Benji’s Big Storytime

By: Kevin Bourke
Manchester Evening News
August 11, 2006

Process06 is a unique event, a two-week workshop festival devised to nurture, develop and preserve the language of hip-hop theatre.

It’s masterminded and hosted by the acclaimed Benji Reid and is the only artist-led event of its genre.

For the last week at the Zion Centre in Hulme, regional & national b-boys, b-girls, poppers and young artists have come together with international talents Will Power, Baba Israel, Robert Hylton, Karena Johnson and pioneering actor, rapper and writer Ken Swift, as well as Reid himself, in a series of classes and workshops.

Next week sees a public performance of Reid’s Life Of A B-Boy from Funkstylers UK, as well as performances from all of the guest tutors, films, digital beats and graffiti from UK artist Dreph, plus music from DJ Biznizz & Ty, DJ Timber, Broken English and Chris Jam & Tomlin.

The whole event has taken Benji more than a year to put together, he says. “Hip-hop theatre is a new genre that’s only about 10 years old, so not many people know about it,” he explains.

“It’s a marriage between theatre practices and hip-hop practices, putting them both together to make versions of urban stories and myths using a tapestry of body-popping, breaking and MC’ing, allowing that to shape the story. It’s finding ways to take a popular art form and use it to tell a story.

Workshops

“In Process06, some of the ideas that come up in the workshops will be presented as a performance. But not a whole show because it’s all about the education and the ideas, it’s not about an end product.

“There are a lot of platforms where you can go and see a ready-made show, but what’s exciting about this is that it’s a chance to explore the ideas behind the shows and how you can develop your craft.”

One of the reasons he chose to situate the event in the Zion Arts Centre, he says, “is because it’s a building that’s right in the community and I wanted people to feel that this sort of work was on their doorstep and something that they were allowed to be a part of.

“The second reason is because I love Zion as a building and as a space! Also it used to be a church and I always see performance art as kind of a church, with the audience as the congregation!”

Body-popping

Benji is the winner of countless body-popping championships, dancing with legendary combo Soul II Soul as well as original UK breakdancers Broken Glass Street Crew.

Now he’s a successful writer, performer, director and choreographer, who’s working with the National Theatre on a forthcoming project, but does it feel at all weird to be staging a festival rather than starring in one?

“Not at all. It’s part of the lineage. I’m nearly 40 now and I’ve been performing for well over 20 years. I feel like there’s a cycle of performing, then giving back and, if you really want a future in the art and you want hip-hop theatre to grow, then you need to find ways and create structures for giving back.

“I started off as a body-popper, but I always knew that I wanted to work in narrative-based work and go into directing. Over the last 10 years, I’ve been able to slowly develop the language and culture.

“Especially in Europe, people are starting to understand hip-hop theatre more and realizing that it’s something viable and empowering for the community, not just some scheme to keep kids in school and off the streets.”

Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk