Hip hop hooray: success for AP at dance event

04 Jun 09

Sadler’s Wells is regarded as the home for dance in the UK. The theatre established Breakin’ Convention in 2004.

It hosts performances by the best hip hop dance companies from the UK and across the world, as well as films, workshops, DJ demos, graffiti demos and many other interactive events.

Breakin’ Convention 2009 attracted 5000 attendees over the May Day bank holiday weekend.

“Breakin' Convention is very different to what we normally do,” said Steve Hyde, Sadler’s Wells operations director. “There are lots of different areas of the building being used, the seating in the main auditorium is unrestricted and it’s a different, much more varied kind of audience to those who normally attend our performances.

“Operationally-speaking, it’s very much out of the norm for us, so we have to manage it differently. The team that run this event do other hip hop events and they suggested bringing in AP Security because of the work they do at the Brixton Academy.”

Friendly faces
This was AP’s first year at Breakin’ Convention and showing a friendly face was essential for the festival’s audience.

“Our brief to AP was that it’s a very family-orientated event with a reputation for being trouble-free, so we wanted them to be very low-key and approachable,” Hyde said.

“Our initial meetings with them showed that they are very good communicators - they had some good ideas, but they were also happy to listen to us and the organising team. They understood our requirements very quickly, they were very attentive and showed great attention to detail.”

Building familiarity
Under AP senior operations manager Freddie Botha, the company deployed just over 20 staff. Importantly, the same members of staff were present for every day of the event, helping to build familiarity for the many people who attended on more than one day.

“Our roles were principally to direct people, to keep stairways clear, make everywhere accessible, ensure that seating people for the performances went smoothly, ensure people were in the right queues and to answer any questions they had,” Botha said.

“At the back of the theatre the road isn’t particularly wide, so safety was an issue there, while at the front we were ensuring the queues didn’t spill all across the pavement.

“The most important thing was the friendly face - greeting people with a smile, interacting with the youngsters and organising people, where necessary, in a low-key way.”

Strong relationship
The relationship between AP and Sadler’s Wells was very proactive throughout the event, which went an enormous way to making Breakin’ Convention 2009 a major success, the company says.

“The team at Sadler’s Wells were fantastic,” Botha said. “Duty manager Linda Nichol was on the front door with our staff and that access to a senior person was incredibly useful.

“It made the whole operation run smoothly, because we could always get an answer to any question in a matter of seconds - anything from how many spare seats there were for a performance to getting a spare chair for an elderly or disabled person. It was a very productive relationship throughout.”

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