Artistic Director Recommends – April 2025
Someone asked me what my legacy might be after my time at Dance Base. They had stated that Dance Base’s work with older people and the development of PRIME could arguably be said to be that of the previous director, Morag Deyes. So how might I leave a lasting mark? Hip Hop has left an imprint on me and I hope that through our Hip Hop dance artist development activity, we are building the foundations that can raise the visibility, creativity and profile of local Hip Hop dance artists. Making this artform a little less under-represented in Scotland wouldn’t be a bad legacy to leave behind.
So where do we start? First by looking back. We recently held our 2nd Live & Direct Hip Hop Artist Development week hosting three emerging artists in the scene Dorine Mugisha, Nevil Jose and Lucia Jamous. A core Hip Hop value is respect and acknowledgement of those who have gone before. As a dance form that is often learned, developed and passed on 1-2-1 in communities and not in traditional dance spaces, this aspect is highly regarded, often upheld and valued. As well as creative explorations in the studio, the participants received a lecture on A Brief History of UK Hip Hop Theatre. The aim being to provide context, to look at techniques and how the language has changed over three decades and some of the common practices and strategies that created sustainability for some of these companies. This was a first attempt in developing and delivering this lecture. We only manged to get halfway through so some editing is required. I won’t go through the entire lecture but I thought it would be nice to share some of what we talked about with regards to the originators of the genre.
The Ogs (Ogs = Original Ganster ie a pioneer)
In the 1990s there were three main artists that pioneered the form of Hip Hop dance theatre. First was Jonzi D. Considered the first UK artist to perform the genre of Hip Hop dance theatre with Lyrikal Featre. Jonzi created the hugely successful Breakin’ Convention in partnership with Sadler’s Wells, refused an MBE from the Queen (and made a show about it) and set up the first further education training centre for Hip Hop in the UK at Sadler’s Wells 2. Jonzi is passionate about rap and graffiti and developed a form called physical calligraphy where dancers would try to embody words and the dynamics of graffiti. A task Jonzi would sometimes use is to ask a group of dancers to move like paint dripping of a wall. This idea of embodying other Hip Hop elements has moved even further over the past 30 years. This work by Belgian artist Jules Rozenwajn, takes an even closer look at the boundary between the practices of breakin’ and graffiti that come from the same body – Layers.
Benji Reid was a close friend of Jonzi’s and co-directed him in Lyrikal Featre. Benji had his own successful career as dancer, actor and photographer recently showing an exhibition at Factory International in Manchester. Benji had training in physical theatre and we watched this following clip to demonstrate his skills in this area and how hip hop theatre is more than just dance. In this The Holiday Part 1, Benji’s body morphs through different states, shifting the audience’s perception long the way.
And finally, there was Robert Hylton. Robert favoured the style of popping as the foundation of his work in Hip Hop dance theatre. He is now an academic and this lens is present in his work that was much more deconstructed physically that his contemporaries. Swan Breaks is an interesting piece made in collaboration with science experts at the University of Southampton. A classic story is reimagined with Hip Hop and acts as an early example of how technology was becoming integrated with dance – you can watch it here.
It was great to be able to look at the legacies of some of these artists, while building our own.
All the best
Tony