Cultural Performances

Abstract

Between spring 2009 and the beginning of 2010, Leyham Youth Club moved to the rhythm of three music and dance pieces. The first of these was Leyham Dances. Inspired by the hugely popular Britain’s Got Talent (ITV 2009), it was a collective effort at ‘streetdance’ — a hybrid of break dancing and athletic, group dance routines popularised through the all-male dance groups Diversity and Flawless. Imitating the Saturday night TV format, young men and women organised practice sessions and choreographed routines. The second was a set of YouTube dance videos made for the attention of a local producer. Performed by three young men, and recorded on and soundtracked by mobile phones, these brought Missy Elliot into dialogue with grime, and streetdance into contact with breaking. The third performance, launched at the beginning of 2010, was a hip hop/grime video called ‘Kill all a dem’. Made by a trio of rappers, it drew on US, Albanian, Jamaican and British influences to perform a local post-code conflict.