OPEN ART SURGERY 2018 Showcases The Best In Hip Hop Dance Theatre

Open Art Surgery, a night exploring the possibilities and breaking the boundaries of hip hop dance theatre, takes place Saturday, March 17, 8PM at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

Positioning hip hop dance alongside more historically established art forms, the groundbreaking and award-winning U.K.-based Breakin' Convention is partnering with Civic Theatres Toronto and KeepRockinYou, a Toronto-based, artist-run collective that seeks to inspire young women, to present Open Art Surgery, featuring new work from 15 participating artists from across Canada. Following the showcase the audience is invited to critique, provide feedback and ask questions to the artists involved.

Led by Breakin' Convention's Artistic Director, Jonzi D, Open Art Surgery takes place following an intensive week of "training, mentoring and devising." During the week leading up to the showcase, the participants - chosen from applicants from across Canada - workshop ideas before being allocated studio space to develop and create new work. Artists are given the time and space to be creative and unrestricted and also take part in a range of theatrical workshops.

Participating artists are Eric Liu, Karyin Qiu, Serouj "Midus" Aparahamian, Cherokee Lynch, Kalliane Bremault, Mel Hart, Krystina Dejean, Jonathan Karpinski, Sami "Slynks" Elkout, Kosi Eze, Kevin Kong, Stephanie Caldeira, Bailey Eng, Gabriela Jovian-Mazon and Johnathan Dela Cruz.

A dancer, spoken word artist and director, Jonzi D is the foremost advocate for hip hop who has changed the profile and influenced the development of the UK British hip hop dance and theatre scene over the last two decades

"Open Art Surgery is not about creating finished work," said Jonzi D. "The focus is to develop theatre skills within hip hop artists and to experiment with new ideas that could be developed further in the future. What also makes Open Art Surgery unique is the breaking down of the fourth wall to allow the audience to engage with the artists."