Sadler's Wells Breakin' Convention 2021

Sadler's Wells' hugely successful Breakin' Convention returns for its 18th year. Curated by Convention veteran Jonzi D, the festival brings together a raft of UK and international hip hop performers..

Original festival plans have been curtailed, and the latest information is that it will now take place over the weekend of 3 and 4 July.

Among the confirmed performers will be Blue Boy veteran Gemma Hoddy with Vintage. Danced by a quartet of women, Vintage is a sassy blend of jazz dance shapes, punctuated by popping technique.

Also from the UK is AWA (Atypical with Attitude) a combo made up of young dancers with different special needs and disabilities, here making its Breakin' Convention debut; waacking artist Bagsy with his new work Surrender, where he asks what it means to be a man. He takes inspiration from his own identity, examining masculinity, expectations and Yoruba’s god of thunder Shango.

Patience J, last seen on Breakin' Convention six years ago, returns with Colours, a celebratory work exploring modern Afro dance forms from the African diaspora including n’dombolo and azonto. Also returning to Sadler's Wells is Spoken Movement with the multi-award winning Family Honour. A duet between artistic director Kwame Asafo-Adjei and dancer Catrina Nisbett, the work explores the religious and cultural taboos in a Ghanaian family through the medium of popping and tutting.

Spoken Movement, Photo: Juan Carlos Gómez Villamor
Last seen alongside grime artist Stormzy in his performance at Glastonbury 2020, W.A.R (We Ain’t Regular) makes its debut at Sadler's Wells.

Finally, new to the line-up is the co-founder of the Ugandan hip hop dance crew Tabu Flo, Antonio Bukhar Ssebuuma, with Snikie Snikaz. Colombian b-boy Spin together and rap artist S.I Stature present a power struggle between two armies, using combative breaking and the spoken word to shine light on the crisis in Colombia.

As well as live performances, this year's festival features a series of films from Breakin’ Convention's latest initiatives, Power to the Pixel and Next Day Delivery – a collaboration between choreographers and writers.