Breakin’ Convention 2025

My birthday celebrations were extended this year thanks to the annual Hip Hop event Breakin’ Convention. I was lucky enough to attend all three days and it’s been EPIC! 

Breakin’ Convention was founded by the Hip Hop legend Jonzi D, and celebrates Hip Hop culture, by bringing incredible dance performances to the theatre world and also showcasing DJing, street art and beatboxing. Jonzi D is one of the pioneers in the UK Hip Hop scene with multiple feathers to his cap – MC, dancer, Director and wizard of the spoken word. 

Breakin’ Convention is an annual three day event and consists of two days of dance & workshops held at Sadler Wells theatre, with a third day (and my favourite) ending with Park Jam – bringing Hip Hop to the outdoors. 

I love BC – Jonzi’s D energy and vibe is full of love for and shining a light on Hip Hop culture. The team at BC and the many performers and artists that are involved always inspire me and I love seeing how the community has evolved and continues to grow. The crowd was a mixture of young and old, to see kids joining in the dance cypher freestyle was incredible and such joy to watch. 

I’m honoured to be a 70s baby who fell in love with Hip Hop in 1986 when I saw Doug E Fresh perform ‘The Show’ on Top of the Tops. Over the years I’ve continued to stay in love with Hip Hop, and to support artists and the scene when I can. 

Here’s my recap of my fave parts of Breakin’ Convention 2025. 

Day One

Performances by BirdCage, Lauren Scott, illiwild, Chandenie Gobardhan, The Ruggeds and Saïdo Lehlouh.

BirdCage kicked off the night with an awesome performance and choreography. Incorporating the four elements of earth, wind, fire and water in part of their routine, they popped, locked, spun, flowed and freezed to huge cheers from the crowd. 

illiwild performed a solo krump routine that was beautiful, raw, emotive, elegant and powerful… plus so much more! He was incredible and  completely commanded the stage and mesmerised the audience. You could literally hear a pin drop as we held our breath at how beautiful his performance was. 

The Ruggeds celebrate their 20th year anniversary this year and they ALWAYS deliver. Kicking off with a montage video of their training sessions, travels & friendship they have such a strong bond, and their routines are HOT. 🔥 🔥🔥 Looking super sharp they came on with a bang to General Levy’s ‘Incredible’ and the energy and atmosphere in the theatre was electric! My friend and I were bouncing in our seats. The Ruggeds are known for being one of the top crews in the world and it’s a title well deserved. 

After the interval was an incredible routine choreographed by Saïdo Lehlouh with an amazing crew taking over the stage. Part of the soundtrack featured the a Capella of Mobb Deep ‘Shook Ones Pt. II’

Son, they shook ‘cause ain’t no such things as halfway crooks.

Scared to death and scared to look

Hearing the lyrics booming in the theatre whilst watching the dancers walking and dancing in a dance circle was spellbinding. The lighting was moody and atmospheric – it was an amazing end to the night. 

Day Two

Performances by Unity Dance Company, Max Revell, illiwild, Tarantism, The Ruggeds and Saïdo Lehlouh. 

Unity took to the stage with backflips, high energy and an incredible and powerful performance highlighting teenage knife culture in the UK. The story was based on a real life incident and highlighted the experience of a girl jailed for ten years for the accidental death of a friend – I almost cried. 

Max Revell had a beautiful routine centred around grief and loss, with the clever use of a large suit as a prop. It was spellbinding and my friend and I were in awe at the creative storytelling. 

Tarantism performed a solo routine that was spooky and inventive. Some of the crowd gasped. Her musicality and ability to hit every movement, no matter how big or small was nothing short of perfection and amazement. We were totally blown away by her routine. 

In the interval we were entertained by the beatboxing skills of ABH Beatbox – he was great! He even had the crowd making turkey sounds with him. 🦃

Phew… that’s the dance theatre bit over. Are you still with me? On to day three and one of my faves  – PARK JAM!!! 🌳📻🎤🎶

Day Three

My friend and I filmed at Park Jam ten years ago and met some super cool and interesting people then, and met some even more super cool and interesting people again! I even bumped into an ex work colleague who now has her own incredible fashion company called Stories We Cherish – her clothes celebrates her African culture and draws design inspiration from her travels in East Asia. I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of items from her that day and am now a proud owner of a hat (the material inside pops with different colours, I love it) and pair of earrings. Thanks so much to the people who took some time out of their day to chat with us. We loved your energy, thoughts and positivity, video highlight coming soon. 

The atmosphere was great, the sun even came out after a day of grey skies and we also got to see Blade performing. One of the highlights for me is to watch the freestyle dance cypher, the DJs always play the best tunes and I tried hard not to fan girl (fan woman at my age – haha!) at Shortee Blitz who has been one of my fave Hip Hop DJs for a long time. So glad to see he is still going strong. 

I had a little boogie on the outside of the dancefloor, and almost popped my knee out bending down to film some of the dancers – thanks to my many year of martial arts and raving, my joints are a bit delicate now.  Maybe I will get bionic knees at some stage in the future. 

That’s a wrap for Breakin’ Convention’ 2025. Huge thanks to Jonzi D, all the BC crew, the dancers, artists, beatboxers, DJs, Park Jam peeps and Sadler’s Wells team for an AMAZING and AWESOME weekend. 

I’m still recovering from three days of fun. I should be ok for next year! 

Beats, love and unity. 🎶❤️✌🏼