Review: B.Supreme 2010 UK night at the Southbank Centre

Ably hosted by Kymberlee Jay, B.Supreme has reached its fourth year with a programme that promised to draw a wider audience than ever before.

Words and pics: Storm

Read the review for the B.Supreme International Night >>

The B.Supreme Queens

The presence of crews now known from various TV shows and the free nature of most of the events surrounding the shows ensured a broad mix of people and easy access. Kymberlee Jay wasted no time introducing the first crew to the stage, the Stylinquents, who have just inducted new member by performing at the Mayor’s Office. Whoever that new member may be had the footwork and confidence to carry it off. They were an assured start to the night.

Next up were TK Spin who took to the stage in a blur of hair and fast moves like a shampoo ad on meow meow... Unity are introduced by listing their titles and appearances, with Kymberlee Jay calling Move Like Michael Jackson “an interesting competition” in a manner that could be described as not entirely sincere - controversial!

But Unity's performance was as on point as ever. Their Smooth Criminal section has bigger balls than the entire England squad (and more chance of winning a title).

We do get an apology from Kymberlee for her comment about the BBC3 street dance show “but only because Sky One's Got To Dance was so much worse!” Why don't you tell us how you really feel, Kymberlee?!

We are then introduced to the Waacktitioners. Formed in September 2009 some of the over 30s in the audience who whooped may remember this style from the last days of disco. The deafening applause showed an appreciation from all. Check out our section on waacking for more information on the Waacktitioners.

Our host opened the second half with a mention of an over 35s dance group she met during the interval called Confusion - it would be great to see them next year as amongst all of the youthful energy in street dance, sometimes the original generation get overlooked.

Flowzaic gave us a showcase duet featuring tap and locking, showing a bit of dance history, moving on to popping through to old school b-girling. Rowdy of Flowzaic is UK locking champion but needs sponsorship to make it to the international finals. If any readers can make it happen, contact us and we'll make with the hook-up.

Next up, Illusion, who have great choreography that takes them from locking to lyrical with great swagger.

Wandsworth based Retaliation who worked with Odelia opened by taking b-girl style into contemporary lyrical, showing the links between contemporary technique and b-girling, as my own dance teachers taught me, before hitting us with some pure hip hop theatre.

Next up was Myself, whose accolades are to great to mention, but you know they’re dope, right? Although how do you feel about people being in several crews? There are times when I felt like I was at a dancing school show...

The final piece was the B.Supreme crew, Queens, who have been working with Decadance from New York to produce this piece in just four days. It's hip hop theatre that seems based on my Facebook status of two weeks ago: “My name is Hip Hop and I have always existed.”

B.Supreme UK night line up

B.Supreme Crew (B.Supreme Queens)

Flowzaic

Illusion

Retaliation Girls

Myself

Stylinquents

TK Spin

Trilogy

Unity

The Waacktitioners

Read the review of day two: International Night >>

Report: B.Supreme 2009

Interview: Kumari Suraj of the Imperial House of Waacking