Sadler’s Wells, London
The audience whoop behind their masks at a muted, Covid-era iteration of the festival, ending with a note of hope
Compared with the annual Breakin’ Convention festival, this was always going to be a different beast, a socially distanced hour in the theatre instead of a noisy, crowded, all-weekend event with people dancing in the foyers. It is impossible to match that atmosphere, but if anyone was going to have a go it is Jonzi D, Breakin’ Convention’s artistic director and indefatigable MC, who has the audience whooping behind their masks.
The evening features three acts and two films (screening while they deep-clean behind the curtain) and, being a product of their times, the blanket mood is unavoidably dark. There is one party scene the whole night, courtesy of female popping crew AIM Collective. Their piece Suspended starts with bodies in stasis, moving but getting nowhere, but it ends with a big-smiling upbeat number, as if maybe this dancing, this crew, these women are exactly the thing that’s keeping them going.
