Hip Hop – Live Art Alive

CYCLES from BOY BLUE
Image credit:- Camilla Greenwell

Concept and Conception Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante

Choreographer Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy

AVIVA STUDIOS

Eighteen months on from the memorable FREE YOUR MIND which launched AVIVA STUDIOS in 2023 comes CYCLES from company who worked with Danny Boyle. This production from renowned hip hop dance company BOY BLUE sees Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante and Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy back in the building celebrating hip hop dance as an art form. A dance form that now has a fifty year history which started on the streets of The Bronx but is now studied as an art form that can aid depression, PTSD and those who are visually impaired according to University studies.

CYCLES sees eight dancers showcase hip hop dance in its various forms simply as an expression of sheer energy and exuberance that also celebrates technical ability and tight precision choreography. Ninety minutes of dance that encompasses movement in complete unison and creates space for individual expression. Staged on the huge stage in The Hall there is space for fluidity and freedom as dancers come together or seamlessly break apart with points when one literally run cycles of movement along beamed light that looks like the moving turntable of a club DJ.

BOY BLUE performing CYCLES at AVIVA STUDIOS. Image credit: Camilla Greenwell.

This striking production looks and sounds great. The costumes by Matthew Josephs nail street fashion that looks both edgy and slightly futuristic. In the second half the performers don oversized hoods that dwarf their faces giving an androgynous anonymity and look of street menace. There is a starkness to the staging that puts all the emphasis on the dancers. It is only broken by the impactful lighting design by Lee Curran who creates piercing beams of light like helicopter searchlights. The shafts of lights at times cleverly splinter across the stage using the dancers bodies to direct where the light falls. This works beautifully at times but depending on where you are seated there may be moments that are simply blinding.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this production is the fact that the huge Hall at AVIVA STUDIOS was packed out with a diverse and very enthusiastic audience. It can be frustrating and saddening to see some brilliant dance companies play to half empty theatres but thankfully this production celebrating hip hop had no such issues. Hopefully this programming at Factory International will continue to fill the space while also bringing in new audiences.

AVIVA STUDIOS 21st-22nd March 2025

Aaron Lim and Erak Mith. Image credit Prudence Upton

Devised and Directed by Nick Power

CONTACT THEATRE

Between Tiny Cities is the creative vision of Australian hip hop dance artist and choreographer Nick Power. He has previously worked with Aboriginal communities, and his other productions have included works such as Two Crews which brought together Sydney’s Riddim Nation and from Paris, all female crew Lady Rocks. This interest in exploring diverse cultures, languages and geography through conversations in dance has culminated in the four year project that is Between Tiny Cities. This production brings together Darwin company D*City Rockers and Tiny Toones from Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Dancers Erak Mith and Aaron Lim square up to each other in the centre of a circle surrounded by their audience. Will this be a classic hip-hop dance battle, a war of clashing cultures or miscommunication due to language barriers, a fight of masculine prowess or even some form of mating game? Will these two young men find a commonality within this dance space? Being in such close proximity to the performers means the audience get a real sense of connection to the dancers. We see up close the glistening sweat on their bodies and the wary looks that later warm and then become humorous and collaborative.

At one point the dance moves from street dance styles that are similar filled with young male posturing and impudent intensity to the commonality of two breathlessAt CONTACT Theatre 10th -12th May 2022CONTACT THEATRE 10th-12th May 2022, exhausted performers who simply sit down and share water. This shift in pace cleverly brings the men together as their breathing synchronises. This is also when Erak Mith steps out of the circle to briefly sit in the audience as though to say we are all one…we breathe and we need water to survive…these are universal needs.

The sound design by Jack Prest and lighting design by Brosco Shaw work perfectly with the choreography as the dancers change pace, explore each others style and learn from each other before merging and forming a new shared style. The spotlight focus on Lim and Mith highlights the differences and the similarities but as the lights warm and mute down towards the closing sequence. There is a dreamy quality as movements become increasingly obscured and finally it is simply two young men inhabiting and sharing the same space. As this piece moves through the rituals of their individual cultural experiences and their shared knowledge of hip hop dance culture, we witness a sharing of journeys and styles leading to a genuine appreciation of each other.

CONTACT THEATRE 10TH-12TH MAY 2022