Dance review: Breakin’ Convention 12

To a degree, it’s born out of truth – ballet schools across the land are filled with little girls dressed in pink, while breakdance classes are often seen as a way to engage boys in dance. But a quick look at this year’s Breakin’ Convention line-up proves that, in hip hop at least, the male/female divide is being well and truly crossed. Of the seven local crews performing at Edinburgh Festival Theatre this weekend, three of them are all-female. Not only that, but the international acts on the Breakin’ Convention UK tour include male/female duet, Clash 66.

In some areas of hip-hop dance, such as streetdance, women have been well represented for years. The more athletic style of breakdance, however, has been slower to recruit. Back in 1997, when Emma Hamilton of B-girl crew Ready Ready Sauce first started breakdancing, she wasn’t exactly drowning in company.

“For a long time it was just me,” she says, “and one or two other girls, who would then move away to London and I’d be on my own again. But now, there’s so many of us, and it’s really nice to have a lot more girls involved. I think it will just continue to grow.”

Perhaps inevitably, given the amount of physical strength breakdancing demands, it attracts more boys than girls. Like anything, however, the more you do, the easier it becomes – although not everyone is willing to stick around to find that out. “Sometimes, when people come along to a breaking class, they don’t realise how difficult it’s going to be,’ says Hamilton. “When you first start, it’s a completely different way of using your body, it’s tough on the wrists and arms and you need a lot of strength. But it’s about persevering. Breakdance takes a lot of time and dedication, so you need to have a certain mentality, to be a bit stubborn.”

In recent years, female breakers who have mastered the moves have found an increasing number of outlets to perform. Specific B-girl battles are held across the world, as well as “Bonnie and Clyde” battles, where male/female pairs go head-to-head. But sometimes, in a regular battle, it’s just boy versus girl – something you would rarely, if ever, find in the equally athletic world of sport. Does that feel like a level playing field?

“Yes, because it’s not just about the big, crowd-pleasing moves,” says Hamilton. “It’s about your attitude, style, musicality and technique. And a lot of girls have got the difficult moves now, so you sometimes get a girl who’s been dancing for a long time going up against a guy who’s new to it, and you can see the difference.”

When Hamilton, or the other girls in Ready Ready Sauce, step into a breakdance circle now, it’s up to them to prove what they’ve got. But it wasn’t always that way. Ten years ago, just being female would get you a well-meaning sympathy vote.

“In the late 1990s and early 2000s, if you were a girl and went in to dance, people would cheer in an ‘Oh look, it’s a girl’ kind of way,” says Hamilton. “Just like you would when a wee kid goes in. But that doesn’t happen as much any more, you’ve got to prove yourself.”

Honji, a ballerina turned breakdancer, and one half of acclaimed hip hop dance duo Clash 66, agrees: “When you see a girl, you might cheer for her because she has the guts to do it in front of all these crazy guys. But after that, people will judge her on her dancing skills.”

Honji was born in Germany to Korean parents and “loved the discipline of ballet”, but at 16 found that hip-hop and contemporary dance offered her more freedom. Having built up her physical and mental strength through gymnastics and ballet training, she soon found herself able to keep up with the boys she danced alongside. Honji noticed, but was unfazed by, the difference in boy/girl ratio moving from ballet to breakdance.

“There are more girls now, it’s still a minority but I think the culture has grown much more and there are more girls training and performing hip hop dance,” she says. “Today we have a lot of girls who, skill-wise, are very high. They compete against guys, and are judged in the same way – you don’t get more points just because you’re a girl.”

• Breakin’ Convention 12 is at Edinburgh Festival Theatre, tomorrow and Saturday.