Breakin’ Convention is to tour internationally for the first time to the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City, this June.
Breakin’ Convention will take place at the Apollo Harlem on Saturday June 15 and Sunday June 16 2013 and include a local and international line up of dance crews including several of the top UK dance companies, hip hop dancers from the tri-state area and guest hosted by MC Lyte next to Breakin’ Convention’s artistic director, Jonzi D.
Auditions for tri-state dancers (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) are open until 15 February – see below
It will be the first time that the festival of hip hop dance theatre has toured internationally since it was founded in 2004 having embarked on several tours across UK theatres since 2007.
“Breakin’ Convention is an international festival of hip hop dance theatre: Using the techniques that came through hip hop to make inspiring and creative dance theatre,” said Jonzi D, Breakin’ Convention’s artistic director. “We’re taking it to the proscenium arch to show the development of what is real contemporary dance!”
While Breakin’ Convention emerged as a hip hop festival at Sadler’s Wells theatre in London its first international debut will be the city where the hip hop culture started and on the main stage where many of today’s hip hop and soul legends began as emerging voices including Michael Jackson.
“It made sense for us to think about a festival that was a global festival that involved artists not just from the United States but also from Brazil, London, France and Korea, and for us to be able to see what’s happened with that art form as it’s moved out of the United States and across the world because it has changed, and has influenced contemporary dance throughout the world,” said Mikki Shepard, executive producer at the Apollo Theater.
She continued: “Now it’s going to come full circle and come back to the place where it was born and come back to one of the first stages it was presented on.”
Breakin’ Convention at the Apollo will include a programme of performances along with live DJs, graffiti, MCs and open cyphers for people to take part in to experience the festival.
Audition for Breakin’ Convention New York 2013
Are you a hip hop dance company based in New York, Connecticut or New Jersey? Do you want to perform at the world-famous Apollo Theater this June?
We are inviting the tri-state’s most innovative hip-hop dance crews to take part in this historic event. We will be accepting online applications from January 24, 2013 through February 15, 2013. Selected companies will be invited to audition in early March.
The top four groups will perform as a part of the Breakin’ Convention festival at the Apollo Theater.
To apply visit www.breakinconvention.com/nyc
