Culture
Limericks Top 8 Performance Platform Takes Place September 19
Limericks Top 8 presents a unique multi-cultural, multi-artform Performance Platform that will go beyond Street Dance to celebrate dance traditions and styles from many different cultures.
Limericks Top 8 Performance Platform Takes Place September 19
The event will bring together dance genres from Indian Classical Dance to Poppin’; from Irish Dance to Dance Hall. Pictured above is Vidya Salian, an Indian Classical Dancer. Picture: Vivek Vigneswaran
Top 8 are delighted to announce a unique multi-cultural, multi-artform Performance Platform which will take place in their hometown of Limerick, going beyond Street Dance to celebrate dance traditions and styles from many different cultures, as well as showcasing Limerick’s well-established Hip-Hop scene, with live music from some of the best Irish MCs and DJs. Taking place on Sunday, September 19 at the Irish Aerial Creation Centre in Limerick city & streaming live, the Top 8 Performance Platform will also stay true to the battling traditions of Hip-Hop culture.
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The event will bring together dance genres from Indian Classical Dance to Poppin’; from Irish Dance to Dance Hall; from KRUMP to Hip-Hop Experimental, and from Afro Fusion to Breakin’ Experimental. Leading Irish dancers from these genres will take part in a competitive Performance Battle, and there will also be a showcase in which dancers from one dance genre improvise and perform to music from another style – an Irish dancer exploring Poppin’ style music and a Poppin’ dancer then experimenting to Irish dance music, and so on. In addition, the Platform will feature a dedicated 1V1 Breakin’ battle where Top 8 Breakers will battle it out to see who wins the top spot. The day will also feature some of the best MCs in the Irish music industry, and so will incorporate many elements of Hip-Hop culture under one roof, alongside other dance styles coming together to share, exchange, and battle.
Limericks Top 8 organisers Tobi Omoteso and Deborah O’Connor have placed integration and partnership at the heart of the Platform. Deborah says, “We feel this event is a natural progression in what the ethos of what Top 8 has set out to achieve, seeing Street Dance side-by-side with more established dance styles, both encouraging recognition of Hip-Hop artists and fostering connections with other artistic communities. And we wanted to use the battling aspects of Hip-Hop culture where dancers face off against each other in an improvised contest, so in the Platform we’re using that framework both for Breakin’ and for a much wider international range of dance styles and genres.”
The Platform is also an opportunity to raise national and international awareness of Limerick’s Hip-Hop scene, of which Tobi says, “There’s incredible talent in Limerick and in Ireland in general, which spans across diverse groups of individuals. To be able to showcase other dance forms alongside Hip-Hop while still keeping it raw and authentic to its core, is what we have always set out to achieve with Top 8. It’s simply a place where everyone’s differences are celebrated – the Platform audience are in for a treat either viewing in person or via livestream!”
TOP 8 PERFORMANCE PLATFORM
Location: Irish Aerial Creation Centre, Limerick City
Date: September 19
Time: 1pm-8pm
Tickets: €10 via Eventbrite.
The event will also be streamed live.
For details on tickets and live stream please see Instagram: @top8streetdancebattle.
FUNDERS
Top 8 would like to thank the Arts Council, Dance Ireland, Dublin Dance Festival and the Irish Aerial Creation Centre for their support.
COMING SOON!
Top 8 are also currently organising the 2021 Top 8 Street Dance Battle, which will take place at Dublin’s Sugar Club on October 17, following sold-out performances in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
To book tickets for the Street Dance Battle, see HERE
For more stories on Dance, see HERE
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