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THE BREAKIN’ CONVENTION

EXPERIENCE

CONTENTS

• Working with your Breakin’ Convention Rep 2

• Transforming your theatre 2

• Inside and outside the theatre

• DJs, dancing and rap 3

• Aerosol art and graffiti 3

• Out and about 3

• Film screenings and debates 4

• Wristbands 4

• Afterparty 4

CONTACTS

Peter Maniam, Breakin’ Convention Michelle Norton, Breakin’ Convention Tel: 020 7863 8217 Tel: 020 7863 8214 Email: peter.maniam@breakinconvention.com Email: michelle@breakinconvention.com

Breakin’ Convention is much more than just a show - it is an experience. The Breakin’ Convention experience starts the moment you approach the theatre. The total transformation of the Sadler’s Wells foyer spaces is deeply respected by the hip hop community: DJs mix tunes that artists and audiences jam to in freestyle circles and the walls are covered in specially commissioned graffiti artwork.

Breakin’ Convention encompasses all four elements of hip hop: dance, turntablism, graffiti and rap and where possible we would like you to at your venue as well. The following pages contain suggestions about how you might do this.

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WORKING WITH YOUR BREAKIN’ CONVENTION REP

What is a Breakin’ Convention Rep?

A Breakin’ Convention Rep is a person local to your area who has been appointed and employed by Breakin’ Convention. The relationship between you and the Breakin’ Convention Rep is essential to the success of the event. They will work closely with your venue and will provide vital links between you and the local the hip hop community. The principal duties of the Breakin’ Convention Rep are:

• Connecting the venue with the wider hip hop community, through club nights, local networks,

and local promoters

• Supporting the programming of the local companies/crews

• Promoting the Festival to all their local hip hop contacts and social networks

• Advising on lead-in work and front of house (FOH) activity during the Festival including working

with local promoters to organise an after party

TRANSFORMING YOUR VENUE

The Festival experience is an essential part of Breakin’ Convention. In London we commission graffiti artists to paint the walls FOH, DJs play to packed crowds of dancers and audience members on the mezzanine level. At Sadler’s Wells, we offer seated or standing tickets and in the past have offered unreserved seating. We also issue wristbands as the event runs from 4pm and this allows people to come and go from the theatre.

But how does that work on tour?

On Tour we encourage venues to interpret this for their venue and audiences. Transforming your venue might sound like a huge task, but subtle additions can make a dramatic impact. For example, we will provide you with official Breakin’ Convention staff t-shirts to make FOH staff more visible during the event.

On the BC12 Tour venues provided a massive range of activities FOH, including:

• Performances by younger less experienced crews in the foyers pre-show

• graffiti art, performances & battles outside the theatre

• DJs, MCs and dancers freestyling throughout the building

• A hip hop market place with stalls

• Free taster workshops

It is about opening up the building to the culture of hip hop and making people feel welcome.

Audience participation is positively encouraged, both in the auditorium and outside in the foyers.

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DJS, DANCING AND MC’ING

• Invite local hip hop DJs to play in the foyers pre-show,

interval and post show

• Invite local MCs to freestyle or battle pre-show, interval and

post show

• Create designated freestyle hot spots for artists and

audience members to dance. If the floor is carpeted, tape down some lino and watch them go!

• Schedule a showcase dance slot for younger dance

companies who might not be ready to perform on the main stage

• Local dancers can deliver workshops for beginners and kids

to try it out themselves

AEROSOL ART AND GRAFFITI

If painting the walls of the theatre foyers is a no go zone, there are plenty of other ways of getting local graff artists involved:

• Commission local artists or community/school groups to

create posters for the existing theatre poster holders to be displayed over the weekend

• Commission artists to create a design for a Breakin’

Convention banner or paint on boards around the venue

• Live aerosol art can be scheduled pre-show and interval

either indoors (using paints and pens) or outside (using cans)

• Get a local graff artist to tag baseball caps during the

event

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE THEATRE

OUT AND ABOUT If you are able to use space outside your theatre or around about your town then great! This could be:

• Teams of dancers freestyling on lino in local shopping

centres and handing out flyers

• A programme of activity in local schools

• Street teams at hip hop club nights or events leading up to

Breakin’ Convention

• An exhibition of local graffiti art work in a local gallery,

venue or park

• Promotional event in town square

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AFTERPARTY

It is really important that there is somewhere for the artists and audience to go and jam after the event. Is there an existing night that you can tag on to, if not is there space at the venue that can work as a club space? What is the music policy, i.e. music that they can dance to, hip hop, funk, etc. You need to make sure that if it is an existing night that provisions are made for the touring artists to get in for free, and that door staff have been given a list of the artist’s names before they turn up at the club.

On Tour venues have run after parties in conjunction with existing club nights, in the venue foyers and in a studio theatre. Your BC Rep will lead on this.

FILM SCREENINGS and DEBATES

The annual film night attracts an interesting film/hip hop audience who wouldn’t usually attend the Festival. The importance of debate and the history of hip hop is equally popular through the Festivals’ series of panel discussions and debates. You could:

• play short films on plasma screens front of house (these films can be anything relating to hip

hop culture, it doesn’t have to be just dance.)

• host a film night screening in the week of the festival

• set up a panel discussion or debate with key people from the local hip hop community

WRISTBANDS

At Breakin’ Convention London wristbands are issued to all ticket holders, staff and artists.

On tour some venues issued wristbands to keep in with the festival feel. It also helped control who was coming in and out of the building if there were specific events and activities taking place in the foyers.

Top tips for wrist banding

• If you have two performances of BC14, ensure that wristbands are a different colour each day

• Do not use white wristbands - all coloured wristbands have a white side and they can be

turned inside out without breaking!

• Over order - there is always a certain amount of breakage