DANCE MIXTAPE Comes to Esplanade in December

This is street dance like you’ve never seen before! This exciting triple bill, Dance Mixtape, features a collection of street dance theatre works by international and Singapore artists, each with its own unique creative approach and concept. Selected for curious beginners and connoisseurs alike, these works will inspire you with its different expressions of street dance theatre, a genre that continues to evolve.

Exploring the concept of adaptability, The Ruggeds (The Netherlands) pushes the boundaries of breaking with Waterbrothers; Spoken Movement (United Kingdom) incorporates languages such as krump and hip hop for theatrical ends at the award-winning work Family Honour; and Stirring Ground (Singapore) is specially commissioned by Esplanade to create a new work, investigating notions of resilience and inter-dependence.

Street dance theatre, also known as hip hop theatre, is a genre that emerged in the 1990s, blending street dance with theatrical elements and structures. With street dance and street culture elements such as breaking, hip hop, DJ-ing and beatboxing as its core, works of street dance theatre embrace a diversity of contemporary creative approaches, often with a focus exploration of a particular idea, content or form.

Dance Mixtape is part of da:ns focus – FL/OW (The FULL OUT Weekend), which invites you to celebrate the diverse facets of street dance and its culture over three days of exciting performances, workshops, battles and parties! Having grown from its humble beginnings as FULL OUT! street dance showcase in 2019, you won’t want to miss this jam-packed weekend with high-energy showcases and experimental works by world-renowned dance crews, emerging and seasoned local choreographers, all demonstrating what street dance can be beyond the conventional.

Lighting Design: Petrina Dawn Tan

Production Manager: Chim Sin Yee

Stage Manager: Tennie Su

Waterbrothers by The Ruggeds (The Netherlands)

Choreographed by Roy Overdijk in collaboration with Lee-lou Demierre

A performance about adaptability—we either go with the flow or swim against the current. As water changes shape, dancers Lee and Roy change their approach to the floor. In this duet Waterbrothers, they challenge each other in a stream of movements, in which the younger brother sometimes storms past the older one, set to live music performed by Jessy ‘Boi Beige’ Kemper.

The Ruggeds have been a collective of breakers for 15 years and are pushing the boundaries of their dance style in the theatre.

Choreography: Roy Overdijk in collaboration with Lee-lou Demierre

Dancers: Lee-lou Demierre and Roy Overdijk

Music: Jessy 'FORTBEIGE' Kemper, Dominique Vleeshouwers

Original set & lighting design: Ido Koppenaal, Niek Traa

Executive producer: Rugged Solutions Foundation

Co-isolated by Stirring Ground (Singapore)

A new work commissioned by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Choreographed by Gin Lam and Xue Hui

Co-isolate [verb]: to isolate along with another. Co-isolated explores how two entities are connected and influenced by one another while maintaining their boundaries. In this co-isolated environment, the performance exhibits a constant dance of resilience and adaptivity.

Conceptualised, choreographed and performed by Gin Lam and Xue Hui, co-founders of Stirring Ground, Co-isolated investigates notions of impulse and elasticity, action and reaction, bounce and rebounce.

Concept, choreography and performance: Gin Lam and Xue Hui
Artistic consultant: Kuik Swee Boon

Family Honour by Spoken Movement (UK)

Choreographed by Kwame Asafo-Adjei

The award-winning Family Honour examines the eponymous concept through the eyes of a young girl trapped in moral codes mandated by her immediate environment, confronting her past ‘sin’ against tradition. Abandoned by her father, she seeks solace from memories resembling her father. Inspired by an intense discussion held in choreographer Kwame’s own family, the work draws the audience into a world where hip hop isn’t just rubbing shoulders with theatre, but is theatre. How far would you have to go to maintain the family’s honour?

Family Honour is the winner of France’s prestigious Danse Élargie in 2018 and Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition in 2019.

Led by Kwame Asafo-Adjei, Spoken Movement is a blank canvas for creation, a place with no rights or wrong. Eliminating limits, the company pushes hip hop theatre to create their own awareness.

Choreographer/dancer: Kwame Asafo-Adjei

Dancer: Catrina Nisbett

Advisory: There will be post-show talks on 1 & 2 Dec.

Admission Age: 6 and above.

Language: English