Benji Reid, Britain’s rising star of freestyle “body popping”, text and rap performance, is one of the success stories to emerge from Manchester’s culturally diverse showcase event, X-Trax. Having recently returned to the UK after a sell-out season at the Sydney Opera House Studios in March, he bounded into the X-Trax offices to thank the festival’s director, Maggie Clarke, for opening up the opportunity.
‘He’s been doing really well, so we’re so glad we’ve got Benji in [this year’s X-Trax] showcase because he’s one of the success stories,’ Clarke enthuses, who introduced Reid to a representative from the Sydney Opera House in Manchester last summer, which resulted in an invitation to perform and host workshops at the Australian venue.
Reid is one of about 70 artists and companies presenting work at this year’s X-Trax showcase, which, with between 350 to 400 delegates expected to register, promises to be bigger and better than previous years.
The X-Trax showcase was established in 1997 by Manchester International Arts (MIA) as part of the Streets Ahead Festival, Greater Manchester’s outdoor festival of arts and cultural animation. Realising the event was attracting companies which were often showing work for the first time in Britain, the organisers decided to formally invite promoters and festival directors from across the UK and Europe to see and book the performances on show. Clarke joined in 1999 to develop and expand the event further, and in 2001, the last time the showcase took place, over 300 delegates attended to watch more than 180 artists and companies present work.
After some crafty work on Clarke’s behalf, this year’s event also forms part of Arts Council England’s decibel initiative, which aims to raise the profile of Black, Asian and Caribbean artists working in Britain. Clarke contacted the Arts Council last year after stumbling across the decibel scheme on the council’s website. One of the stated aims was to hold a culturally diverse showcase event in 2003, so Clarke suggested the Arts Council work in partnership with the existing X-Trax showcase. ‘So basically,’ Clarke explains, ‘this year’s event is a partnership between ourselves, X-Trax, with our showcase experience and relationship with promoters and presenters, while the Arts Council’s decibel project provided the money to facilitate us to present the work of a larger number of Black and Asian companies based in Britain.’
An open application process, advertised widely across Britain, attracted about 160 applications which were whittled down by a panel made up of promoters, independent artists and representatives from the British Council and Arts Council England.
‘I started off by saying over a four day period we could present about 30 to 35 companies, but we’re actually presenting 70,’ Clarke admits. ‘It’s going to be a really hectic schedule, but there’s some really interesting work in there.’
Apart from Reid, Clarke is also enthusiastic about Ragamuffin, a company she initially saw perform ten years ago. ‘It was a really explosive piece of work,’ she recalls. ‘Last year the show was redeveloped into a much larger piece of work, a really big piece of musical theatre.’ Written by Amani Naphtali, Ragamuffin tells the story of a black youth standing trial for crimes against the African community. Using drama, African ritual, comedy, music, dance and film, the piece is described as offering a powerful insight into the Black experience in Britain today.
Clarke says the show has sparked significant interest from a group of promoters from the USA and hopes Ragamuffin will be given the opportunity to tour the States as a result of the X-Trax showcase.
Meanwhile, an appearance by British underground hip-hop musician Jonzi D is also eagerly anticipated by Clarke. The Aeroplane Man fuses rap poetry, lyrically motivated movement, classical and modern Black dance forms to tell the story of a black man’s journey to find his spiritual homeland.
Gail Thompson, renowned for her work with iconic British jazz figure, Courtney Pine, makes a welcome return to the music scene at the event after battling illness. Thompson is bringing her all-black women’s touring big band, Noir Femmes, to the showcase – marking the first time such a group has played in Britain.
Noir Femmes will also form part of the one-day street festival, which has been scaled-down from the previous four-day street festival to allow for more venue-based shows.
Most of the showcase events are for delegates only, given that most Manchester venues where the shows are taking place have a capacity of about 300 and up to 400 delegates are likely to register. ‘But wherever we can we are doing extended shows show that the public can get to see the some of the work,’ Clarke emphasises, adding that Ragamuffin and Jonzi D are among the artists who have committed to public shows.
However, Clarke hopes the main outcome will be that artists and companies will secure tours and be included in venue programmes across the UK and around the world, noting that promoters are coming not only from Britain but Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia.
Given that the 2001 event resulted in 80% of work showcased being booked, Clarke’s vision looks promising – and so, too, does the future of Britain’s Black, Asian and Caribbean artists.
X-Trax takes place in Manchester, May 2-5. For further information and full programme details visit www.xtrax.org.uk
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