IDFB News » Hip Hop

Episodes of Blackness

Mars Elkins — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:13:20 +0000

During IDFB 2010, we were all mesmerised by Vocab Dance Company’s Kwenda – Kwenda and their performance during Utopia. In May, the company unleashed Episodes of Blackness: a powerful evening of dynamic interdisciplinary work inspired by aspects of black culture and heritage.

Using dance theatre, music and spoken word, Episodes of Blackness is Vocab’s first triple bill. Programmed by East London Dance, the show premiered brand new work ‘Word!’, a choreographic response to headlines around the negative aspects of youth culture which asked “is it in our power to do anything about it?”. The triple bill also featured ‘Temps Mort’, a powerful quintet that explored the theme of polygamy. It was a fierce combination of dance and percussive rhythms of drums.

And there was also a revival of the highly acclaimed ‘Kwenda – Kwenda’, a compelling exploration of a group of women wishing to step away from their roots but are worried about its consequences.

Vocab’s choreographer Alesandra Seutin combines traditional African dance with Contemporary and Hip Hop dynamics resulting in a distinctly fast paced, athletic evening of Afro-Eclectic Contemporary Dance.

Renowned dance critic Donald Hutera said: “Seutin’s work puts me in touch with a feisty inner black/mixed race female self I never even knew I had.”

And Vocab Dance will be performing Episodes of Blackness at DanceXchange, Birmingham Hippodrome on Friday 4 November 2011. Tickets on sale soon – visit www.dancexchange.org.uk.

Blaze to set Birmingham Hippodrome alight

Mars Elkins — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 10:13:24 +0000

International Dance Festival Birmingham co-producer Birmingham Hippodrome will play host to what The Times described as ‘big, slick and exuberantly delivered package of wall-to-wall dance’. Blaze – The Streetdance Sensation is at Birmingham Hippodrome for five shows from Thursday 7 – Saturday 9 October 2010.

Blaze is a breathtaking 90 minutes of pure raw energy. The show features a talented cast of street dancers and breakers from the Australia, United States, Philippines, France, UK, Portugal, Sweden and the Netherlands.
From hip hop and breaking to popping and locking, these dancers will perform spectacular choreography against a backdrop of advanced digital screening and fourdimensional lighting set to pulsating dance music.

IDFB caught up with two of the Blaze dancers – Caramel, who’s originally from Birmingham and Portugal’s Carlos Neto.

Also, Blaze features finalists from the hit BBC series So You Think You Can Dance?, Lizzie Gough and Tommy Franzén, so if you’re a big fan, don’t miss them when they come to Birmingham!

BLAZE the show – tour 2010/2011 from Blaze the Show on Vimeo.

Blaze is choreographed and directed by dance royalty Anthony Van Laast, whose long list of credits include Mama Mia! (both – stage and film); Sister Act (stage) and live music shows for Kate Bush and Mika.

Shows start at 8.30pm. Please note that there are early evening performances on Friday & Saturday, which start at 5.30pm.

Tickets are priced £12.50 – £30. Book online via www.birminghamhippodrome.com or call 0844 338 5000.

Catch up with Salah

Mars Elkins — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:00:04 +0000

Dance icon Salah was in Birmingham this week. With his help, we’ve created a new hip hop/street dance routine to teach people in advance of our Festival’s finale event on 15 May (click here to find out more about Put Your Foot Down). We had a quick chat with him just before he jetted off to Russia and here’s what he had to say:

Dance with us

Mars Elkins — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:05:18 +0000

The Festival is not just about the fabulous line up of performances we’ve programmed, but it’s also about giving people of all ages, dance abilities and interests to join in the fun at a town or city centre near you. Have a look at the Take Part section of our website and see what kinds of opportunities there are to get involved.

Whether you’re looking for tango, flamenco, folk, hip hop or something fun for the kids to do, do keep checking back for regular updates – we’ve got an array of workshops as well as education and outreach programmes to get you dancing.

If you’d like to receive information about things you can take part in during the Festival, please join our mailing list or email us.