Jams: City Park, Bradford Sat 5 August, 3 – 6pm
The Lowry (Open Day), Salford Sunday 6 August, 1.30pm – 3.30pm. Graffiti artist Sam Hain will also be creating some graffiti in Urdu and Farsi.
Birmingham City Centre – in partnership with Break Mission, Sat 12 Aug 12.30 – 2.30pm
Breaking in Salford, Bradford and Birmingham with Salaam’O’Salaam
In 2023, Hip Hop celebrates its 50th anniversary and in 2024 breakdancing officially named ‘breaking’ is coming to the Olympics for the time at the Summer Games in Paris. To mark this moment dance artist and Bboy Bobak Champion is bringing Bradford-based Muslim young men together to develop their breaking skills this summer. Professional Muslim dance artists, UK Champion Bboy (2022 and 2023) Faraz ‘Razzleroc’ Khan, with dancers/Bboys Iti ‘Iti Fresh’ Niaz and Shazad Latif will host Workshops, a Training Lab and Jams.
Exceptional and renowned Hip Hop dancers Amirah Sackett (USA), Kadir ‘Amigo’ Memis (Germany) and Flo Gonthier (France) are guest speakers at the workshops where participants will learn about Hip Hop history and build their confidence rehearsing in a safe and friendly environment.
Three ‘jams’ will be held in Bradford, Salford and Birmingham bringing Bboys, Bgirls, hip hop and breaking fans together.
At the heart of this project is the development of a proud, open, highly skilled, supportive and confident network of UK-based Muslim breakers. There are few openly Muslim breakers on the scene, working independently in different locations – this project aims to bring them together for the first time.
With breaking soon to feature at the Olympics, Bobak Champion says “Now is the perfect time to build a pathway for British Muslims to access and engage in the breaking scene. Bradford has a large population of British Muslims and we aim to represent this community and grow skills and confidence. We will take to the streets and communities of Bradford, Salford and Birmingham and offer live street performances, visits, workshops and dance activities for school groups, local estates, voluntary sector organisations and their communities.”
Professional Muslim dance artists will spend 2 weeks in the studio at Kala Sangam in Bradford with local emerging breakers invited into the process to focus on sharing best practices, developing skills, and choreographic practices, and building stamina and endurance on the floor.
The project aims to make a difference in the community and positively impact the young men’s lives and well-being so they return to their communities more confident, stronger and assured.
About Hip Hop
August 11 1973 marks the agreed-upon birth of the culture, 50 years to the day from when DJ Kool Herc held a going-back-to-school party for his sister Cindy on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.
Creative Team
Bobak Champion: Artistic Director/Project Lead/Dancer/Bboy
Ian Abbott: Producer
Shazia Bibi: Engagement Producer
Rosie Watt: Fundraiser
Project Partners: AMAL, Kala Sangam, Arts Council England, The Lowry, Salford and Break Mission.
About Bobak Champion
Bobak Champion is a freelance dance artist, choreographer & theatre maker. He graduated from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2004 and works in Hip-Hop and contemporary as a dance artist, facilitating, performing and choreographing.
His first commission was creating a one-man show for Yorkshire Water encouraging young people to drink water. It toured Yorkshire for three years due to demand, reaching hundreds of thousands of children in primary schools. He has received Arts Council England funding for his projects, and performed in touring productions by Hype Dance Company, Jabadao, The Demon Barbers and Masterz Breakin Crew. He created a full-length Hip-Hop adaptation of Romeo and Juliet and choreographed for events with commercial clients such as; national catwalk shows for Bench clothing and car launches for Ford Motors.
His current show ‘I’m Muslamic – Don’t Panik’ will perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Assembly/Dance Base.
https://www.bobakchampion.co.uk/