Breakin' Convention Presents THE RUGGEDS STATE SHIFT at Sadler's Wells

Celebrating the most innovative and inspirational artists working in hip hop today, Breakin' Convention Presents brings world champion breaking Netherlands based collective The Ruggeds to Sadler's Wells Theatre with the UK premiere of State Shift on Friday 26 & Saturday 27 May. State Shift is an intimate evening of two pieces from The Netherlands-based dance collective, both of which are choreographed by Roy Overdijk, including solo Turns and duet Waterbrothers. The evening is accompanied by music by Jessy 'Boi Beige' Kemper.

Waterbrothers focuses on the classic power game between two brothers. Roy Overdijk, who is known for his sharpness has found his sparring partner, Lee-Lou Demierre is the only one who matches Overdijk in skill. In addition to their dynamic performance, humour, and freedom of movement, their shared Indian origin brings them together.

Overdijk and Demierre challenge each other in a stream of movements and dance in a sea of freedom, strength, elegance, and tranquillity.

The autobiographical solo Turns is about the turning points in Virgil 'Skychief' Dey's life, as he tries to find his way. His movements take the audience into the story of his childhood as a boy who - despite setbacks - remained positive. His ability to move gives him freedom to always take a new path. A professional international B-Boy, who is skilled in the free-flowing style of house dancing, Dey is known as 'Skychief' for his ability to perform high flying acrobatic movements.

Overdijk, who has known Dey since the age of 4, choreographs this piece alongside Shailesh Bahoran, a former collaborator on Dey's performance Ignite.

The Ruggeds have been a collective of breakers for 15 years and are pushing the boundaries of breaking in theatre. They are World Champion breakers, and have won over 200 Breaking / Breakdance competitions. They took their first World Title in 2014 at the UK Bboy Championships. The collective then moved into the theatre space and now tour work around the world.

Roy Overdijk said, 'I felt the necessity to make these pieces, I literally grew up with these dancers and I know exactly how they think and what they're capable of, but they still amaze me every single day.

Where we usually find common ground with the whole crew or briefly highlight certain movements, I decided with State Shift to take a deep dive into the more personal preferences and everyone's natural ways of moving.'

Breakin' Convention Festival celebrates 20 years of hip hop innovation and excellence at Sadler's Wells in 2023.

 

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