21/05/2008
2008 marked the fifth year of the annual festival of hip-hop music and dance performance, Breakin’ Convention, at Sadler’s Wells theatre. A night predominantly based around urban music sub-genres and performances incorporating the dance that has evolved from them, the foyers of the London theatre were decorated with graffiti. Sure, Breakin’ Convention proved to be a mesmerising physical and visual display of acts as far and wide as South Korea and Brazil, but first and foremost its routes are deep-set in street culture.
This was evident from the start; curator and director Jonzi D pumping-up the audience and bringing a well-respected; some might say classy theatre, an immediate indication of the party to come. And boy was this a party. To say Sadler’s Wells has never rocked so hard would be the wrong genre, but when over the course of three days you’ve got guys performing break-moves in the foyer, and Membros from Brazil showcasing a performance from the violence and drug-addled ghettoes of Rio de Janeiro on stage; pyrotechnics accompanying unbelievable, spine-tingling, insane, and extremely dangerous stunts, you’ve certainly never felt so compelled to move. See, the visual display is just part of Breakin' Convention, and the music that accompanies the performances is hot, rump-shaking stuff, that shouldn't be dismissed.
In conclusion, the greatest aspect of this three day festival, over the May Bank Holiday, wasn’t just the music and performance (the photographs only tell half the story), but Breakin' Convention's ability to draw on such a deep range of emotion. From MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations creating an atmosphere of dance and revelry, to the unnerving intensity of the fascinating Mukhtar OS Mukhtar of Cirque du Soleil (think hip hop dance based on the mentally unstable). In a nut-shell, Breakin’ Convention has finished its fifth year with barely a wrinkle on it’s backbone. Whatever anti-aging cream they’re using to retain and improve such attractive features, I for one want a part of. See you next year, Jonz!
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