Creativity, skill, integrity, intelligence and community: A conversation on the nature of practice in hip hop

Robert Hylton is a first-generation UK hip hop theatre practitioner, who is currently writing a PhD at the Centre for Dance Research Coventry University on the nature of transmission of knowledge in black British Popping. Jonathan Burrows is a choreographer and Associate Professor at C-DaRE Coventry, who has worked for many years with hip hop artist Jonzi-D, mentoring hip hop artists interested in theatre practice. Robert and Jonathan have shared a long and ongoing conversation over many years about the nature of hip hop and its uneasy relationship to contemporary dance. The following text reflects that conversation, focussing specifically on the nature of practice in hip hop dance including transmission of physical and philosophical knowledge, respect for lineage, innovation and the relationship or not to academic research and the space of theatre.