Reading Routes
Ink Cypher is the home of our commissioned writing; it's where you'll find exclusive, original features and long form writing on Hip Hop dance from a suite of international voices.
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The order in which you read information can affect the interpretation of what comes after it; Reading Route 1 and Reading Route 2 can be found below to guide you through these texts.
We'd love to hear from people who have read all the works and what order they read them.
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If you value the work we're doing and are able to contribute, then please donate. Ink Cypher is our platform to present personal, thoughtful and critical responses on Hip Hop dance. We look forward to your continued support.
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Published: November 2021, May 2022 and July 2023
Route 1
Letter to an OG
Marcus Marzipan
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Lucy Crowe
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Our Aging Elders: The Vanishing of Our Living Libraries & The Erasure of Cultural & Intellectual Hip Hop/Street Dance Codes
Natasha Jean-Bart, aka Tash
The Scarcity of Information Within Hip Hop Culture and the Neglect of Notorious Knowledge
Rudá Gonçalves
Club and Street Dances: An Art of Remembrance
Larissa Clement Belhacel
This Lotus is a Rabbit: 10 Poems as Tribute
Ojo Taiye
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Lucy Crowe
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Hip Hop: The Mirror of Society in Cuba
Elier A. Alvarez
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Invisible Resistance: Hip Hop and the East of Cuba
Gladed Brown
Self Teaching In Street Dance
Fabrice Pika Taraud
This Dance Is Not Our Own
Brian Toh
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Feras ‘Fez’ Shaheen & Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn
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An Interview with Grudge Oneski - The Realest Bboy in the UK
Iain Bleakley
DANCING GODDESSES: African American Women Hip Hop Dancers - Cultural Contributors
Ariyan Johnson
FROM SCARIFICATION TO KRUMP - How body adornment has transformed dance across the diaspora
Temitayo Ince
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Afrikan Dancers As Embodied Archives
JC Niala
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Hip Hop Hair: How Hairstyles Influence Movement
Starla Carr
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Afrikan Dancers as Embodied Archives: Contemporary Movements as Evolving Archives
Dodzi Aveh
A Story of B-Boying in South Africa
Tseliso Monaheng
The chance encounter as the fifth element of Hip Hop
Iain Bleakley
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Queer Club Culture in 1990s Kansas City: A Chance Encounter with Soakies
Starla Carr
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The Economies of Freestyle Dances and the Construction of a Community: an anthropological case study of dance in Barcelona
Malvina Tessitore
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Sharing and its Limits: A Non-Anthropological Perspective on Barcelona Freestyle Dancers
Malvina Tessitore
Episodes of a Hip Hop Memory
Michael Joseph
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Episodes of a Muscle Memory: Hip Hop Music Videos and 00s Adolescence
Ellen O'Donohue Oddy
Where is Disability in Hip Hop Dance?
Emily Tisshaw
The Hip Hop and Disability Problem: why do dancers ‘overcome’ it when they could be ‘celebrating’ it?
Porcelain Delaney
Dance As Hard As A Man: how female Hip Hop dancers have had to man up to try to get a place in the hip-hop scene
Godlive Lawani
“Make Some Noise for the Ladies…” Sexism in European Hip-Hop Dance Battles
Francesca Miles
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In F(l)avour of Masculine: The Disbalance of Power in the European Street Dance Battle Scene
Gabija Cepelyte
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Living Hip Hop in Uruguay: A Portrait of Bgirl China
Wendy Pedroso Martinez
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"You will never be a dancer with that body" The Erasure of Big Bodies in Hip Hop Dance
Evelyn Ramirez
Derogatory Dancing: Heteronormative Inscriptions on Female Hip-Hop Dancers in Breaking and Commercial Spheres
Deanne Kearney
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Dodzi Aveh
Cisfemininities as bodies-without-organs in hip hop, street and urban dance styles
Natalia Koutsougera
How Dislocated Minorities in Turkey turn to Hip Hop to Build Community and Resist Marginalisation
Danielle V. Schoon and Funda Oral
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“Hip Hop is my Country”: Breaking on the Move between Istanbul and Berlin
Funda Oral & Danielle V. Schoon
From Localities to TikTok: Hip-Hop Dance in Indonesia
Nia Agustina
The Social Impact of Monday School and Battle Jam - Les Petites Choses Production
YingLv Wang
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Jackanory meets Diversity: Hip Hop culture - when dance becomes theatre
Lucy Crowe
The Commodification of Trauma in Hip Hop Theatre
Isaac Ouro-Gnao
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The Duty of Care in Hip Hop Theatre
Isaac Ouro-Gnao
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The Necessity of Care: A Guide to Radical Accessibility Within Hip Hop
Saskia Horton
The Recognition of Streetdance in Germany
Takao Baba
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La Danse Hip-Hop as Paradox: Artification and Sportification
Roberta Shapiro
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How Do You Make a Solo?
Emma Ready
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Astrid Aristizábal
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Cairo Calling: A Profile of Layla Ghaleb
Samia Qayium
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Kalima Mipata's Leap From Botswana to Broadway
Bakang Akoonyatse
Dancing Giving A Voice: the power of voguing in Colombia protest
Evelyn Ramirez
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Democracy On The Move: How Young People In Argentina are Using Hip Hop Dance to Build Future Democracies
Virginia Fornillo
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Transforming Our Own History
Belu Arendt
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Hip-hop Dance for Joy and Liberation
Edmund Adjapong
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The Woo Dance vs Kete: Tradition Recycled or Coincidence?
Dodzi Aveh
Route 2
“Make Some Noise for the Ladies…” Sexism in European Hip-Hop Dance Battles
Francesca Miles
This Dance Is Not Our Own
Brian Toh
​
Queer Club Culture in 1990s Kansas City: A Chance Encounter with Soakies
Starla Carr
Where is Disability in Hip Hop Dance?
Emily Tisshaw
​
The Scarcity of Information Within Hip Hop Culture and the Neglect of Notorious Knowledge
Rudá Gonçalves
​
The Necessity of Care: A Guide to Radical Accessibility Within Hip Hop
Saskia Horton
​
Transforming Our Own History
Belu Arendt
Dance As Hard As A Man: how female Hip Hop dancers have had to man up to try to get a place in the hip-hop scene
Godlive Lawani
Letter to an OG
Marcus Marzipan
​
In F(l)avour of Masculine: The Disbalance of Power in the European Street Dance Battle Scene
Gabija Cepelyte
Derogatory Dancing: Heteronormative Inscriptions on Female Hip-Hop Dancers in Breaking and Commercial Spheres
Deanne Kearney
​
Astrid Aristizábal
The Recognition of Streetdance in Germany
Takao Baba
​
Cairo Calling: A Profile of Layla Ghaleb
Samia Qayium
Self Teaching In Street Dance
Fabrice Pika Taraud
​
An Interview with Grudge Oneski - The Realest Bboy in the UK
Iain Bleakley
​
La Danse Hip-Hop as Paradox: Artification and Sportification
Roberta Shapiro
​
Our Aging Elders: The Vanishing of Our Living Libraries & The Erasure of Cultural & Intellectual Hip Hop/Street Dance Codes
Natasha Jean-Bart, aka Tash
​
Afrikan Dancers as Embodied Archives: Contemporary Movements as Evolving Archives
Dodzi Aveh
​
DANCING GODDESSES: African American Women Hip Hop Dancers - Cultural Contributors
Ariyan Johnson
​
Afrikan Dancers As Embodied Archives
JC Niala
Episodes of a Hip Hop Memory
Michael Joseph
​
This Lotus is a Rabbit: 10 Poems as Tribute
Ojo Taiye
Club and Street Dances: An Art of Remembrance
Larissa Clement Belhacel
​
Lucy Crowe
​
Malvina Tessitore
The chance encounter as the fifth element of Hip Hop
Iain Bleakley
​
Feras ‘Fez’ Shaheen & Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn
The Commodification of Trauma in Hip Hop Theatre
Isaac Ouro-Gnao
FROM SCARIFICATION TO KRUMP - How body adornment has transformed dance across the diaspora
Temitayo Ince
The Woo Dance vs Kete: Tradition Recycled or Coincidence?
Dodzi Aveh
Jackanory meets Diversity: Hip Hop culture - when dance becomes theatre
Lucy Crowe
How Dislocated Minorities in Turkey turn to Hip Hop to Build Community and Resist Marginalisation
Danielle V. Schoon and Funda Oral
​
Hip Hop: The Mirror of Society in Cuba
Elier A. Alvarez
​
Dodzi Aveh
Dancing Giving A Voice: the power of voguing in Colombia protest
Evelyn Ramirez
​
Hip-hop Dance for Joy and Liberation
Edmund Adjapong
​
Hip Hop Hair: How Hairstyles Influence Movement
Starla Carr
​
Invisible Resistance: Hip Hop and the East of Cuba
Gladed Brown
​
“Hip Hop is my Country”: Breaking on the Move between Istanbul and Berlin
Funda Oral & Danielle V. Schoon
​
Episodes of a Muscle Memory: Hip Hop Music Videos and 00s Adolescence
Ellen O'Donohue Oddy
From Localities to TikTok: Hip-Hop Dance in Indonesia
Nia Agustina
​
Sharing and its Limits: A Non-Anthropological Perspective on Barcelona Freestyle Dancers
Malvina Tessitore
​
How Do You Make a Solo?
Emma Ready
​
The Duty of Care in Hip Hop Theatre
Isaac Ouro-Gnao
A Story of B-Boying in South Africa
Tseliso Monaheng
​
Kalima Mipata's Leap From Botswana to Broadway
Bakang Akoonyatse
​
Living Hip Hop in Uruguay: A Portrait of Bgirl China
Wendy Pedroso Martinez
​
​Implications of Hip-Hop-izing Western Institutional Spaces:
A reflection on how hip-hop dancers transform “unlikely hip-hop spaces”
Maïko Le Lay
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Democracy On The Move: How Young People In Argentina are Using Hip Hop Dance to Build Future Democracies
Virginia Fornillo
The Social Impact of Monday School and Battle Jam - Les Petites Choses Production
YingLv Wang
​
The Hip Hop and Disability Problem: why do dancers ‘overcome’ it when they could be ‘celebrating’ it?
Porcelain Delaney
Cisfemininities as bodies-without-organs in hip hop, street and urban dance styles
Natalia Koutsougera
​
"You will never be a dancer with that body" The Erasure of Big Bodies in Hip Hop Dance
Evelyn Ramirez
​
Alongside commissioned writings we also present in depth interviews and primary accounts of people who are active and an integral part of the broad diaspora of the UK Hip Hop dance community.