Breakin' Convention - Edinburgh Festival Theatre - 12.05.07
After three sucessfull consecutive years in London, the critically acclaimed Breakin' Convention finally came north of the border to Edinburgh's Festival Theatre and was truly an 'event' in hip-hop theatre. In the foyer alone we were treated to hip-hop DJ's, Bigg Taj's beatboxing and a host of break dancers young and old creating a fantastic buzz. It was great to see a whole mixture of visitors including families and the older and younger generations getting down to the night's festivities.
Jonzi D and Tony Mills strolled on stage and set the tone for the night with their laid back approach to presenting. The first act they introduced was Fresh Funk with their piece 'Spray' which had them dancing and spraypainting together. Fresh Funk had some nice ideas in their routine using the media screen behind them to good effect - one of their last scenes included the dancers lying on the floor as if hanging from a building ledge with the screen displaying the ground below.
The next three acts Free 2 Flow, Showcase the Street Dance and the excellent Psycho Stylez all displayed a great mixture of dance theatre and fantastic break dancing which certainly warmed up the crowd for three main international acts.
The highlight for me was Frank Ejara from Brazil. At the start of his peice we heard him boogalooing to music seamingly coming from the huge headphones he wore. Every time he would get to the same part of the routine the headphones would fly off his head and the music would go dull, until the headphones eventually broke. Heartbroken that he could not continue listening he transformed into his very own drum machine. His own claps, slaps, swhooshes and bumps then echoed around the stage producing a very funky beat. This lead to a perfectly timed and very entaining performance.
The fathers of boogaloo, locking and popping 'Electric Boogaloos' were performing in the UK for the first time in 25 years. The routine was dedicated to former member 'Skeeter Rabbit' which brought a somber mood between their uplifting act. You could feel every nostalgic bone in your body 'body pop' with joy at watching these founding legends on stage.
After a short break we were treated to a fantastically atmospheric dance epic from France's 'Compagnie Franck II Louise' entitled 'Drop It'. This routine had the performers dressed in outfits that would not go amiss in a Ridley Scott Sci Fi film. The moves and spins these cybernauts produced against the industrial setting and amazing soundtrack was excellent. Once escaping from their robotic constraints they went on to display impressive free flowing moves as if to see the world for the first time through their own eyes. Spectacular.
Breakin' Convention was an oustanding success and I can only hope they come back to Scotland soon.
Review by Chris Torres
