Press Release: Hip hop festival Breakin' Convention returns for 17th year

[Jan McNulty]

 

Wednesday 29 January 2020
Breakin’ Convention 2020

International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre 

Sadler’s Wells & Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1R
Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 May 2020

Performances: Saturday & Sunday at 6pm (doors at 4pm)

Tickets: £25 - £40 (£18 concessions); £15 standing

Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

An unmissable date in the annual hip hop calendar, Breakin’ Convention returns to its Sadler’s Wells home for its 17th anniversary on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 May 2020, before embarking on a national tour until Saturday 6 June.

 

This influential festival of hip hop dance theatre features unparalleled line-ups of both local and international performances, curated by UK hip hop theatre legend, Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist and Breakin’ Convention Artistic Director, Jonzi D. Offstage, Sadler’s Wells is transformed to feature dance workshops, graffiti, DJs and freestyle sessions spilling out all over the building.

 

Showcasing local talent alongside global sensations, international artists on the line-up include South Korea’s gravity-defying Jinjo Crew - the first to achieve Grand Slam status after five major international wins - and French hip hop company Géométrie Variable, who explore the popping technique of tutting with a style resembling the inner mechanics of a timepiece.

 

UK-based acts include Spoken Movement, led by Artistic Director Kwame Asafo-Adjei, following a performance of Family Honour at Dance Élargie: Dance Expanded at Sadler’s Wells in October 2019. In 2018, the piece won first prize at Dance Élargie in Paris, following wins at the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition (RIDCC) and the Copenhagen International Choreography Competition earlier this year.

 

Of the line-up so far, Jonzi D comments:

“We’re extremely excited to be inviting Jinjo Crew, Géométrie Variable and Spoken Movement back to Sadler’s Wells and on tour with us this year.

 

“Jinjo Crew’s members have won every major breaking competition in the world, including the UK B-Boy Championships. Expect jaw-dropping power moves and inventive combinations, such as using tracksuits as skipping ropes.”

 

“Géométrie Variable integrates impressive clarity of form into tutting technique. Angular gestures, slot, slide, fold and open to reveal a myriad of 2D shapes. Like swans paddling under calm waters, the dancers’ bodies reveal the intricacies and engine behind the choreography’s kaleidoscopic result.

 

“Spoken Movement’s Kwame Asafo-Adjei uses popping and krump vocabulary in narratives that trace his Ghanaian roots, exploring environmental issues, and themes of family and race. His choreography has developed into something potent and unflinching.”

 

In May 2019, Sadler’s Wells was awarded £630,660 as part of the Arts Council’s National Lottery Project Grants funding programme. Using this funding, Sadler’s Wells’ Breakin’ Convention team continues to build on the learnings and legacy of 16 years of successful hip hop theatre development with an ambitious new programme, Breakin’ Out.

 

Breakin’ Out encompasses three distinct and connected strands, one of which is Grass Routes partnerships, supporting the practice of hip hop artists engaged with their local communities through collaboration with national organisations, providing training, masterclasses and mentorship. Two further strands comprise artist development, including Breakin’ Convention’s Open Art Surgery professional development project, and performances as part of the programme’s national tour.

 

Following the festival at Sadler’s Wells, Breakin’ Convention tours the UK, taking in venues from Plymouth to South Shields (see full dates and locations below). The festival has previously toured globally; in 2017 alone, it presented a total of 32 shows in 16 cities, visiting venues including the Harlem Apollo and The Sony Centre, Toronto.

From 8 - 11 July 2020, Breakin’ Convention Presents - the programme’s full-length performance platform for the most innovative hip hop artists working today - makes its first visit to Sadler’s Wells’ West End venue, The Peacock, with b-boy company The Ruggeds’ Between Us.

 

All main stage performances BSL interpreted 

A Sadler’s Wells Production

Jonzi D is a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist 

 

 

Tour dates

Sat       02-May         6pm                          LONDON Sadler's Wells

Sun      03-May         6pm                          LONDON Sadler's Wells

Wed     06-May         7:30pm                     DONCASTER Cast

Sat       09-May         7:45pm                     POOLE Lighthouse

Tue      12-May         7:30pm                     PLYMOUTH Theatre Royal

Wed     13-May         7:30pm                     PLYMOUTH Theatre Royal

Sat       16-May         7:30pm                     BLACKPOOL Grand

Tue      19-May         7:30pm                     SOUTH SHIELDS Customs House

Fri        22-May         7:30pm                     NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall

Sat       23-May         7:30pm                     NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall

Wed     27-May         2:30pm / 7:30pm     BRIGHTON Dome

Fri        29-May         7:30pm                     NORWICH Theatre Royal

Sat       30-May         7:30pm                     NORWICH Theatre Royal

Tue      02-Jun          7:30pm                     BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre

Wed     03-Jun          7:30pm                     BIRMINGHAM Repertory Theatre

Sat       06-Jun          2:30pm / 7:30pm     CANTERBURY Marlowe Theatre

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Sadler’s Wells
Sadler’s Wells is a world-leading creative organisation dedicated to dance in all its forms. With a rich theatrical heritage of over three centuries, it offers a year-round programme of performances and learning activities. Our mission is to make and share dance that inspires us all. Our vision is to create, through dance, a depth of connection beyond borders, cultures and languages, so we see ourselves in each other. 

 

Audiences of over half a million come to Sadler’s Wells’ three London theatres each year, with many more enjoying our touring productions at venues across the UK and around the world and accessing our content through digital channels. Sadler's Wells commissions, produces and presents more dance than any other theatre in the world, embracing the popular and the unknown. Since 2005, we have helped to bring over 170 new dance works to the stage, many of them involving our 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and four Associate Companies – the most exciting talents working in dance today. 

 

Sadler’s Wells nurtures the next generation of talent through a range of artist development initiatives and reaches over 30,000 annually through our learning and engagement programmes.

 

Located in Islington, north London, Sadler’s Wells’ current building is the sixth to have stood on site since entrepreneur Richard Sadler first established the theatre 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 having all started at Sadler's Wells.

Sadler’s Wells is to open an additional mid-scale venue in east London in 2022. The new space will be at the heart of the East Bank project, a new cultural and education district in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, which will also include BBC, UAL’s London College of Fashion, UCL and the V&A in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. As well as a 550-seat auditorium, our new venue will include a choreographic centre and a hip hop theatre academy, the first of their kind in the world to be run by a theatre.

www.sadlerswells.com

About Breakin’ Convention 

Breakin' Convention represents the origins and evolution of hip hop culture from around the world and around the corner. It is world-renowned for hip hop dance theatre. Through its international festivals and professional development programme, Breakin' Convention is at the vanguard of the global development of hip hop theatre artists. 

 

Supporting the artistic vison of hip hop theatre pioneer Jonzi D, Breakin’ Convention is part of Sadler’s Wells and produces its flagship annual festival there. It is one of the most prestigious platforms for dance theatre in the world. Since its inception in 2003, the festival has been pivotal to the development of the global hip hop theatre scene; touring nationally since 2007 and internationally since 2013, Breakin’ Convention has reached live audiences of over 100,000.

 

Breakin’ Convention is committed to the development of hip hop theatre artists by providing a variety of participatory opportunities. These include professional development programmes for choreographers, dancers and emcees, projects for young people and educational activities in schools as well as bespoke special events.

 

In the next five years, these projects will culminate in the opening of a new hip hop theatre academy, within the new Sadler's Wells venue in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London. As well as a mid-scale auditorium, this new Sadler’s Wells venue will also include a new choreographic centre and will be part of the East Bank project alongside UAL’s London College of Fashion, BBC, UCL and the V&A in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution.  

www.breakinconvention.com 

 

About Jonzi D

Jonzi D is the foremost advocate for hip hop theatre, changing the profile and heavily influencing the development of Britain’s hip hop dance and theatre scene over the past two decades. He’s an MC, dancer, spoken word artist and an established performer in his own right. Jonzi is a graduate from the London Contemporary Dance School and an Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells. He has toured his own work internationally and is regularly invited to judge international dance competitions. 

 

Since founding Breakin’ Convention in 2004 Jonzi has triumphed in both raising the profile and giving a platform to hip hop disciplines; Breakin’ Convention has gained worldwide recognition as being at the vanguard of the art form’s development. Through professional development projects including Open Art Surgery and Back to the Lab, Jonzi has supported hundreds of hip hop dance and rap/poetry artists on their journey to creating theatre. His critically acclaimed works include Lyrikal Fearta (1995), Aeroplane Man (1999), TAG… Just Writing My Name (2006), Markus the Sadist (2009) and The Letter: To Be, Or To MBE (2013). Jonzi has been featured in HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, had his short films Silence da Bitchin’ & Aeroplane Man screened on Channel 4, toured his work extensively all over the world and delivered his own TED talk about the influence and evolution of hip hop culture.