birdgang was co-foun­ded by Ivan Michael Black­stock, Ukweli Roach, and Simeon Qsyea. 

An alumni of Birdgang, Simeon ‘Kar­din­al’ Camp­bell brings his work SAD­BOI to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion. Sim is a CODA (child of deaf adults) and SAD­BOI fea­tures embed­ded BSL, to wel­come and speak dir­ectly to D/deaf audi­ences, cel­eb­rat­ing the move­ment at the heart of D/deaf expres­sion. Sim is a long­stand­ing mem­ber of BirdGang, and SAD­BOI was developed through the company’s unique HATCH­WORK res­id­ency scheme in 2022 and 2024. SAD­BOI will be per­formed dur­ing the hour inter­val in the Lili­an Bayl­is Studio. 

Return­ing to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion is Chandenie Gobard­han. Born and raised in The Hag­ue, The Neth­er­lands, Chandenie began train­ing in Indi­an dance at a young age and has per­formed works by artists such as Sidi Larbi Cherka­oui, Blenard Azizaj and Ryan Djo­jokar­so. In a dance style that spans Bhar­at­natyam, buhto and pop­ping, Gobard­han has an innov­at­ive approach to move­ment which uses tra­di­tions from the East and from the West.

Also return­ing is the UK’s Ker­on Pro­verbs. Ker­on star­ted his jour­ney as a dan­cer in 2008, in a south Lon­don youth club in Clapham Junc­tion. Known as a cre­at­or of dance col­lect­ives includ­ing Emo­tionz, Col­lect­ive Ent and weGrow­To­geth­er, Ker­on has also worked with the likes of Stormzy, Kanye West, FKA Twigs, Misha B, and Chaka Khan.

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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.

About Rishma

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.