We were lucky to catch up with BRKFST Dance Company recently and have shared our conversation below.
BRKFST Dance Company, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Founded in 2014, BRKFST Dance Company is a group made of 7 breakers (breakdancers) that use the dance form on theater stages. Breaking is traditionally performed in battles in cyphers (dance circles that can occur anywhere) and organized competitive events. Since the birth of Hip Hop and breaking in the 1970s, the main way to earn any kind of money with this dance form was to either take a gamble on winning competitions (oftentimes, it is all or nothing, with sometimes thousands of dollars on the line), judging events, performing for the community or teaching. In all cases, you will need to string all of the above to make a living wage—which is something members of BRKFST (and most dancers in general) are extremely used to.
However, as a professional dance company that specializes in breaking, we are truly one of a kind—there are hardly any other professional dance companies in the US that can support breakers like we strive to do. We believe in a non-hierarchical way of creating choreography and in equal pay. In order to do this, co-artistic directors Lisa “MonaLisa” Berman and Joseph “MN Joe” Tran have dedicated any time outside studio hours to apply for grants, funding, and commissions in order to pay wages.
This is the model for most highly respected and established dance companies that feature modern, ballet and contemporary forms, as they are staples in the concert dance world; however, we breakers have to work extra hard to educate the general public that we are just as professional and legitimate as them because breaking is a niche culture that most do not intimately understand.
Having performed for acclaimed venues and organizations such as the Minnesota Orchestra, The Cowles Center, Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Dance Ireland, it takes our entire focus, time and energy to create emotionally engaging and physically demanding work. With so much on the line, we all have taken the risk to dive head first as dancers/choreographers FULL TIME. BRKFST dancers still string together various gigs to make a living, but the decision to depend on creative work to pay the bills is a huge risk—with huge rewards, particularly in one’s emotional, creative, and social health.
At the end of the day, the grind remains the same, but the emphasis on making connections, networking, and asking for what you’re worth is more important than ever. We deserve it, and so do you! Go for it!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
BRKFST Dance Company, founded in 2014, is a collaborative ensemble of breaking choreographers based in Saint Paul, MN. BRKFST incorporates abstract, narrative, and pedestrian driven movement into their impressive and physically rigorous work by combining breaking with contemporary dance vernacular.
BRKFST’s egalitarian, virtuosic choreographic collaboration is deeply rooted in the Hip Hop adage, “Each One Teach One”: regardless of class, race, experience, age or gender, everyone remains both teacher and student. BRKFST’s lineage stems from breaking and hip hop culture: earning respect from battles, receiving real world critique and embodying inclusivity by passing down their knowledge to the new generation. The lived experiences of this collective who identify as working class, queer, femme and BIPOC, inform their compositions.
BRKFST performs regionally, premiering work at the Walker Arts Center, Southern Theater, The Cowles Center and Orchestra Hall with The Minnesota Orchestra, nationally in Belding Theater at The Bushnell with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and internationally to Dublin, Ireland in connection with Dance2Connect Hip Hop Festival. Their film “Dreamers” (2019) was deemed an official selection in 11 international film festivals receiving “Grand Jury Award” (In/Motion Festival 2021) and “Best Experimental Film” (Tirana International Film Festival 2020). BRKFST has set repertoire and original work on dancers at St. Olaf College 2023, Carleton College 2022, Dance2Connect Hip Hop Festival 2022, Bates Dance Festival 2022 and the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities 2021.
BRKFST Dance Company awards include: 2023 National Performance Network Creation Fund, 2022 New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) National Dance Project (NDP) Production Grant, 2023 Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) Arts Impact Grant, 2023 MRAC Flexible Support Grant, 2023, 2022 & 2021 Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB) Creative Support Grant, 2021 NEFA NDP Finalist, 2021 Mid Atlantic Arts USArtists International Grant, 2019 MRAC Arts Activities Grant.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding part about being an artist is being able to decide what you want to do with your abilities. Having a dance company directly affects the lives of each member, and in turn, each member, gets to decide where the company needs to go. We are passionate about enriching and honoring breaking culture, and we are equally passionate about empowering each other’s voices, backgrounds, and vulnerabilities. Being an artist gives a platform for expressing not only one’s view point, but invites and entertains other perspectives that will only ensure growth and understanding for all parties involved.
Speaking for a moment on breaking specifically, we believe that it is the most contemporary of all dance forms. As a freestyle dance form, it is in constant evolution as traditions are passed down, they are absorbed and transformed by the new generation, and those transformations are then passed down to the next wave of breakers, and the foundation continues to grow into infinity. Breaking is the most rewarding when these exchanges are experienced in real-time: whether you watch a breaker discover a new move, or “crack the code” to traditional approaches, or witness a dancer freestyle and transcend in the moment to the music.
Being an artist means to both understand the history and context of your respective form, but encourages evolution and empathy. It is a constant study and practice of which you need to dedicate yourself—to take on new ideas, shed old unfruitful habits, bring back past lessons, and to also give up control to the moment. In essence, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is to realize we are all human.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Society can best support artists by supplying more funding and opportunities, not only in the “final product” of a thing, but to truly support the process and livelihood of an artist. Speaking for dance, the “final product” is a fleeting form that disappears as soon as the bodies performing, stop dancing. No amount of compensation for that singular performance can make up for the countless hours one puts into their craft. There needs to be more funding that honors the time and physical/emotional/mental endurance a human being puts into their performance for the audience’s catharsis, awe, and enjoyment.
While organizations and grants have stepped up in recent times, I personally hope that one day, America will make a paradigm shift and really reevaluate what is most important in life—family, friends, nature, culture and art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brkfstdance.com
- Instagram: @brkfstdance
- Facebook: BRKFST Dance Company
Image Credits
Courtney Perry Emma Redinger Adam Adolphus