schrit_tmacher festival 2024 and Sadler’s Wells show

Breakin‘ Convention at Kerkrade Theatre

By Thomas Linden

Jonzi D has barely stepped onto the stage of Kerkrade Theatre when the auditorium goes wild. The presenter strides across the ramp with a sweeping stride and cheers on the mostly young audience. As artistic director of his show „Breakin Convention“, he travels through Europe with a group of excellent hip-hop dancers on behalf of the London dance centre Sadler’s Wells. There is a reason why the atmosphere in the almost sold-out hall is immediately at operating temperature. Throughout the day, workshops and small battles followed one another in the Kerkrade Cultural Centre. Here it was easy to see how to attract young people to the centre of a city. The municipal library and the theatre are located in the same building, whose large foyer perfectly demonstrates the principle of the Third Place. A tastefully designed space where everyone can spend time without feeling the pressure of commercialisation on their necks. Dance enthusiasm can really blossom here among children and young people. The age groups from Kerkrade are organised under the Oxygene label as part of a dance academy. Even the youngest primary school children show off their hip-hop skills in ensemble formations with almost dogged enthusiasm. A quintet from Oxygene was also able to impress on the big stage, creating a spirited female dialogue game on nothing more than a beer mat. The opening also belonged to a local duo. „Karlyle & Dyka“ are two tall dancers who develop their own original body language with supple arm movements.

Breaking-Convention©TANZweb.org_Klaus-Dilger

In one way or another, hip-hop and brackdance lead from the streets of the western world to Africa or vice versa. This is also the case here with a story from the sun-drenched plains of Africa. The silhouettes of Antoinette Gomis, the founder of the ensemble of the same name, and her four dancers, who communicate skilfully with their hands, are silhouetted. Traditional African dance phrases are seamlessly transferred into the flowing movement repertoire of hip-hop. Then, under the title „Les Ombres“, the sandstorms set in, against which the bodies have to assert themselves like invisible resistance. They play with the metaphor of the hardship of flight and deprivation. The timing is lost, the choreography thins out and suddenly the protagonist finds himself at the end of his involuntary journeys in the car noise of Paris. This reveals a problem with this revue of numbers, which basically contains little choreographic material. A dramaturgy is only partially followed. For the most part, the programme remains a short-breathed pleasure. This may also be due to the nature of dance styles such as breakdance and hip-hop. Their rhythmic emphasis remains focussed on the individual dancers through jerky tensing and relaxing, as well as abrupt stops and changes.

Virtuosity is called for, as the Amsterdam-based trio Ghetto Funk Collektive presents in the finale of the show. Powerful brass choirs dominate the scene while the three stroll casually across the stage, almost to the point of inertia. But then they burst into action. There, too, there are always short solos. They present themselves. For a moment, everyone’s attention is on each individual. This expresses a beautiful gesture of respect, which is so important to the young people. At the same time, the egocentricity of the narcissistic display isolates the actors. As a result, there are hardly any narrative passages. The enthusiasm is expressed through the increasing speed and the bold combination of dance figures.

Jonzi D personally collects the cheers from the audience in his ever-prompting presentation. „Great“, „fantastic“ and „marvellous“ is what was on offer. Yes, this show has its thrilling moments. For example, the Italian dance comedian Chri amazes the audience with animal acts in which he twists his body in a way that only the dance moves of a hip-hopper can.However, the show is at its most impressive when the narrative becomes dense and almost disturbingly realistic for a moment.The duo „Spoken Movement“ shows the sometimes disturbing dialogue of a couple at the kitchen table.Even the title „Family Honour“ foreshadows something dark.The dialogue is spoken with rapid hand movements that occasionally land on the woman’s face.Without having to utter a word, the bodies tell of the dominance of the man, who lectures the woman, intimidates her and transgresses boundaries.This creates traumas of powerlessness.For a moment, trepidation spreads through the auditorium.Are we witnessing the disturbing power play of the patriarchy?More or less blatant violence?Yes, that’s how it is.Redemption comes with the final gesture, in which the woman responds with lightning speed and all the more effectively.The greatest merit of this loosely curated show is perhaps not so much in what happens on stage as in the enthusiasm it triggers in those who will be able to fill the halls of dance art in the future.