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"Make some noise!" yells Jonzi D, the live-wire ambassador for all things hip-hop in British culture and artistic director of Breakin' Convention. "Make some NOISE!" echoes Tony Thrills, founding member of the Edinburgh-based Random Aspekts B-Boy crew, who has been hosting the pre-show foyer events where making noise – and showing off skills – has put the audience in a state of high expectation. They will not be disappointed.
For sure, there's a huge and noisily loyal following for the local crews who make up most of the first half: Heavy Smokers, Rockabeat, Rice And Peez and Newcastle's Bad Taste Cru. The last-named serve up Just Another Day, a humorous take on the drudgery of life in a hat store that – as Jonzi D has always worked to encourage – allies hip-hop's crowd-pleasing moves with theatrical flair. Just how far that approach can go was jaw-droppingly evident in the guest artists who were the "global" element on the bill.
Clash 66 (France/Korea) came close to doing the unthinkable: melding influences from contemporary dance and ballet with macho hip-hop in a duet, AP15, that hinted at the yin-yang duality and tensions that character our spiritual and physical selves. Vagabond Crew (France) also underpinned their prowess in Alien with reflections on mortality and the meaning of life – though as the head-spinning, shape-throwing virtuosity reached a fever-pitch of bravura accomplishment, the inevitable thought was: "This is life, but not as most folk's muscles know it." The noise made in response was deservedly ecstatic.
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