INTERVIEW | CHOREOGRAPHER BROOKE MILLINER DISCUSSES BREAKIN’ CONVENTION 2024

As Brooke Mil­liner takes the stage at Breakin’ Con­ven­tion, his jour­ney through the vibrant tapestry of Pop­ping and Hip Hop dance unfolds like a dynam­ic nar­rat­ive. From his form­at­ive years, steeped in the diverse tra­di­tions of dance, to his met­eor­ic rise as a six-time World Hip Hop Cham­pi­on, Brooke’s evol­u­tion is a test­a­ment to his unwaver­ing pas­sion and relent­less pur­suit of excellence.

Rooted in the leg­acy of his father­’s influ­ence and fueled by the icon­ic per­form­ances of Michael Jack­son, Brooke’s tra­ject­ory was set early on. Yet, it was his immer­sion in Street Dance styles, under the tutel­age of ment­ors like Rob Pount­ney, that ignited his fer­vor for com­pet­i­tion and innovation.

As the young­est mem­ber of Plague, Brooke’s ascent to the upper ech­el­ons of the inter­na­tion­al dance scene was pro­pelled by a ten­a­cious spir­it and an insa­ti­able hun­ger for vic­tory. With each accol­ade and tri­umph, he carved out his own path, blend­ing ele­ments of tra­di­tion with his dis­tinct flair.

But Brooke’s artist­ic odys­sey did­n’t stop there. With the estab­lish­ment of Fiya House, he sought to nur­ture the next gen­er­a­tion of dan­cers, fos­ter­ing a com­munity-driv­en eth­os that cel­eb­rated indi­vidu­al­ity and col­lect­ive growth. Through part­ner­ships and ini­ti­at­ives like the King­dom’s League, Fiya House became a beacon of inspir­a­tion, bridging the gap between seasoned vet­er­ans and emer­ging talent.

Now, as he pre­pares to grace the stage at Breakin’ Con­ven­tion once again, Brooke’s per­form­ance prom­ises to be a cul­min­a­tion of years of ded­ic­a­tion and innov­a­tion. With PSYCHE, he invites audi­ences on a jour­ney of self-dis­cov­ery and intro­spec­tion, weav­ing togeth­er spoken word, dance, and music into a tapestry of raw emo­tion and unbridled cre­ativ­ity. As he steps into the spot­light, Brooke embod­ies the spir­it of Breakin’ Con­ven­tion — a test­a­ment to the trans­form­at­ive power of Hip Hop cul­ture and the bound­less pos­sib­il­it­ies it holds for those who dare to dream.

Can you share with us your jour­ney into the world of Pop­ping and Hip Hop dance, and what inspired you to pur­sue it as a career?

My fath­er was a dan­cer, so that influ­enced me to fol­low a sim­il­ar path. I prac­ticed many dif­fer­ent dance styles from Bal­let, Jazz, Con­tem­por­ary & Tap at The Brit School fol­lowed by Bird Col­lege, but Street Dances were what I grav­it­ated towards the most. I began prac­ti­cing moves from Lock­ing and Pop­ping, even though I didn’t real­ise that’s what they were called at the time.

I’m sure this is what every­one says, but I grew up watch­ing Michael Jack­son – his per­form­ances and music videos had a big influ­ence on me.

I star­ted tak­ing class with Rob Pount­ney where I expan­ded my know­ledge of Street Dance styles. Even­tu­ally, I joined Plague as the young­est mem­ber of the crew. I became a stu­dent of the game and slowly began enter­ing com­pet­i­tions, win­ning the second battle I’d ever entered as a soloist. Rob would organ­ise pres­ti­gi­ous battles like UK Champs. This motiv­ated me fur­ther and I began to com­pete internationally.

I’m a very com­pet­it­ive per­son and don’t like to lose. I was out-prac­ti­cing every­one, with the men­tal­ity of “you’ve just got to win” – I made sure I had new mater­i­al in my arsen­al every time I was seen, nev­er rest­ing on my laurels.

I didn’t need much to train, just a small space and a mir­ror. Drills over and over to make sure I Popped hard; con­stantly free­styl­ing and work­ing on con­cepts. Inspired by dan­cers like the Nich­olas Broth­ers, I wanted to devel­op a trade­mark style that brought togeth­er all the ele­ments of my dance and acro­bat­ics training.

I wanted to fol­low in my Fath­ers foot­steps but carve out my own lane. I knew this was what I wanted to do.

As a six-time World Hip Hop Cham­pi­on, what do you believe sets your style apart from oth­ers in the inter­na­tion­al Pop­ping circuit?

Five of those World Titles were with my crews: Plague (twice) and Pro­to­type (three times). Plague entered what I would call Show­case Com­pet­i­tions. Led by Mukhtar O S Mukhtar, our first title win was in 2005, where we achieved firsts across the board. His cre­ativ­ity was unmatched and he really util­ised everyone’s indi­vidu­al spe­cial­isms with­in the crew – everything from Breakin’ to Lock­ing, Pop­ping to House.

After Mukhtar’s move to the US, he passed the torch to me — which was a real hon­our. Our second win in 2011 was at Hip Hop Inter­na­tion­al World Finals. We built on the cre­ativ­ity the crew was known for, but our tech­nic­al matur­ity with­in the styles was much great­er. We showed an authen­t­ic under­stand­ing of mul­tiple styles, which was quite rare at the time. I would cre­ate a lot of the cho­reo­graphy before get­ting into the stu­dio with the oth­ers, work­ing to per­fect the for­mula I’d developed from my own train­ing and exper­i­ences on the inter­na­tion­al battle cir­cuit. Plague was def­in­itely a trend­set­ter, our win in 2011 sparked a big change in the sets that oth­er crews would put together.

Pro­to­type was foun­ded by Mal­com Mbombo. It was a battle crew in the more tra­di­tion­al sense, for example Crew A throws down then Crew B responds and so on. Our wins on the World Stage were down to our level of pre­par­a­tion, we had cho­reo­graphy for almost every round (up to 15 rounds in a battle). This was really uncom­mon at the time. Our approach was dif­fer­ent to Plague, in that we would all work in the stu­dio togeth­er to come up with the mater­i­al. We didn’t rehearse until we got it right, we rehearsed until we couldn’t get it wrong. It took a lot of ded­ic­a­tion from all of us to pre­pare like that. I was com­mis­sioned in 2022 by BBC Dance Pas­sion to pro­duce doc­u­ment­ary film ‘A Dec­ade Later’ which fol­lows the reunion of the crew, ten years since our last battle together.

I’m really proud of the impact both crews had in the scene, both in the UK and internationally.

My solo World Title win was at UK B‑Boy Champs. My approach to every battle is to believe I’m going to win before I even get there. Backed up by my ded­ic­a­tion to train­ing, I would say that I just try to be myself whenev­er I step out. I stay true to the found­a­tion of the style – I respect the roots but push its boundaries.

How has your exper­i­ence as a per­former in stage shows, TV pro­jects, films, and com­mer­cials influ­enced your approach to cho­reo­graphy and storytelling with­in your dance?

My exper­i­ences as a per­former have made it pos­sible to learn from a wide range of cho­reo­graph­ers and dir­ect­ors. Some of which have been greatly influ­en­tial to me and my meth­ods of cre­at­ing. How­ever, I’d say I see the two aspects of my career as quite separate.

When I’m booked as a per­former, I’m hired because of my look, tech­nique, and to ful­fil a brief. I have lots of exper­i­ence doing it, but it’s not sat­is­fy­ing creatively.

I have so many ideas — I’ve been lucky enough to get some incred­ible com­mis­sions and oppor­tun­it­ies to make those ideas come to life. Hav­ing my own vis­ion for some­thing, then select­ing the dan­cers not only based on their skills, but also based on their abil­ity to con­nect with the mes­sage of the piece. I encour­age the dan­cers I work with to bring their own per­son­al stor­ies to the cho­reo­graphy; this feels entirely dif­fer­ent to my exper­i­ences in the com­mer­cial sector.

Fiya House has been a pivotal plat­form for emer­ging dance tal­ent. What motiv­ated you to estab­lish it, and what impact do you hope it con­tin­ues to have on the UK Hip Hop community?

Back in 2012, not a lot of dan­cers in the UK were trav­el­ling inter­na­tion­ally to train and com­pete. Later that year, my long-stand­ing dance part­ner Dick­son Mbi came back to Lon­don after a trip to Korea. He saw how dan­cers were train­ing over there, and wanted to cre­ate a space where the UK scene could train to the same intens­ity. Togeth­er, we gathered our com­munity and formed Fiya House.

Over the past 12 years, we’ve been work­ing hard to give Street Dan­cers in the UK a place to go to sharpen their skills. Through weekly classes, annu­al inter­na­tion­al events, bi-annu­al train­ing intens­ives and count­less inter­na­tion­al com­pet­i­tions, Fiya House brings togeth­er phe­nom­en­al dance tal­ent from across the UK and around the world. We provide a space to net­work with oth­er like-minded artists, and pro­mote growth for the UK Hip Hop scene.

One of the primary aims of estab­lish­ing Fiya House was to build and main­tain con­nec­tions between older and younger/newer mem­bers of the com­munity. We sup­port dan­cers to find out who they really are and where they belong, not just as artists – but as well-roun­ded individuals.

We also devel­op part­ner­ships and devise pro­grammes that invite non-dan­cers to exper­i­ence the cul­ture. Our flag­ship out­door event Hip Hop Week­ender takes over The Scoop for two days each sum­mer and wel­comes people from all walks of life to learn from and engage with the scene.

In 2022 we joined forces with oth­er lead­ers of the com­munity, includ­ing In Da House and West Coun­try Clash, to cre­ate the Kingdom’s League — a battle league for the UK where dan­cers are rewar­ded for their com­mit­ment to the scene.

Through all of this work, we hope Fiya House will con­tin­ue to inspire new gen­er­a­tions and be a space where the com­munity can level up together.

Your cre­at­ive prac­tice has expan­ded to include dance, music, and tech­no­logy, lead­ing to the form­a­tion of When Time Was New. Could you elab­or­ate on the vis­ion behind this com­pany and how it’s push­ing the bound­ar­ies of Street Dance styles?

Through live theatre shows and screend­ance films, When Time Was New tells stor­ies, asks ques­tions and cel­eb­rates our com­munity – pla­cing under­ground Street Dance cul­ture front and centre.

From Pop­ping to Breakin’, Krump to Lock­ing, the artists we work with are some of the best in the coun­try. Through their incred­ible skill, we can shift per­cep­tions of Hip Hop and cre­ate work that sparks joy, invites reflec­tion and inspires the next generation.

The com­pany was formed in 2020 after attend­ing a ses­sion with Pro­du­cer Emily Labhart. Emily has worked with Fiya House since 2017 and has 10+ years exper­i­ence work­ing with artists, fest­ivals and ven­ues. At the time, she spoke about estab­lish­ing infra­struc­ture to deliv­er cre­at­ive ideas, how to build part­ner­ships and secure fund­ing for pro­jects. This opened my eyes to new pos­sib­il­it­ies, and showed me that there could be a way to have my artist­ic ideas real­ised. Emily is now Com­pany Pro­du­cer for When Time Was New.

I strive to push cre­at­ive bound­ar­ies. From being the first to use branch­ing tech­no­logy in a Hip Hop screend­ance film; to work­ing with inter­na­tion­ally renowned col­lab­or­at­ors such as poet Casey Bailey; to pro­du­cing my own ori­gin­al music for each pro­duc­tion, even receiv­ing Hon­our­able Men­tion for Best Music/Soundtrack at Exeter Dance Inter­na­tion­al Film Festival.

Through the com­pany, I want to show that Street Dance is artist­ic, innov­at­ive and worthy of tak­ing up space. To date, our work has been presen­ted at pres­ti­gi­ous ven­ues includ­ing Hip Hop Cine­fest (Italy); Denton Black Film Fest­iv­al (USA); Cine Dans Fest (Ams­ter­dam), Birm­ing­ham Inter­na­tion­al Dance Fest­iv­al (UK) and now Breakin’ Con­ven­tion (UK).

How did you get involved with this year’s Breakin’ Convention?

I have per­formed at Breakin’ Con­ven­tion since it’s very first edi­tion back in 2004, so I’ve had a long rela­tion­ship with Jonzi and the team. Hard to believe it’s been 20 years!

Jonzi came in as a ment­or for PSYCHE when it was first in devel­op­ment back in 2022, work­ing closely with our spoken word artist TJ. We’ve kept in touch about the piece since then, and he invited me to present it as part of the fest­iv­al this year.

It feels like a full circle moment, hav­ing the oppor­tun­ity for my own com­pany to per­form on Sadler’s Wells main­stage, 20 years after I first per­formed on it.

How do you approach cre­at­ing soundtracks for your cho­reo­graph­ic works, and how does music influ­ence your dance compositions?

I always start with the concept for the piece. Once I have a rough skel­et­on of the idea, I begin to work on the music. The instru­ment­a­tion sets the tone of my work, I tell the same story through the com­pos­i­tion and the choreography.

I usu­ally have a rough edit of the track before I enter the stu­dio to work with the dan­cers, but I cre­ate the piece and the music at the same time as the concept is con­stantly evolving. I find hav­ing too much inform­a­tion, or too many fixed ideas in my head before I enter the rehears­al space can stifle cre­ativ­ity. I give myself the free­dom to adapt the sound right up until the first per­form­ance. Work­ing in this way gives a more com­plete vis­ion of the work.

With Breakin’ Con­ven­tion approach­ing in May, how are you pre­par­ing for your upcom­ing per­form­ance at Sadler­’s Wells? Are there any nerves, excite­ment, or spe­cif­ic goals you have for the event?

Pre­par­a­tions are well under­way: rehears­als are in full flow, tweaks to the soundtracks are being made, cos­tumes are being tested and the dan­cers are giv­ing it their all.

I don’t tend to get nervous. For me, the goal is for the com­pany to walk out on stage and give the incred­ible per­form­ance I know we’re cap­able of. Bring­ing in that win­ning mind­set and enjoy­ing the journey.

It’s a priv­ilege to be show­cased at the fest­iv­al along­side some big names with inter­na­tion­al repu­ta­tions. Ulti­mately, I see the event as an oppor­tun­ity to intro­duce to the pub­lic the live work of When Time Was New, on a big­ger scale than we have before. I hope people will want to stay con­nec­ted with us and be excited about what we do.

Con­sid­er­ing the anti­cip­a­tion build­ing up to Breakin’ Con­ven­tion, what can audi­ences expect from your performance?

Audi­ences should expect to see what When Time Was New is all about. We’ve got some of the UK’s lead­ing Street Dance artists work­ing togeth­er to tackle com­plex sub­ject mat­ter, through power­ful and enga­ging choreography.

You are what you repeatedly do. Can you break the cycle? As pat­terns of beha­viour are uncovered and cir­cum­stances force their hand, two char­ac­ters must make tough choices and con­front who they see look­ing back in their reflection.

I hope PSYCHE sparks con­ver­sa­tion, and leaves the audi­ence feel­ing reflect­ive and uplifted.

Photo Cred­it: Naomi Patterson

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion often serves as a plat­form for innov­a­tion and push­ing artist­ic bound­ar­ies. How do you plan to show­case your unique style and cre­at­ive vis­ion dur­ing your performance?

PSYCHE is a rep­res­ent­a­tion of why When Time Was New was cre­ated. It show­cases Pop­ping, Hip Hop, Krump and Break­ing at the highest level, per­formed by dan­cers at the top of their game. The piece also fea­tures bespoke spoken word, in addi­tion to a unique music com­pos­i­tion that I have produced.

The dan­cers have been an act­ive part of the cre­at­ive pro­cess, and have tapped into their per­son­al stor­ies to deliv­er the strongest performance.

I plan to show how all of these ele­ments; from the dance styles to the poetry to the beats; can be brought togeth­er to cre­ate some­thing artist­ic with an authen­t­ic pur­pose, that res­on­ates with us and our audi­ence. The same as in my battle days, I’ve stayed true to myself, hon­oured the found­a­tions of the styles, and tested the bound­ar­ies of what Street Dance can do.

Look­ing ahead to after Breakin’ Con­ven­tion, how do you envi­sion this exper­i­ence shap­ing your future pro­jects and col­lab­or­a­tions with­in the Hip-Hop dance community?

After Breakin’ Con­ven­tion, I will be get­ting straight back into the stu­dio to work on new pro­jects for When Time Was New. This includes what will be my fourth screend­ance film to date, as well as the cre­ation of a brand new children’s show that will première in ²⁰²⁵⁄₆.

In August, Fiya House will be run­ning our fourth Hip Hop Week­ender event as part of Sum­mer By The River Fest­iv­al. Plus there will be more battle events through­out the year as part of the Kingdom’s League. More details on all these plans will be announced soon.

I hope that our pres­ence at Breakin’ Con­ven­tion will be a spring­board for the future work of When Time Was New. No mat­ter what, I will always stay con­nec­ted to the scene, keep mak­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for dan­cers, and try my best to be a role mod­el for the next generation.

Fol­low Brooke Mil­liner Here:

Brooke Mil­liner // When Time Was New // Fiya House // Kingdom’s League

Breakin’ Con­ven­tion 2024 takes place Sat­urday 4^th and Sunday 5^th May at Sadler­’s Wells Theatre

Get your Tick­ets for this year’s Breakin’ Con­ven­tion HERE

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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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