In conversation with Boy Blue’s Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy

Barbican Artistic Associate’s Boy Blue have long been known to lead the way in dance. 2020 has been a difficult time for the industry, but one particularly tinged with both negatives and positives for this award-winning dance company. This summer their ever-popular showcase A Night With Boy Blue was cancelled due to Covid restrictions, Kenrick took home multiple Black British Theatre Awards for their production of REDD and now this pioneering company are back on the Barbican stage during lockdown developing and rehearsing new work.

We caught up with Boy Blue co-founder Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy to find out what they have been working on.

Welcome back to the Barbican! What was it like to be back working on our theatre’s stage?

It was very refreshing to be back at our home at the Barbican to be creative again. A very happy feeling.

Tell us what you’ve been working on recently?

We’ve had two weeks of ‘Research & Development’ on the Barbican Main Stage. This time has been used to work on new ideas to bump up our portfolio, and to experiment with potential pieces that can be performed under the rules of social distancing whilst still maintaining a high level of creativity and quality.

How did the company keep in touch and stay motivated during the first lockdown?

We stayed connected via Zoom with daily morning training sessions and evening classes as well as more social sessions and quiz nights. We checked in regularly with some of our dancers and teachers and when the lockdown rules were lifted a little we ran some socially distanced sessions in the park.

Tell us about the films that you’ve recently released on social media?

We filmed these performances on stage in the Barbican Theatre without an audience. For all of the pieces we were focussing on getting back into that creative space as well as playing with social distancing within performance.

Untethered 2.0. Track: ‘Untethered’ by Mikey J

This was a development of a solo piece we created with Jordan ‘JFunk’ Franklin in the summer.

Wires 2.0. Track: ‘Apparent’ by Introduction

Wires is solo piece of mine from 2010 which the guys wanted to learn, so we made it into a socially distanced group piece.

Rush. Track: ‘Rush’ by Mikey J

We made this to promote Mikey J’s music style ‘Zombii’.

Big Bas. Track: ‘Big Bas’ by Mikey J

With this piece each dancer created her own solo based on a stimulus which we then manifested into a group ensemble piece. I used the lighting to create the social distance grid on stage which the piece is performed within and around.

Runnin’ dis Town. Track: ‘Runnin’ Dis Town’ by S Chu, part of Mikey J’s ‘The Rat’s Lair’ (The Prequel to Pied Piper)

This is a freestyle video playing with the different stage areas and showcasing the dancer’s individual movement qualities.

What are the challenges you’ve found about working in a Covid secure way?
Social distancing within dance is difficult, it means you can’t do contact work or have a human connection. However the challenge of socially distanced dancing has been interesting, the work we’ve made is through formations and grid working which is how I usually work so this has amplified my practise.

Where do you look for inspiration for your movement?
Being in the space with dancers, responding creatively to the Covid restrictions has been inspiring. Music always inspires me.

How do you think the dance community have responded to this period of uncertainty?

This time has been really tough for some, feeling lost and isolated but at the same time others have been able to adapt and invest in the digital class element and use this time for reflection, individual training and investment.

What’s your biggest hope for the future of live performance?
That we can do it again! Continue to share live experiences but also feeling confident to work within these current confinements.

Dancers: Kurtis ‘Kurtyswift’ Agyekum, Nicey Belgrave, Irena Cuturic, George ‘Unkle TC’ Ducker, Jordan ‘JFunk’ Franklin, Jade Hackett, Mira Jebari, Poppydene Lingham, Lara Rose McCabe, Nicole McDowall, Francesca Miles, Kelsey ‘Hydro’ Miller

All videos filmed by Tamar Lewis
Choreography and Direction by Kenrick 'H2O' Sandy

About

Boy Blue are a multi-award winning hip-hop performance group founded by Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy MBE and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante. Since becoming Barbican Artistic Associates in 2009 they have staged a string of critically acclaimed shows including Blak Whyte Gray (2017) and Redd (2019).