ABTS Trainee Producer Scheme: Week 5

Guest Speaker - Jonzi D

Jonzi D is the founder and Artistic Director of Jonzi D Projects and Breakin' Convention. A dancer, spoken word artist and director, he is the foremost advocate for hiphop theatre who has changed the profile and influenced the development of the UK British hip-hop dance and theatre scene over the last two decades.

Jonzi D has been actively involved in British hip hop culture, rapping and b-boying in clubs and on the street since the early 1980s. Since graduating from London Contemporary Dance School, Jonzi has been committed to the development of hip hop theatre. He was an Associate Artist at The Place and has performed and created dance theatre pieces worldwide.

Jonzi D is an Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells and is based at the theatre. Jonzi devised and directed TAG... just writing name in 2006, IVAN in 2006 and Markus the Sadist, a rap theatre piece in 2009. All pieces have successfully toured the UK to critical acclaim. He has also devised, choreographed and featured in various hip hopinspired fashion shows. Jonzi D is the curator and host of the acclaimed Breakin' Convention, the international hip hop dance theatre festival, nominated for a South Bank Show award and now in its tenth year.

As an MC/poet, Jonzi D has worked with The Roots, Steve Williamson, Mannafest, Lenny Henry, MC Mell 'O' and toured with Gangstarr. He appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, Channel 4's Faking It, and his short films Silence da bitchin and Aeroplane Man were also screened on Channel 4. He is creator and host of the successful Apricot Jam and Vertika Cypher infamous hip hop music and open mic sessions. He presented the 2005 4Dance for Channel 4 and was recently the performance mentor for Urban Classic at Hackney Empire in February 2006. In 2007 he was listed as one of the top ten positive black musical role models by MOBO and directed a new piece, Hectic Dialectic, as part of the Rozamira Festival in Moscow.