For the more witchy among you, May Day bank holiday or Beltane is all about renewal, regrowth, and May poles. I have my own tradition, which is an artistic celebration of the new, budding, and blossoming: Breakin’ Convention.
Due to word limits and a very stuffed festival, I shall be sparing with background. Twenty-two years ago, HipHop legend Jonzi D and his team started overrunning Sadler’s Wells yearly. I have been visiting and entranced for the last four years. All floors of the theatre become a temple, spilling out into the surrounding areas: graffiti around the corner, a park jam on Bank Holiday Monday and after-parties at the O2 Academy. Workshops, dance-offs, and the best food you will ever eat in a theatre (bring on the jerk chicken!)
But of course, as a serious theatre critic, I am here for THE DANCE. Also celebrating an anniversary (20 years) is The Rugged from The Netherlands, one of Sunday’s more established acts, with an Olympian in their midst. Starting with a montage of their achievements both within and without the festival, the crew swagger on in fresh white camo/armour. Jungle classics follow, and some of the most breath-catching breakdance, staggered flips, slides and the classic encircled solos. Humour and bravado combine seamlessly.
Equally, the last act, Témoin, is a single ambitious piece. Choreographer Saïdo Lehlouh (France) has worked with a whole troupe of dancers. We start in gloom with them whirring around the space, walking at a pace. Out of this background of bodies, solos blending voguing, krump, breakdance and locking emerge, then subside back into the mass. Later group sections equally seem to spontaneously combust into life and then fizzle out again. Impulsivity is difficult to create on stage, so this is impressive, as each dancer’s personality is bursting forth. A challenging and experimental piece, not for the dance beginner, but thought-provoking.
Quieter pieces charm equally well. Max Revell, a graduate of Back2thelab (BC’s talent incubator) and former soloist of the festival, brings a group piece. The Party has his signature manipulation of hanging suits. This time, a headless suited dancer (think Sleepy Hollow) interacts with a group. They craft shifting heads for him, eyes and hair from their fingers, then expanding his troubled thoughts physically upwards and out. The liquidity of movement is what sets Revell apart, and this subtle gem of an exploration of loss and grieving sticks deep within you.
“Work from around the world and around the corner”: a mantra that still holds. From Greece, we have a solo with a similar focus on handwork – Tarantism (aka Vasiliki Papapostolou) in black but with red painted hands. Her style blending voguing, locking and contortion crafts a sprawling piece that sees her writhing on the floor as the red arrows of her fingers dart over her twisted body. Another solo from Illi Wild (Belgium) shows us the impact that krumping can have in BeZarbi. He emerges from the smoky darkness. Described in the blurb as “movement isn’t decoration… its declaration”, this is a scream, a physical blur of spinning arms and jerking neck, intense and brutally honest, yet with a rather unsatisfactory crescendo.
Dance’s ability to send a message is explored eagerly by Unity Dance Company UK in Blade From Youngabout knife crime, performed by around 30 11-25 year olds. Exorbitantly energetic, this piece is the most narrative-driven yet feels a little obvious next to the rest of the evening’s more varied shades of meaning.
It’s the little moments that really keep this festival alight: watching a young dancer tentatively step out in the mezzanine dance off, and seeing the light in his eyes as the whole crowd goes crazy; gaggles of professional dancers rushing to a workshop, and parents pointing out opportunities for their children.
Breakin’ Convention has a whole generation ready to take hip-hop culture wherever it needs to go, and it’s a gift to be along for the ride.
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