Breakin' Convention International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre 2011

Breakin' Convention 2011 wil be the Eighth Annual International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre.

'One of the most successful brand-names in British dance' Donald Hutera, The Times

Still the only event of its kind in the UK, and curated and directed by Sadler's Wells Associate Artist Jonzi D, Breakin' Convention returns for its eighth year over May bank holiday weekend, from Saturday 30 April - Bank Holiday Monday 2 May 2011.

Since its inception in 2004, the international festival of hip hop dance theatre has showcased 261 UK companies, 87 international companies, and a total of over 3030 performers to audiences in excess of 70,856. Details of the line-up for 2011 are now available, which features footwork from the USA; traditional dance from Uganda; popping from Denmark; Korean b-boys; the UK’s finest street dance, and for the first time ever at Sadler’s Wells a performing robot appears on stage.

Japanese robot Ashigaru performs in multimedia show Human Robot by Big City Brains, which is a Danish crew featuring some of the best poppers in the world including Mr Steen and Pandora. Human Robot includes a specially commissioned film featuring grime music from Lucy Love and spoken word from the brilliant Saul Williams.

More ground-breaking performance comes from four American dancers who perform Chicago Footwork for the very first time in the UK. Noted for its extremely fast pace and unpredictable rhythm, the dance has existed in Chicago for over a decade but has never before made it over the Atlantic to the UK. The performance of Chicago Footwork sees Breakin' Convention continue its mission to bring over new dance styles from the USA, having previously been at the forefront of introducing performers of krump dance to UK audiences.

The international line-up for Breakin' Convention 2011 also includes Ugandan crew Tabu Flo, which comes straight from Kampala to become the first ever Central African group to perform at the festival. Part of the Breakdance Project Uganda charity initiative, Tabu Flo has created a piece especially for Breakin' Convention about Uganda’s mythical flesh-eating 'night dancers', which fuses traditional Ugandan dance and music with breaking and popping.

"**** The remarkable physical virtuosity of the piece makes you gasp" Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, on Pierre Rigal's Press

Breakin' Convention encourages hip hop dance artists to explore new levels of choreography, and leading the international contemporary work in 2011 is asphalte by French choreographer Pierre Rigal. The piece features b-boys, poppers and new style dancers in a funny, quirky exploration of light and sound.

Completing the international line-up are Kenichi Ebina from Japan, who performs a piece about a Ninja assassin disguised as a beautiful geisha; Breakin' Nest, the first international b-boy crew of under 18's from UK and Korea who perform a piece inspired by Where the Wild Things Are; Korean b-boy crew Morning of Owl; American popper Damon Frost, and Clash 66, performing a stunning male and female duet from France and Korea.

Leading the UK line-up is tightly choreographed street dance from Breakin’ Convention favourites Plague, as well as a special performance by Boy Blue Entertainment. 2011 sees Boy Blue celebrate its 10 year anniversary, and to mark the occasion the company performs a remake of its classic piece Klockz. Led by Kenrick 'H20' Sandy and Michael 'Mikey J' Asante, Boy Blue continues to develop and inspire hip hop dancers from grass roots to seasoned professionals.

Previously, the UK acts at Breakin' Convention have been notable for the way in which they use choreography to explore an ambitious range of themes. The 2011 line-up remains true to form, as Birdgang returns to Breakin' Convention with dystopian sci-fi piece Birdnet. First performed at the festival in 2007, Birdnet explores the oppressive nature of technology in our lives. Powerful performance also comes from Ella Mesma, who performs EVOL, inspired by research into the grey areas around sexual consent and rape within relationships.

Elsewhere in the line-up, Cambridge-based Dance Offensive follow their critically acclaimed performance at Breakin' Convention 2010 with a piece exploring themes about the depths and shallows of human nature, set to a beat-heavy remix of Prokofiev's String Quartet No.1; Nathan Geering presents a dark solo fusing breaking and tutting to express the pain and frustration of injury; Natalie James performs poignant solo piece Broken Doll and Theo 'Godson' Oloyade performs an intense krump solo.

Guaranteed to inspire the bank holiday crowds with infectious energy is Scottish collective Moving In Circles, which performs HipHopScotch, an uplifting celebration of both hip hop and Scottish cultures. There are also performances from Avant Garde Youth, made up of 22 young people aged between 14 and 19; 2011 Got To Dance (Sky 1) semi-finalists Cerebro and street dance crews Unity and Alias.

Alongside the line-up of artists the Breakin' Convention weekend includes the sixth Film Night featuring a selection of film shorts and an excerpt of the Night Dancers documentary and a Q&A with director Emile Dindeen and the Tabu Flo Dance Crew; a Panel Discussion focusing on the history of Chicago Footworking featuring the Chicago Footworkers and legends of the UK Jazz Fusion scene Gary Nurse and Irven Lewis; the latest Future Elements Night created entirely by young people representing the future of hip hop dance; live aerosol jams; workshop programmes taught by international artists; DJ demos and graffiti exhibition and freestyle circles. Please visit www.breakinconvention.com for the most up to date details.