Hip hype
The list is long, the styles diverse -
Brenda Edwards gives us the low down on the hype surrounding Hip, a nine day event featuring artists Jackie Guy, Diana Mitchell, Chris Tudor, Jonzi D, Melanie Teall, Paul Henry, Peter Badejo, Sheron Wray, Colin Poole, Andile Sotiya, Benji Reid, Dalh Haynes, Karen Norris, Greta Mendez, Jane Sekonya, Curtis James, Raj Pardesei, Alan Miller, Jreena Green, Zena Edwards, Darren Panton, Tunde Shoderu and many more
Celebrating black dance is important, not just for the artists themselves, but for audiences too.
Hip is a holistic programme, which endeavours to introduce and celebrate the social, and educational role that black dance fulfils within our society. But it is not a new formula, rather it is designed to complement existing dance programmes. And, although the dancers are all black and work in contemporary, African and Caribbean genres, it is not about perpetuating African People's Dance forms indeed black dance. What Hip strives to do is to simply add to and increase a pre existing knowledge surrounding this multifaceted dance sector, provide a gateway to international exchange and dialogue and act as a marketing tool to raise the profile of diverse 'contemporary' black work.
Hip is artist led and London centric. It endeavours to address some 80 per cent of professional black artists as it involves an original blend of leading dancers from the commercial as well as the subsidized sectors. My main objective is to develop the profile of professional black solo performers and I hope that Hip can be of great benefit to national artists and organizations throughout the UK.
I guess the concept behind Hip was born out of my many trips and performances abroad which highlighted to me the difficulties of trying to define what black dance is, of how to capture the attributes of this vast umbrella of work and of the complexities of approach and genres. How do you strip it down, encapsulate what it means to both artists and audiences without compromising the integrity of each form? For black dance can be 'everything' it's sexy, it's sad, it's joyous, it's furious, it's energetic, it's classical, it's traditional, it's street, it's contemporary... Paradoxically these captions were to prove the key to programming this event. And it was from this premise that Hip began to evolve -
The Double Bill, The Dirty Dozen (Twelvetimesone), Salia ni Seydou, the Jazz and African dance workshops, the talks and, the celebration.
I realised that here in the UK (and forgive the pun) a black hole existed which needed to be plugged not only in terms of introducing British dancers to a British public, but also contemporary black foreign dance companies. We have witnessed over the years the many changes of 'British' dance and have seen some wonderful international exchange with visiting companies, however Britain still remains isolated in this area of its dancing vernacular with a shortfall of creative international black dance exchange. Furthermore, many international artists have no track record so this task would prove immense. It would also prove to be hard to convince promoters and venues that such an initiative would work - as an independent artist, I had no track record in promoting and producing.
So, I began an ongoing dialogue spanning almost a year and a half with Brendan Keaney, director, Greenwich Dance Agency (gDA) with a view to learning more fully about what was happening on the international front and the complexities of producing and programming. It became increasingly apparent that both experienced and new producers, together with the practitioners themselves, continue to share concern regarding the hit and misses of 'World' dance. And they expressed their commitment to facilitating a more vital exchange envisaging dance works, which would add to the wonderful debating food chain. By widening and addressing the range of dance genres and by assisting talented individuals to enable them to get their work platformed, we would be able to perpetuate equality and true cultural dialogue.
However, as I have intimated, the complexities of organizing such an event as an independent artist are manifold. You are mentally and physically challenged, you inevitably lose money no matter who you are in venue partnership with, you can lose friends because the field is competitive, and finally you remember that being an artist can mean that you work for nothing and that time without a pay packet is not a pleasant way to live. Nevertheless, life is never meant to be easy and such struggles mean that you have to erase the silly box headings that we are expected to comply with and work by. The crucial thing is that boundaries continue to be challenged.
Promoting the event has also proven challenging, not only because it has had to be done on a shoestring, but in terms of capturing the concept. How do you capture the multifarious nature if the programme be all things to all people encapsulated in my original definition? I decided to call in an advertising consultant, Yoyo. My brief was simple - to create something that people would not forget or indeed, throw away, something powerful which captures the essence of Hip. It could not fall into the realms of institutionalised contemporary dance. And indeed, it does not. Yoyo has created a radical image, featuring a near naked derri
ere with a dancer on pointe. I love this idea because I feel that it portrays black dance as sexy, contemporary and classical in a tongue and cheek way...
The promoters and venue managers involved together with the artists have been most supportive, buying into the concept which underpins Hip, rather than focusing on a reliance of bums on seats. In fact, the promoters have expressed a desire to both expand and/or realign their programme to embrace and respect contemporary, Caribbean and African art. I have been equally encouraged and supported by my peers.
Reflecting for a moment, I guess my recent MA in
Dance Theory at DeMontfort University together with the seminar series
Catalytic Conversions 2000 provoked fresh thoughts and enabled me to find a fresh approach to my long held vision to create such a programme. Judging by the immediate response I feel positive about the journey I have trodden and the route British dance may take in the future. For no producer is greater than any one artist and no artist is greater than any one producer, because creativity is circular and in the end has no ownership.
Brenda Edwards, independent artist.
With thanks to gDA, London Arts, the Arts Council of England, The Jerwood Space, Yoyo, Emma Gladstone, associate producer, The Robin Howard Dance Theatre and importantly, all the artists and individuals involved.
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Animated: Winter 2002