B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival is back for its ninth year showcasing the very best Hip-Hop talent from across the pillars of Hip-Hop including Breakin’, Graffiti, DJing and MCing.
The festival kicks off on Thursday 6 June 4-8pm with a Young Community Drop in!
This year we’re joined by hip-hop theatre legends, HighRise, who have been working on bringing UK rap into the theatre since 2014. Whether it’s Grime, UK Drill or Hip Hop, HighRise have a foot in these artistic communities and use their experience and training in theatre to bridge the gap between communities often alienated from each other.
We’re also joined by last year’s B-SIDE Drop In star of the show, our DJ Mr Auden Allen! He’ll be bringing all the best beats throughout the evening.
This is an extra special Young Community Drop In as it includes a free ticket to see the hip-hop show that was incredibly popular at last year’s Fringe Festival, TONES, by Gerel Falconer.
Birmingham Hippodrome’s Young Community Drop-In Sessions have been developed by our Young Advocates. Suitable for anyone aged 14+, these sessions have been designed to be creative outlets for young people and offer spaces to relax, connect with others and feel welcome. Throughout the evening there will be snacks, music and good vibes!
Here’s our full line up (all workshops will repeat twice throughout the evening and finish in time for the show):
THE CYPHER WORKSHOPS WITH HIGHRISE
HighRise’s rap-into theatre workshop “The Cypher” explores how to tell narrative led stories and theatrical experiences using rap, spoken word and street culture to build worlds, characters and plot lines. Previously delivered at venues including the Roundhouse, Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Barbican to name a few.
The Cypher is a useful tool for all performers, storytellers and theatre makers at any level – you don’t have to be a rapper to attend! For the Drop In HighRise will run a special version of The Cypher workshop in 2 hour-long parts. You can attend either workshop but to get the best experience we recommend attending both.
The Cypher 1 – where and how do artists find inspiration for rap lyrics and poetry? Exploring these inspirations and ideas to develop dynamic, personal stories.
The Cypher 2 – how can rap and poetry be used for theatre devising? Creating fun, relevant drama and comedy scenes using the tools of hip hop theatre.
BREAK DANCE WITH JAHEEM & CARDEN
Jump into this introductory break dance workshop with two incredible local dancers. They’ll be teaching you the top techniques and how to learn the breaking style. You don’t need to have any experience of break dance to take part.
Jaheem and Carden are both experienced dancers who have been part of local break dance crews. Between them, they’ve both worked with some big names, such as, Frantic Assembly, Curve Theatre, Vamos Theatre and One Dance.
TONES BY GEREL FALCONER
A man in a battle with his identity, and on a journey through the depths of Black-British culture, class, and belonging. What happens if you’re not black enough for the ends, but too black for the rest of the world?
Tones combines the gritty underground sounds of Hip-Hop, Grime and Drill with the melodrama of Opera to present a piece of gig theatre like no other, as Jerome, aka The Professor, navigates his way through a treacherous path to self-discovery.
Find out more about Tones here.
If you’d like to see the show, please fill out THIS FORM by MIDNIGHT MONDAY 3rd June.
Please note, we cannot allocate tickets to people who have not attended the drop in- so please do join us for a workshop. There will be limited tickets available on the door, so please do let us know beforehand if you really want to see the show!