Press Release: ZooNation and Breakin’ Convention secure over £1 million funding from Arts Council England to tour the UK over the next two years

[Jan McNulty]

ZooNation and Breakin’ Convention secure over £1 million funding from Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Programme to tour the UK over the next two years.

 

 

Hip hop dance has been given a boost by Arts Council England, as Sadler’s Wells’ international festival of hip hop dance theatre Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation Dance Company, one of Sadler’s Wells’ resident companies have together been awarded over £1 million in funding as part of its Strategic Touring Programme. 

 

The two companies are amongst a list of 13 organisations who will receive a total of over £4.8 million from Arts Council England, enabling them to tour throughout the UK over the next two years and shows a substantial investment in developing audiences for hip hop dance.

 

Alistair Spalding, Sadler's Wells Chief Executive and Artistic Director, said: “There is no underestimating the growth hip hop as a dance style has been experiencing in recent years, exploding from the streets onto the stage, but also on TV and through fashion and advertising. Its enormous success stems from its ‘each one teach one’ approach to knowledge-sharing and its ability to continuously evolve and develop a highly original vocabulary – a language that is dynamic and current, and speaks to ever increasing numbers of young people. 

 

In the last 12 years, Breakin' Convention has established itself as a world leader in hip hop dance theatre through its annual international festival at Sadler’ Wells. ZooNation has also been championing the development of hip hop through productions characterised by inventive and captivating storytelling, such as Into the Hoods and Some Like It Hip Hop. 

He continued: It is great news that the Arts Council has chosen to invest in these projects through their Strategic Touring Fund, which will enable Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation to tour their high-quality work to a number of venues across the UK over the next two years, giving audiences outside London the opportunity to experience hip hop dance theatre, as well as to hopefully discover the next generation of hip hop artists.”

 

Welcoming the grant, Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist and Breakin’ Convention Artistic Director Jonzi D said: “Building on the support of hip hop artists by Arts Council England over the years, this is excellent news for the sector. 

This allows Breakin’ Convention to support the professional development of hip hop dance theatre even further. Providing skills, knowledge and platforms for the plethora of emerging dance crews following in the footsteps of ZooNation, Boy Blue, Southpaw and Birdgang. The lyrical dexterity of UK emcees will now have a space to develop theatrical devices within our Moving Rap workshop strand. Arts Council England has shown commitment to the creative phenomenon that is hip hop culture, at a time when peace, love, unity, and fun is much needed.”

 

In total, Breakin’ Convention has been awarded £562,783 for a two year project that will see the festival tour throughout May 2016 and May 2017, marking the first time Breakin’ Convention will tour nationally for two consecutive years, with its successful model of programming over 400 local artists per tour to perform alongside international artists. The touring activity will be complimented by a programme of professional development activity, pairing up artists and future hip hop programmers. There will be a new spoken word professional development strand entitled Moving Rap and a continuation of the film-makers mentorship programme. 

 

Initiated by Sadler’s Wells in 2004, and hosted and curated by Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist and Breakin’ Convention Artistic Director Jonzi D, Breakin’ Convention features performances from diverse UK and international companies each year. The festival also sees Sadler’s Wells’ foyer transformed into a performance space with live DJs, freestyle dance jams, graffiti exhibitions, and workshops from top international artists. 

 

ZooNation Dance Company has been awarded £499,471 to present a major large scale tour of Into the Hoods: Remixed, the newly revamped version of the award-winning production, throughout the UK from Spring 2016. Performances of the work at regional venues will build on the show’s track record of bringing more diverse and younger audiences into theatres, something that it successfully achieved during previous runs at Sadler’s Wells, the Edinburgh Fringe, Southbank Centre and in the West End between 2006 and 2010. Into the Hoods became both the first ever hip hop dance show in the West End and the longest running dance show in the West End’s history, with a five month run at the Novello Theatre. The cast of Into the Hoods won the 2009 What’s On Stage Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Ensemble Performance. Under the direction of Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist Kate Prince, the much-loved show has been updated for 2015 with new choreography, a remixed soundtrack and new designs, and has its first performances at The Peacock from 23 October - 14 Novemberbefore embarking on national tour in spring 2016. 

 

Into the Hoods: Remixed acts as the catalyst to deliver an audience development project, ZooResidence across England, supporting and encouraging venues and their local partners to build audiences for hip hop dance theatre in new ways. This includes a series of projects for reaching thousands of young people, culminating in the creation of a piece to be performed as a pre-show curtain raiser for the production at each of the five partner venues.

ZooNation’s trademark narrative hip hop theatre style is used to tell the story of two children who get lost in the ‘hood’ and the surprising encounters and discoveries they make along their way in what is a witty and humorous contemporary fairytale. 

Kate Prince, Artistic Director of ZooNation Dance Company, said: “I think it is a really exciting and bold move for the Arts Council to make such a significant investment in developing audiences for hip hop dance theatre through these two major projects. 

 

She continued: The chance to work with venues more closely will really release the potential of our work to reach more people and connect new audiences to regional theatres. This investment of over £1 million pounds between ourselves and Breakin' Convention also makes a statement about hip hop dance and its cultural importance and artistic currency. We are over the moon that the Arts Council is supporting us to take our work around the UK and to be part of developing hip hop dance nationwide.” 

 

Joyce Wilson, Area Director, London, Arts Council England, said: “We are delighted to be able to support Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation Dance Company through our Strategic touring programme; it is a clear illustration of the breadth and quality of work that we value and support. These tours will not only showcase some of the best hip hop dance theatre in the world, but also support the professional development of emerging hip hop dance talent and leaders across England.”

 

For Breakin’ Convention and ZooNation tour details visit http://breakinconvention.com/events/festival/breakin-convention-2016-uk-tour and www.zoonation.co.uk. Full details to be announced shortly. 

 

 

 

Notes to Editors:

 

ABOUT BREAKIN’ CONVENTION
Breakin’ Convention is committed to celebrating, elevating and supporting hip hop dance theatre. Spearheaded by Jonzi D, the company works with the most respected, innovative and inspirational hip hop artists in the industry. Through its eponymous world-renowned annual international festival, professional development, youth projects and educational programme, Breakin’ Convention seeks to position hip hop dance alongside more historically established artforms. Breakin’ Convention is a Sadler’s Wells Project and Jonzi D, an Associate Artist is based at the theatre. 

 

ABOUT ZOONATION DANCE COMPANY 
ZooNation is a groundbreaking hip hop dance theatre company, bringing together a professional dance company with training and performance opportunities for young people. ZooNation Dance Company was founded in London in 2002 by director and choreographer, Kate Prince. In May 2010 ZooNation became a Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells and Kate Prince became an Associate Artist.

 

The company’s main focus is creating pieces of full-length narrative hip hop dance theatre. These include the five-star, award-winning show Into the Hoods – which went on to become the first ever hip hop dance shows and one of the longest running dance shows in West End history. ZooNation’s next production, Some Like It Hip Hop, also received five-star reviews and several award nominations, touring the UK and playing in London for two West End runs. Groove On Down The Road, featuring ZooNation Youth Company (ZYC) aged 10-21 was commissioned by the Southbank Centre and played for two seasons at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Most recently, ZooNation created The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, for the Christmas season in the Linbury Studio. The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was the first hip hop piece to be commissioned by the Royal Opera House, and was streamed live online, and made available on BBC iPlayer. 

 

ZooNation Dance Company has also performed at many major high-profile events including the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Handover Ceremonies, Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday Celebrations in Hyde Park, the 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards and The Opening Ceremony of the Tour de France 2007. In addition to performances, ZooNation trains over 170 young people at their Saturday Academy in London. ZooNation Academy of Dance (ZAD) offers 4 to 21 year olds weekly classes covering a range of hip hop styles from locking and popping to breaking and nu skool, all taught by the company’s highly acclaimed dancers, and has recently announced a new partnership with Lyric Hammersmith to create ZAD West.

 

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS
Sadler's Wells is a world leader in contemporary dance, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. Since 2005 it has helped to bring over 90 new dance works to the stage and its international award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour internationally. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 appointed world-class Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and an Associate Company and nurtures the next generation of talent through hosting the National Youth Dance Company, its Summer University programme, Wild Card initiative and its New Wave Associates.

 

Located in Islington in north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells. 

 

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England. 

[Bruce Wall]

This is particularly notable - and worthy - when one considers the following article: https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2015/arts-council-england-touring-programme-gets-10m-haircut/