This is a free event

This event is part of a timed programme 

Fri 1 Oct @ 11am

Centenary Square

Don’t Play with L(Kn)ives by Brooke Milliner

‘Don’t Play with L(Kn)ives’ is an original Hip Hop Screendance piece that explores knife crime in the UK. Bringing together some of the UK’s finest Hip Hop dancers, a live violinist & a spoken word artist. ‘Don’t Play with L(Kn)ives’ will shine a light on this taboo aspect of British culture – sharing untold stories to deliver a poignant message to young people.

Anywhere Is A Dance Floor by Jason Guest & Fatt Butcher

‘Anywhere Is A Dance Floor is a new collaboration between choreographer Jason Guest and drag artist & cultural producer Fatt Butcher.

Through celebrating the creativity, resilience, and fierce spirit of Birmingham’s LGBTQ+ nightlife community this new work is an invitation to the city to create their own dance floors anywhere and everywhere!

A Dance-Film Production by The Motion Dance Collective

Commissioned by DanceXchange for Birmingham International Dance Festival

Minute Films

Unbecoming, Everything You’re Not by Aidan Yau, Shaq Shadare & Kadafi Mulula 

Set in Leicester, a place of diversity, culture, opportunity and leisure, this project aims to show how these aspects of the city are able to create a community thats essence develops individuals, by introducing them to challenges and experiences that allow them not only to find who they are but un-become everything that they are not. The story follows three individuals as they are drawn to the city and discover themselves through interaction with its community and the lessons it teaches.

Natal by Asnath Losala 

A snapshot of the filmmaker’s experience as a Deaf migrant to Birmingham from the Congo, fusing British Sign language and hip hop street dance and their love of football. Filming in three locations near their home in Perry Barr, juxtaposing the three ‘faces’ of Aston. Deaf people live under the radar – not noticed, understood or welcomed into ‘hearing’ spaces. “I want to make this work to inspire other young Deaf people.  I want to show that Deaf people can dance and should have a platform alongside hearing street and hip hop dancers.”

Brum, Babysham, Bostin by Romy Ashmore-Hills 

This short film captures snapshots of youth cultures from Birmingham’s past and present. Different styles of dance, music and fashion and the iconic venues that held them – from the Rum Runner to Snobs, from Punk to Hip Hop. Using interviews and real people’s experiences of growing up in the city, it celebrates youth culture and its collective response to the status quo.

Content warning: contains explicit language and references to misuse of drugs.

We Commuted Once A Day (Two, Three) by Tanna Chamberlain

Tanna recounts a journey taken many times along a heavily trodden section of Birmingham’s canal. The film is about a companionship, and ultimately a dance partnership, with a second-hand bike. In the face of hardship, despair or loneliness, we keep going. And in doing so, we find moments of beauty.

Passing Time by Tyrone Williams

Action-packed, funny, filled with good historical information and with a wicked soundtrack, this film is about what happens when our past selves meet our future selves. Filmed alongside Birmingham’s famous canals, it begins in the 1920s with a cast of characters uncertain about what the future holds. After travelling through a time machine tunnel, they meet their future selves and the dance battle begins.

Take 1 by Devon Nelson

This film aims to reveal behind the scenes, what it takes to capture that perfect take that is “Instagram worthy”. A comment on the toxic influences of social media on young dancers’ mental health during the lockdown and a hopeful call for more transparency in dancers’ own processes.

The Minute films were commissioned by DanceXchange and produced by The Motion Dance Collective for Birmingham International Dance Festival.

Beyond Borders – ‘Our Nature’

Beyond Borders is an ambitious region-wide participation Dance Development Leaders Group (DDLG) project that has brought together 13 dance artists, 13 aspiring young leaders, over 120 young people, 3 digital artists and a variety of specialists to collaborate and produce original work in response to #OnewithNature.

The project started with online collaboration in March 2021 and accumulates in this celebratory moment at Birmingham International Dance Festival 2021, with the premiere of this bespoke Beyond Borders film. With inclusion, young peoples voices and creativity at its heart, the Beyond Borders film will shine a light on some of the very best West Midlands talent.