I am pleased to bring you a 2nd article by Nefeli Tsiouti, MA, MSc, one of the young leaders in the dance medicine world, who has been bringing attention to the injuries of dancers in the Breakin’ world. Her first article discussed how she started working in this field, and formed Project Breakalign. In this one, she talks about the annual Breakin’ Convention held in London each year, and how she has been integrating her work into the conference. Please pass it on! – Jan Dunn, Dance Wellness Editor
by Nefeli Tsiouti, MA, MSc
In 2013, I decided to bring together a group of dance medicine and science specialists, sports coaches, doctors, physical therapists—people that are involved with health and Breaking, to decide how to save the world of Breakers from injuries. That was the beginning of the creation of the Project Breakalign team. We then started working in association with One Dance UK’s Healthier Dancer Programme, at the time managed by Erin Sanchez, another dance scientist who had also joined our new-born team.
In 2014, we embarked on an annual journey with the Breakin’ Convention International Festival of hip-hop theatre, which takes place every May at Sadler’s Wells in London, UK. Together with Breakin’ Convention, One Dance UK (ODU), and the Project Breakalign team, we began providing—for the first time in such an established international hip-hop festival—workshops from specialists that can speak the hip-hop language. That is a very important trait to have when dealing with a group of people from such diverse cultural and movement backgrounds—a very interesting place to be as an educator–but also as a therapist!
From 2014-2019, we provided a Project Breakalign workshop in association with ODU, which usually consisted of conditioning strategies for Breakers and hip-hop dancers in general. I was teaching the workshop alongside one more team members each year, including: Mark Archer (Physical Therapist), Marius Mates (Bboy Marius from Romania), Johannes Hattunen (Bboy Hatsolo from Finland), and in 2017, 2018 and 2019, I took the lead by myself. What was special in these last three years was a new initiative of Project Breakalign and One Dance UK to bring education and treatments at the festival, for the performers of this big international dance gathering. This would not have been possible without the support of Erin Sanchez and Sarah Needham-Beck, at One Dance UK / The Healthier Dancer Programme.
So, on the days of the festival, myself as a sports massage therapist, alongside a physical therapist or osteopath, shared two rooms for treatments for the performers of Breakin’ Convention. The dancers had the opportunity to book free 30-minute slots for physical therapy or sports massage, and not only to receive treatment, but to also receive advice about their injuries and injury management. Most of the performers had also flown in or used trains to arrive in London, therefore their bodies definitely needed the hands of a specialist, to ensure their dance wellness – as well as their best performance for the evening shows of the festival.
What is amazing about Breakin’ Convention is that in a little area in the heart of London, all these spectacles, activities, social gatherings, educational workshops, and now also health treatments take place, and they are all tailored not only for the performers, but also for the supporters and fans of the hip-hop artforms. Jonzi D, director of Breakin’ Convention and his team, have been caring for the health of performers since the initial proposal we offered them for collaboration, and they have allowed the hip-hop dancers the opportunity to welcome awareness for prevention of injuries, in the heart of such an established and prestigious Festival.
And the journey continues…see you at Breakin’ Convention London 2020!
Learn more:
Visit Project Breakalign
Visit One Dance UK
Bio: Nefeli was born in Australia. She started dance in 1995 at Motion Art Studio and danced professionally in Greece & UK (2006-16). She studied: BA French Literature (University of Athens), MA Choreography (Middlesex University), MSc Dance Science (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance), Sports Massage Therapy Diploma (Sports Therapy UK) and is a BSc Physiotherapy student at European University Cyprus. Currently she is Associate Researcher at the Cyprus Musculoskeletal & Sports Trauma Research Centre & CEO of Breakalign Ltd, a prevention of injuries project for dancers. Moreover, she is a dancer & Choreographer, Member of the International Federation of Holistic therapists, from which she received the award Sports Therapist of the Year 2018. She won 1st Prize and Most Innovative idea Prize at the EUC-Peak entrepreneurship competition for start-ups in 2018. Her dance training has spread from ballet to hip-hop/Breaking. She has taught in dance schools and Universities since 2006 in Greece, UK, Cyprus and provided guest lectures across Europe, USA, Canada & Hong-Kong. Nefeli has a mission of preventing injuries for dancers and has been awarded many scholarships to support this vision. She is the organiser of the Dance Science Symposium in Cyprus since 2018.