At this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, acclaimed choreographer Kim Brandstrup unveiled his latest work: Breaking Bach, danced to music by JS Bach. Nothing unusual about that, you might think – but if I said that it was a collaboration between six professional dancers, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), and seven hip-hop dancers from a secondary school in north London, you might be surprised.
The show won rave reviews from critics (including Bachtrack’s Kathy Elgin), and with news that OAE are planning to bring Breaking Bach to London for the 2026–27 season, and then take it on tour, it seemed a good opportunity to find out more. I met up with the choreographer in the café of London’s Royal Ballet and Opera to talk about the project.
How had Brandstrup come across the talented dancers from Acland Burghley School in Camden in the first place? “There’s quite a long pre-story to it,” he chuckles. “In 2019, I was given a fellowship at The Center for Ballet and the Arts, NYU [New York University]. I had for a long time wanted to write something about the purely rhythmical aspect of dance. I have always thought that real invention in dance, choreographically, is in how you rhythmically vary the material. I think the great and most prolific choreographers, like George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham, were geniuses at rhythmical invention and variation – it was not about ‘creating’ new steps, ‘movements’ or ‘shapes.’ It’s about how you do them, combine them – the dynamics, the attack, the energy of how the movements are executed.
“In New York I had access to some fabulous New York City Ballet dancers, some equally great ex-Juilliard students; and a group of hip-hop dancers from Brooklyn,” Brandstrup continues. “I tried out different things but found that in these hip-hop artists there was a unique and explicit talent for rhythmical intricacy and speed. They were so quick – they could pick up any nuance and variations in the rhythm that you gave them – and they also asked for counts! They wanted to know if the movement starts on ‘and’ or ‘one’, or ‘and eh…’. That is very different from ballet dancers and contemporary dancers – they don’t really like counting – they feel it infringes on their freedom. There was quite a meticulous analysis that went on with the hip-hop dancers before they moved. This was really interesting, so when I left New York, this experience stayed with me.”
Was this, I asked, because of the kinds of rhythmic music hip-hop dancers were used to performing to? “I am sure it has to do with the music they listen to – something has happened in the digital age, where the beats per minutes have increased significantly. It’s so fast now, and they can navigate these speeds, and they do it amazingly. I would think, ‘God, that’s impossible, both to move and think at that speed’.
“When I came back to London I immediately contacted [hip-hop dancer] Tommy Franzén – we’ve worked together for many years, and he put me in touch with Deavion Brown, who was with ZooNation. We started working and Kevin [O’Hare, director of The Royal Ballet] kindly gave us rehearsal space at The Royal Ballet. I started working purely experimentally on the third movement of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, just to see what was possible. This was in at the same time as Tommy and I were working on The Minotaur [2022].”
Then things began to happen. “Crispin [Woodhead, CEO of OAE] came to see The Minotaur at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and loved it. He asked what else I was working on, so I told him about Bach and Tommy and Deavion. He got excited because at the Acland Burghley they have a very good dance department, and many kids with a street dance background. He asked if I would come and further develop the project there.”
If you are wondering why Woodhead suggested that school in particular, it was because the OAE is resident company there and has regular collaborations with the pupils. He is passionate about the importance of the arts in the school curriculum and stated earlier in the year: “It’s encouraging to see more young people taking up music and performing arts in GCSEs this year – especially as we know creativity is one of the top skills employers are looking for. But we can’t afford to see this as job done.
“Since moving into Acland Burghley School,” Woodhead continues, “we have worked with the leadership to build an ambitious arts curriculum that has driven greater uptake of arts subjects at GCSE and beyond – bucking the long-term national decline. In the past year alone, 540 students engaged directly with OAE projects. This boosts student wellbeing and supported the school in achieving the 2024 Artsmark Platinum Award for excellence in arts education.”
What kind of dance training does the school offer the students? “Mainly contemporary dance,” Brandstrup replies. “And they also do a lot of hip-hop. I did an audition at the school, and some of students were really excellent. So that’s how Breaking Bach came about. I did the Double Violin Concerto with Deavion and Tommy, and eight dancers from the school. That was in the beginning [2023]; we showed it to an invited audience of friends, parents and industry professionals at English National Ballet’s studios, and it went really well. I think Crispin suddenly thought there was potential in this, so he decided to commission a whole evening of dance set to the music of Bach, and the Edinburgh Festival were also interested, so that was how it all began.”
It must have been exciting for all those involved. What was it like choreographing on those talented young dancers? “You start from where they are,” states Brandstrup. “What was so obvious to me was the dancers’ incredible rhythmical literacy – an excellent rhythmical ear that I could tap into. I think they sensed that I understood and really appreciated that talent – we could talk the same language; we could start a dialogue.
“I did not play the Bach to them immediately, I worked purely on rhythmical paraphrases, as I call it. The dancers work with the concept of a ‘groove’ – a rhythmical structural pattern that they respond to. I basically paraphrased the Double Violin Concerto into a series of ‘grooves’, and then I would draw on what they would physically suggest. The piece is drawn from their vernacular, it’s their vocabulary, but as soon as the movements started to come out, we could start a dialogue. I would say, ‘If you could hold back on that beat… if you rush into the one… if you suspend for a moment on three’. It was exciting for me because I felt there was a real musical dialogue with them. I was benefitting enormously from their skill, and they enjoyed that I could see and use how perceptive they were rhythmically. I suppose, the great thing is how it has opened up classical music to these pupils, and we had a wonderful experience.”
What ideas was he formulating when creating the choreography? “These pieces are purely formal or abstract. They are pure dancing. I’ve in the past choreographed the Goldberg Variations and the Cello Suites, so I’ve worked with Bach, but these are pieces written for a ‘single voice’. I’ve often felt you couldn’t match the speed and complexity of the orchestral pieces – all the different parts, how they rhythmically interweave, bounce off each other.
“It’s amazing music to work with. I just feel, at its heart it’s so intricate it’s very hard to meet it. Of course, you can do something with it, but to try and really connect with it purely on the micro-rhythmical level is really hard. That was my challenge and what excited me, and it was what these dancers could bring. The music is so great, you don’t tire – none of us did. You listen to it endlessly.”
What an experience for those kids, I exclaim. “I think they liked it,” Brandstrup grins. They must have been excited dancing alongside Tommy Franzén and Deavion Brown? “Oh, yes! Tommy, Deavion and Seirian Griffiths were all three of my associates. It’s important for the younger dancers to have role models, and they were invaluable – they would teach warm-ups, demonstrate and encourage the process.”
And what was it like working with the musicians of the OAE? “The orchestra is the best! I think what was lovely about this project was that, as it progressed, the musicians got really involved and interested. They would stay and watch if they were not playing, and I could feel they understood the musical/rhythmical kinship they had with the dancers. We really could talk details – and they were fabulous about the tempos! I think it was a very, very special collaboration.”
More performances of Breaking Bach are planned in the 2026–27 season: check oae.co.uk for more information.
See upcoming performances by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
This article was sponsored by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
