Theatre and Dance Previews

Banxy has always enjoyed dancing and has taught for many years. Then someone suggested that he put on a show - and this is the result!

Busk: Kings Of The Side Walk is described as an inspirational and energetic full length piece of hip-hop dance theatre. It arrives at Trestle Arts Base on Wednesday 24 October and the Hat Factory on Friday 16 November.

UK hip hop star Banxy, along with five other young male professionals, is presenting a triple bill of potent dance moves, street sounds and hip hop theatre. Energetic, charged and technically brilliant, with backspins, worms, waves, robotics and a heavy dose of 80’s hip hop nostalgia, the show should be enough to keep any member of the audience captivated.

Growing up in Swindon, the boys have evolved from the streets with dance in their blood. The Crew have an impressive collection of previous works including acting alongside celebrities such as David Beckham, Ronaldhino and George Michael, as well as appearing in the West End, Ballet Rambert, the Big Breakfast and Top of the Pops.

Banxy himself is a hip hop dancer and teacher, well known for his choreographic and teaching work across Britain and abroad, most famously for the BBC TV series, ‘Travels with my Tuto’ teaching Deborah Bull of the Royal Ballet to break dance.

He told us more about the show.

What can people expect from your show?

Banxy: It's hip hop dancing but with themes. The first one is kind of like rock meets hip hop, the second piece is a kind of rite of passage and really tribal and the third piece is kind of straight up, busking on the street with breakdancing and drumming on buckets and things like that - really 80s.

How did the six of you get together to do this?

Banxy: We've known each other for years. I taught a lot of the guys when they were younger so when I was 20 some of these guys were like ten! So I've just seen them come up through the years. People do fall off through dance. I've been teaching forever and people kind of take to it and then life gets hold of them and they go in a different direction but these six have managed to keep with it so that's why I'm using them.

When did you first start dancing hip hop? Is it something that you've just always done?

Banxy: Yes I suppose so, I was always dancing. Before hip hop I was doing rock and roll at school discos and then ska dancing - The Selecter, Madness and stuff. Then around about 1983 I saw robotics and this other dance called the puppet and from then on breakdancing came around. I was into dancing anyway. I always tried to get into the school dance group and it was all girls and they wouldn't let me in! That wouldn't happen now but back then they weren't interested.

And I bet you were better than all of them!

Banxy: [laughs] I didn't have any rhythm - I just jumped around a lot! But breakdancing was perfect for that, although when you break it down now you need loads of rhythm for hip hop dancing. It's alright spinning on your head and doing back spins and stuff but if you can't dance, if you can't hear the rhythm on top, it will just look rubbish. With all the big power moves, it doesn't come off if you can't dance. You need to learn the dance because it is a dance at the end of the day. I only started learning the dancing side of it about 15 years ago. There are hundreds of breakdancers out there now and some of them are technically brilliant but they can't dance! You need to have the whole package.

You enjoyed dancing, so did you perform and then decide to teach or teach and then decide to perform it to people?

Banxy: I went off to dance college. I wanted to go to art college because I thought I was good at art but I wasn't so I didn't get in! I was teaching at the Town Hall at the time and doing gigs. Then my mum said why don't you audition for that [dance] - that's what you do. I wasn't into the idea at first but it kind of kicked off from there. I trained at Swindon Dance and then the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds and then the London Studio Centre. 

Then - you just see things and it wasn't for me. For all the the West End stuff you need shiny teeth and lots of hair which I didn't have. So I came back to Swindon and started teaching again at the Town Hall and it kind of built from there. Then you get bigger projects and then you start choreographing young people and it builds but its taken 15 years of work. Now people have said you need to get your own show and see how that goes.

So this is the first time you're taking a show on tour?

Banxy: Yes - it's my first show!

By teaching these kids to dance, what does it give them? Can you see a change in them?

Banxy: Oh definitely man! It's a feeling thing, it's a soulful thing. Either you feel it or you don't. When I've taught at schools before, sometimes it's just part of their curriculum and they don't want to dance, they don't care what it is! Some people take to it and some people don't. I did a project in Reading once with a lot of hard kids to work with and they [the authorities] had just thought throw a break dancer in there and they'll sort out all the problems but no, you have to be into it, you have to want to do it! But with the ones that want to do it, yes it's great! 

So with this show, what are you hoping that audiences will get from it?

Banxy: When people find out I've got a show on they say are you going to breakdance on stage for an hour in a circle and I'm like no! You give it a theme! So I've just sorting out some ideas and hopefully people will say I didn't know you could go there with that?!

So through your dance, audiences will be able to think about different themes?!

Banxy: Yes - hopefully it will give them something to spark the imagination. With a lot of things these days there's just no imagination in anything anymore and I just think that's a bit sad so hopefully this is just a little bit more imaginative. 

This is your first tour. What are your hopes for the future?

Banxy: [laughs] I'm just trying to take this in first!! But yes - for sure. It's been great doing rehearsals and stuff. It can be a bit stressful because it's my show and it's all down to me but yes, I'd love to be doing some more of this, I just want to see how it goes! I think it's just my age. I'm getting older now and things are slowing down! But creating stuff is great!