Vauxhall Tribes Urban Expressway 2006, featuring the world’s best beatboxing, DJing, krumping, hip hop dancing and break dancing!
The event, which is on Sept. 9th at Kennington Park, will house the UK’s hottest urban talents, from Beatboxing and Turntablism to Bboys and Streetdance – all under one roof in an environment that will allow the audience to get up close to the performers and learn more about their arts.
9th September 2006 will see BBC 1Xtra’s legendary presenters Ace & Invisible host the next event in the Vauxhall Tribes series with approx 2,000 people witnessing a diverse range of urban performance disciplines. What: Vauxhall Tribes When: 9th September Location: Kennington Park, London, SE11 4BU Timings: 17.00hrs-20.00hrs £: Free – but strictly TICKET ONLY URL: Please visit www.vauxhalltribes.co.uk for tickets & more information Format of the day: 17.00hrs-18.45hrs Guests will be invited to meet and greet the acts and be actively encouraged to try all the different skills from beatboxing to turntablism. Each act will then display their individual specialism on the main stage with an informal demonstration of their skills. 18.45hrs A live showcase of all acts & fashions, including a blindfolded set from the UK’s leading turn-tablists, breathtaking ariel stunts from dance outfit Flawless and a mind boggling demonstration from the UK’s finest beatboxers, with a jaw dropping set that sees them creating music using just their mouths. Fashion partners include: Ecko, Mecca, Addict & King Apparel The talent includes:
The Disablists
Urban Discipline: Turntablists
Brief Background: The Disablists are the hottest new turntablist act in the UK. Performing a diverse selection of music from Hip Hop, Drum and Bass, Reggae, Ska, Soul, Funk and Motown blended into one smooth flow, adding the technical wizardry of the three creates a set not to be missed!
Acknowledgements: Blindfolding themselves one by one and continuing their routine at The World DMC Finals, they astonished the crowd, creating a tremendous uproar, as can be witnessed on the DMC website www.dmcworld.com.
With five turntables and three mixers, they create their own remixes of well-known anthems sending the crowd into a screaming frenzy.
They also play a Drum and Bass showcase which has been billed on some of the biggest club events in the country and soon to be featured on VIBE 101 FM. To catch their Hip Hop Set on radio, stay tuned into Dj Blakey’s Hip Hop Show on 1Xtra.
Funkstylerz UK
Urban Discipline: B-boys & Bgirls
Brief Background: These dancers have been handpicked from the underground dance scene, both in the UK and worldwide, based on their skill, ability and professionalism to create an incredible performing show group.
Funkstylerz UK is a break-dance company which incorporates the original street dances of breaking, popping and locking.
‘We have a heavy involvement with the underground dance scene worldwide and it is this knowledge of and passion for what we do that sets us apart from the masses. Why compromise when you can have the real deal?’
Awards/Claim to Fame: The UK’s no. 1 BBoy (break dance) & Hip Hop Dance Company. Together & individually, Funkstylerz have performed worldwide with artists such as Sean Paul, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes & Madonna, never failing to create & amaze an audience with versatile yet explosive performances.
Flawless
Urban Discipline: Street Dance
Brief Background: An extremely dedicated, breathtaking team that consists of 11 talented good-looking young guys (average age of 19yrs) with amazing dance abilities that will take your breath away bringing you hard core Street Dance to Vauxhall tribes
Taught by one of the most aspiring young creative choreographers in the UK, Marlon Wallen, who has worked with the like’s of Huston, Estelle and Jamelia, is the main nucleus of the group, bringing professional experience as well as new kind of choreography that’s exciting and inspirational, which has also made street dance more appealing to a mass audience.
Awards/Claim to Fame: Current Street Dance Weekend UK Champions and were most recently crowned the International Champions at the 2005 Street Dance Weekend International Championships USA v UK event which saw Flawless take on the AmountBoyz from the US.
Urban Strides
Urban Discipline: Hip Hop Dance and Training
Brief Background: Urban Strides was established in 1999, Urban Strides is an exciting and vibrant dance company providing professional cutting edge dance training and services. Urban Strides pride themselves on their motivational and dynamic approach, specializing in performances, workshops, masterclasses and community work throughout the country.
Awards/Claim to Fame: Urban Strides dancers have performed with ’50 Cent’, ‘Kanye West’, and ‘Pharrell Williams’ to name but a few.
2005 saw the implementation of the Urban Strides Dance Troupe, an elite team of young hip-hop professionals ranging from 8 to 21 years of age. Urban Strides Dance Troupe are regarded as the ‘UK’s number one youth hip-hop dance crew’. In their first year they starred in ‘Urban Dance Explosion’ (a DVD co-produced with Warner Music) and performed in the opening of the 77th Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. In 2006 the Troupe were invited to ‘take over’ Blue Peter for the day! Urban Strides Dance Troupe opened the show, taught The London School of Ballet how to street dance and closed the show with a breathtaking routine.
2006 sees Urban Strides Dance Troupe performing alongside Lemar (Brit Winner) at the Charity opening of ‘Daddy Cool – The Musical’ at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London.
Urban Strides Dance Troupe have also featured on a Charity documentary filmed by the BBC. And their progress to the Royal Variety Performance was shown on BBC South East. The positivity of these young performers is what makes Urban Strides stand out from the crowd. Their on-stage energy, and dynamic choreography always keep audiences on the edge of their seats….they have to be seen to be believed!
Shlomo
Urban Discipline: Beatboxer (all sounds are made using mouth and vocal chords)
Brief Background: Shlomo’s first ever performance was back in 2002, at the album launch of world beatbox pioneer Killa Kela. After playing a typically jaw-dropping set, Kela called Shlomo up to the mic and gave him his first taste of stage glory. After that there was no looking back: professional performance was the only way for Shlomo.
In the last 2 years Shlomo has shot to fame having supported hip-hop heroes such as Grandmaster Flash, Wu Tang’s The Gza, Guru of Gangstarr and Public Enemy, and shared the stage with a whole host of UK hip hop stars including Ty, Skinnyman and Rodney P. He has even made a cameo beatbox appearance on Eastenders!
Determined not to be just a straight up performer, Shlo is an active member of the world’s beatbox scene. He was a key player in setting up the UK’s first ever beatbox-specific artist agency AllFromTheMouth.com, and is also a board member of HumanBeatbox.com heading up their events team. After the success of the first World Beatbox Convention back in 2003, where Shlomo was a featured artist, he became a founding member of the World Beatbox Federeration (WBBF), which is a global body working for the greater good of the beatboxing community worldwide. Awards/Claim to Fame: Shomo is one of the country’s finest beatboxers. His remarkable ability to recreate all manner of sounds, including complex hip hop, trance, drum n bass and garage beats regularly vows clubbers in his home town of Leeds and in clubs all over UK.
Shomo has worked with Icelandic superstar Björk with whom he features on the Grammy Nominated tune Oceana from her all vocal album Medúlla. This tune was performed at the Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, which was broadcast to 4.5 billion people, making Shomo the most heard beatboxer in history. The album also features world respected vocalists including Rahzel, Mike Patton and Dokaka.
With the promise of a bespoke Vauxhall beatbox recording, Schlomo will definitely create a buzz around the next series of Vauxhall Tribes activity.