Emily Labhart

thinking about dance, arts management and cultural representation

Dancehall Origins 2nd Edition, 2017

Founded in May 2016, Dancehall Origins promotes and supports dancers, teachers and performers from Jamaica to share their practice in the UK.

As an advocate for Dancehall history and culture, Dancehall Origins aims to increase cultural awareness and appreciation of Dancehall by providing opportunities to connect with Dancehall Originators.

Our 2nd Edition returned to Chalk Farm in North London and was a clear development from the first event in October 2016. Building on this success, we saw an increase of 49% in participant numbers, we had Dancehall on the Big Screen and we were able to connect with more teachers/instructors – some travelling from Sheffield, Birmingham and even Italy to take part.

Global Bob started the day with a 45min lecture, setting the tone for the day by sharing cultural knowledge – rooted in Dancehall Origins’ core values.

After this came three high-energy workshops, one each by Global Bob, Crazyhype and Stacia Fya, all eager to share and accurately represent Dancehall culture – taking the participants on a unique journey to enhance their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the form.

Global Bob led us through old skool Dancehall, Crazyhype focused on his new skool steps, and Stacia Fya led a females-only workshop that began with mento and dinki-mini, going on to skanks, before introducing us to her ‘Confidence Dancehall’ technique.

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