"Breakin' Convention 2023"

Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.

This event celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the convention which celebrates hip hop dance theatre. This festival is hosted by Jonzi D, Breakin' Convention's artistic director and it also includes DJs, freestyle sessions and graffiti artists situated around the Royal Centre's levels.

This show brings back so many memories of unfurling my roll of lino and going into Bulwell Market place and performing windmills and turtles, back in my youth.

I was initially surprised with the amount of people at the event who, like myself, has snow on the roof, but then remembered that people of my age were there the first time around with artists like Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata and the Sugarhill Gang creating the grooves that hip hop break-dancers could pop. lock and flex to.

In 2023 though we see variations of these dance genres, as well as the traditional on stage.

The evening starts off with BeatBots, a local dance academy from Nottingham performing a piece called Rat Race, which went down an absolute storm and setting that dance bar for the rest of the evening.

Jamal Sterrett is another local star from St Anns in Nottingham performing a piece called Spectra in a style called Flexing. I really could not take my eyes off him as he seemingly floated inches above the ground in a hypnotic dance display that made you feel as if you were in a bubble.

JME Dance Company is up next and another Nottingham based dance group. JME are a female dance group showing female warrior attitude in a piece called Mino. Powerful and energetic with a strong message.

MOVER are from South Korea and presented a classic breakdance piece called Merry Go Round. teaming the breaking with a talented beat boxer made this piece an exciting and entertaining watch, and a great way to close the first part of the evening's dance entertainment.

There was a 30-minute interval which gave you time to take in the off-stage talent before returning for the second half's entertainment as well as a drink and a delicious patty, or maybe a cookie.

Yvonne Smink from the Netherlands opened the second half with a piece called "a contre-courant", which translates as "against a current". This definitely breaking the conventional idea of breaking. There was a pole on stage which Yvonne seemed to merely float around. Imagine an invisible tube of water with a woman within the tube, slowly and majestically, almost like a seahorse would move, hover around the pole. It was completely mesmerising. Yvonne's strength in the whole of her body showed as she posed at various angles along the pole with complete control. She wouldn't need to ask her partner to get the lid off of a jar of beetroot, I can tell you!

Take 1 Dance is also from Nottingham and perform a piece called The 1. This hip hop dance powerhouse upheld the Nottingham quota of talent with this futuristic performance.

And finally, Ghetto Funk Collective from the Netherlands, and boy did they bring the funk!! This is classic funk which takes me back to the days of Soul Train on TV. You can see elements of James Brown, Sly Stone, Michael Jackson and even Fred Astaire in this piece of hip-hop funky theatre, each member taking centre stage for a solo.

This is one of the most exciting things that I have seen on stage and it is so good to see this particular art form still thriving and still growing, especially with Nottingham's dance groups keeping it alive in Notts. Nothing I say will really bring the excitement and elasticity of these acts to life online and to get the most out of a show like this, you need to be there in the audience to soak up the atmosphere and to witness the immense talents all of these groups have; talents that are ever expanding, year on year.

"Breakin' Convention" was here for just the one day, so make sure that when you next see this piece of theatre advertised in the future, you get yourself a ticket.