Jonzi D, founder of Breakin’ Convention festival [Dave Barros]

THERE’S a long road ahead to decolonise the theatre, says the founder of a hip-hop dance festival.

Jonzi D, a DJ, MC, spoken word artist, and classically trained hip-hop dancer, is the founder of Breakin’ Convention – a hip-hop dance festival celebrating its 20th year in Angel’s Sadler’s Wells theatre. Despite 20 years of work bringing theatre to hip-hop, Jonzi D says there is lots more to do when it comes to bridging the gap over what is seen as “high art”.

“I believe that we broke convention 20 years ago. Particularly in this country, by presenting hip-hop dance theatre in a context in which we usually celebrate ‘high art’. I’ve always had a problem with the term high art, because it suggests that there is low art. You can’t use that term without talking about hierarchy in society, and without relating it to the social strata in society, to the rich and the poor, the entitled and the not entitled,” he said.

According to Jonzi D, theatre and classical dance have long been strongholds of European-centric art. Bringing hip-hop, a genre associated with Blackness and urbanity, into that setting is no simple feat.

He said: “Sometimes I wonder if what we’re doing is basically gentrifying [hip-hop] culture. And I worry about that a little bit. But equally, I also think that there is a natural thing that’s happening with hip-hop culture, that it’s becoming something that we can all be part of.

“We’re not asking for acceptance from the theatre world, it’s about decolonisation. What we’re asking is for equal access to these spaces, and if you don’t want to do it then it’s worse for you. If you don’t want to look at this movement that’s happening and affecting contemporary dance in the most beautiful of ways, it’s worse for you.”

Ghetto Funk Collective will be among the artists performing later this month [Nath Martin]

He says that the Breakin’ Convention festival has materially changed the make-up of Sadler’s Wells’ audience, and opened it up to whole new communities of people.

“Twenty years ago, Breakin’ Convention was the only diverse audience that Sadler’s Wells had. But over the years, what’s happened is that there’s been a lot more diverse people going to other shows at Sadler’s Wells, because there’s a sense that the space belongs to us all and I don’t think a lot of theatres, particularly in central London, can say that.

“I’ve always believed that you can’t have a new audience unless you have new work, unless you have a different approach. You can’t expect a diverse audience to automatically go and see the Royal Ballet,” he said.

Because no one else is doing it, Jonzi D is set to open his own hip-hop theatre academy in Sadler’s Wells East next year.

“We need to create an institution through which you can learn hip-hop dance and theatre, because that gap [between so-called high and low art] hasn’t been fixed yet. I trained in contemporary dance and classical ballet, and we learned theatre at the same time. There isn’t an educational type environment in which you can also learn how hip-hop dance works as theatre,” he said.

“We’re starting the first hip-hop dance theatre academy where people will learn the basic techniques: breaking, popping, hip-hop dance, and rap, and how these performance elements of hip-hop culture become theatre.”

Jonzi D, who has lived in Islington for 28 years, has his eyes set to the future.

“As Janet Jackson said, ‘It’s funny how time flies when you’re having fun.’ We’ve done so much over these 20 years and it feels like we haven’t done enough. It’s crazy, man. I feel like there’s so much more to do.”

Breakin’ Convention runs at Sadler’s Wells theatre from Friday 28 April to Monday May 1.