Choreography Lab Holder 2020: Omar Spence

What does this opportunity mean to you and what do you expect to develop during this period of time at dx?

I’m incredibly honored and excited to have received this opportunity, for someone who’s been on the path of a choreographer less than a year this is a wonderful opportunity to help develop my foundational understanding of what a choreographer is, how they work and how I will work as one. I’m eager to develop my integration of narrative and dramaturgy into my movement to further aid whatever it may be I’m trying to convey to my audience and hopefully even take that into my regular dance be it in cyphers or battles. In particular I’m looking forward to taking everything I learn from this experience into the creation of my first solo peice.

Tell us about you and your company

Currently my crew, Reckless and I are working on creating a new piece that we hope to be able to show next summer on as many platforms as possible. As a bboy crew (predominantly anyway) we seek to balance our new venture into the realms of hip hop theatre with our renewed engagement in the underground scene and show that both can be balanced, you can both battle and perform, but also you can do both while being creative but staying true to the foundation across all street styles.

We’re also in the first phase of our new teaching project, the “Tru Skool Sessions” in Wolverhampton where we’re vehemently pushing the development of a multi-style, foundationally proficient street dance scene in the city.

If you could collaborate with any artist in the world right now who would it be?

If I could collaborate with any dancer in the world it would probably be Kenrick from Boy Blue. He’s been one of my favourite dancers for 10 years now; ever since I first started watching and researching street dance and having the opportunity to have learnt from him only makes me realise how much more I’d love to learn from him and pick his brain.

Outside of dance, I’m also a musician, my dream collaboration right now would be Anderson.Paak. I was finally able to see him live in August and he’s the closest I’ve ever seen a person come to Prince (who I saw live at 16) and it truly amazed and inspired me.

Your first dance experience?

My first real experience of dance was my dad taking my younger brother and I to a jam in Birmingham back in 2007 called “Bboys for Life” alongside one of my godfathers. I was already aware of breaking and that they used to break and were held as being very good in fact but to then see it live has a profound effect on me. I was into hip hop at the time, I’d been rapping and doing graffiti but as someone who’s always been socially awkward and a misfit it was the first time I went somewhere, saw people and said, “This is me, these are my people” and it was that day that really confirmed and solidified a childhood wish I’d had to start breaking.