2023 marks the 20th anniversary year for Breakin’ Convention – creators of the annual international festival of hip hop dance theatre at Sadler’s Wells, national and international tours and extensive professional development and education programmes for hip hop theatre artists.
Jacqui Beckford has, as the Breakin’ Convention British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, embraced the ethos of the festival for many years, interpreting and performing alongside Artistic Director and host Jonzi D.
For this series of one day workshops, Jacqui will share her approach with BSL interpreter colleagues so that they too might learn the joy of working confidently in this domain.
The workshops offer an opportunity for deeper exploration of translation and the extent to which BSL Interpreters embody the language and culture of hip hop, with a view to interpreting for Breakin’ Convention and beyond.
In the safe space, participants must come willing to move around and, working together with performing artists, translate spoken word simultaneously without any preparation. But most importantly of all come to have fun!
By the end of the workshop, alliteration, assonance, and consonance in Hip Hop music/poetry interpretation will take on new meaning. Jacqui will draw upon her experience of contemporary dance and share how it supports the translation process. The mantra for the day will be, ‘get loose’!
This training offers 6 hours of structured CPD.
Take a look at Jacqui in action at Breakin’ Convention:
Course Dates
Saturday 4 March | 10:30am – 4:30pm | Brighton Dome | BOOK YOUR PLACE
Saturday 18 March | 10:30am – 4:30pm | Birmingham Hippodrome | BOOK YOUR PLACE
Fee
£60 per person. Includes refreshments.
Access Budget
Breakin’ Convention are committed to ensuring that all interpreters can take part in this training, regardless of their access requirements. Additional funds are available to support any access requirements including childcare costs.
Bursary
A number of bursary places are available for anyone that has a barrier to payment.
Contact
If you would like more information about this training, or would like to discuss the access or bursary funds, please get in touch with Emma Ponsford at emma@breakinconvention.com or on 07813 814644.
This training is presented in partnership with the Brighton Dome and Birmingham Hippodrome. It is subsided by Breakin’ Convention as part of Breakin’ Out – a national programme of hip hop dance theatre professional development and performances, funded by Arts Council England.
About Jacqui Beckford
In the infancy of her career Jacqui worked as a Communication Support Worker for City Literary Institute, supporting deaf students in FE and HE. In 2000, she joined a three year Interpreter Training Programme at RNID where she undertook mostly community interpreting. She has specialisms in mental health, television broadcast, (11 years In-Vision covering all programmes and BBC news 24), theatre, festivals and the arts generally. A background in contemporary dance lends itself well to her long-standing work as a performance interpreter/actor. Since her first national tour with Graeae Theatre Company (What The Butler Saw) in the mid 1990's, she has been on an extraordinary journey. A pivotal moment in her journey was attending the Deaflympics in Denmark 1997. Immersed in an environment where 4,000 Deaf people had converged she had no choice but to use International Sign of which she had no prior experience. One can only imagine what that must have looked like! International Sign still remains a learning goal. Her career highlights were interpreting for Michelle Obama and Angela Davis twice!
More about Breakin’ Convention
Breakin' Convention is the award-winning and critically acclaimed powerhouse behind a hip hop theatre revolution. Working with the most respected, innovative and inspirational artists, Breakin' Convention is at the vanguard of the global development of the hip hop theatre genre, through its world-renowned festivals, international touring, professional development, youth projects and educational programme.
Jonzi D is the founder and Artistic Director of Breakin' Convention and an Associate Artist at Sadler's Wells. An MC, dancer, spoken word artist and director, he is the foremost advocate for hip hop who has changed the profile, and influenced the development of the UK British hip hop dance and theatre scene over the last two decades.
Breakin' Convention is an integral part of Sadler’s Wells’ artistic programme.
Breakin’ Convention is on tour from Wed 17 May – Wed 14 June 2023. Find out more about the Breakin’ Convention UK tour.