Breakdance is breaking out

Please could you tell me about Say It Through Breakdancing?
There was a need for an investigation into choreographers in North Africa and the b-boys who were coming together in Tunis for a qualifier for the UK B-Boy Championships here in October. But the project managers for the British Council out there, Imed Belkhodja and Carole McFadden, wanted to explore beyond the battling spirit of b-boys… With the Arab Spring, and different dictators being toppled over the last few years in that region, they wanted to see what these b-boys had to say. For example, up until January 2011, in the Ben Ali regime [in Tunisia], breakdancing was actually banned and people used to do it underground, if at all. Now there’s a different regime, these artists have started to come out of the woodwork and they’ve been working on their art form.

What was your role?
I was asked to go out there – not just to see how they battled but to see how they felt they fitted in to society: who they saw themselves as, what they really wanted to say as individuals as they were going through a major social and political change… Initially it was very difficult and challenging, because they weren’t really open-minded to anything I said… but once they realised who I was and that my message was: continue battling, continue doing your thing but, on the other hand, I’ve got something that I can offer you in terms of exploring your own identity, things started to gather momentum and I did a succession of workshops with them.

What’s the next stage?
Before my sessions with them in March they had never really even talked to each other… and it was quite groundbreaking to bring them all together from the four countries, but I wanted to take it one stage further than that and create a cross-cultural conversation, so I put it to the British Council that I wanted to bring three dancers from the UK to participate in the evolution of the work. I wanted to bring, specifically, a female dancer, because I wanted to see how they would work with a female in their midst – I thought that would be quite interesting.

I imagine there aren’t many female breakdancers…
No, but at the event out there, the qualifier for the UK B-Boy Championships, Imed was saying, “Looking around there are a few girls now, whereas before that would never happen.” They are coming out; it is changing. But I wanted to act as a catalyst for that – to bring it forward. In September, the ten b-boys will come over here and show their work and teach and have the experience of travelling… I also think it’s really important that we get as many people as possible to come and see what they’ve got to say in terms of what they feel, to break the stereotype of “This is what happens. This is what they go through.”

Nicola Rayner is the Editor of Dance Today magazine, where this article first appeared. It is republished here with permission For more on the magazine or to buy a copy, visit its website. Africa Utopia takes place from September 11 to 14 at Southbank Centre. Say It Through Breakdancing is a British Council initiative. Follow @UKTheatreDance for all of the latest news, blogs and opportunities from the British Council Theatre and Dance team.