In association with Limerick City and County Council, we start our year with the Top 8 Street Dance & Hip Hop Festival in Limerick - a full weekend celebrating Street Dance & Hip Hop culture!

Top 8 Vol. 8 returns to Dublin November 18th for the outreach workshops at Fade Street Studios & 19th at The Well for the Battles \ Exhibitions and Cyphers to showcase street dance and Hip-hop culture in its raw and authentic form.

This year we will focus on crew battles & exchanges paying homage to how the art-form came to be, it could be said that without crews/squads in the Hip-hop culture, Hip-hop would not have been widely spread the way it did and also possessing the qualities of a highly influential artform.

We will have old & new crews take to the stage both nationally and internationally, to showcase in an exhibition battle where there are no judges or the pressure of having one, which will allow each crew to fully showcase their artistry.

Dedicated cyphers will also break out allowing for a Cypher King & Queen to be crowed. Local and National dance school will also take to stage to showcase short pieces of street dance choreography to represent their locality, schools and most importantly themselves.

We will hold a national ranking Breaking 1 vs 1 battle in line with the Irish Olympic Committee(IOC), Breaking Ireland and Dance sport Federation of Ireland (DFI) to award point for the national breaking ranking table towards the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

The 18th will have the developmental aspect of the art form, which we have hosted in 3 counties so far. Limerick, Cork and Belfast. Where we will have workshops in

- Rap

-Street Dance (Breaking, Afro, Hip-hop)

-Graffiti

-Turntablism

All this will be free to the public to attend with limited capacity. We then close with an after party where we have turntablism, DJ, MCee and Beatboxers, which will be strictly for over 18’s.

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Breaking Irish Crews

We will be calling on the following Irish crews for Top 8. 5V5 Exhibition Crew Battles

• Recession Squad #Dublin/Waterford

• Northernsole #Belfast/Wexford

• Limerockers #Limerick/Waterford

• Limerockers Crew Next Gen #Limerick

• Rthym Rebels / Outliers Cru #Cork/Waterford

• Dublin City Bboys #Dublin

Special Exhibition Battles:

Top 8 Team Ireland VS All Girls Breaking Team from UK🇬🇬(Invited crew)

Popping Crew battles

• IndaPockect Crew VS Dimensional Minds

Breaking Ireland Ranking Judges

• Bboy Arnie Northernsoles Cru)

• Seb (Northernsoles Cru)

• P (Bad Taste Crew)

Dance Schools / Crew Showcase

TBC

DJs

• DJ CC

• DJ BOG

• DJ Khanfu (UK)

This was funded and supported by the Dublin Dance Festival & Arts Council of Ireland

This is an invitation to everyone of all cultural backgrounds and ethnicities. Top 8 aim to work with some incredible local Limerick and national artists, and give the people of Limerick and beyond a great variety of ways to find out more about Street dance, Hip-Hopand other influential cultures within our local communities. The event is a celebration of cultures, honouring our differences but most importantly our similarities in the areas of Dance, Voice, Art and Music.

Top 8 Street Dance Battle will be carrying out free developmental workshop series to further authentically develop the ever-growing and vibrant Street Dance and Hip-Hop culture across Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Top 8, who have been organizing hugely successful Hip-Hop events for the last decade, are presenting a brilliant new program of Hip-Hop and Street Dance outreach days, starting with a day and night of free events in and around their home town of Limerick on Saturday 1 st April. Everyone is welcome to this day of Breaking & Hip-Hop, Rapping & MC-ing Graffiti/Street Art, and DJ-ing/Turntablism workshops, taking place in indoor and outdoor locations across and around Limerick city, with the day ending with an over 18’s Social Gathering at The Commercial. This is an invitation to everyone – established artists, keen practitioners, and the curious –to dance, DJ, create, communicate or just spectate, with intimate events giving everyone a chance to learn something new. The day sees Top 8 partnering with a diverse group of artists and collectives. The Street Dance (Breaking & Hip-Hop) workshop will give an introduction to the dance element of Hip-Hop culture, with invited street dance artists explaining and demonstrating the history of the Hip-Hop artform, its foundational technique, the role of dance battles within the culture, and Hip-Hop’s strength as a form of authentic expression.

The Rap & MC Workshop will be an opportunity to learn about the arts of writing, rhyming, cadences and flow from an invited MC (Microphone Controller), and the role of an MC
within Hip-Hop culture. A recorded session from MC Cypher with invited Limerick MCs will also premiere on Native TV (https://www.youtube.com/@Nativetv/featured) later on the
day.

The DJ (or Turntablism) workshop – with an exclusive limited capacity of just 5 people - will offer the chance to learn about the artform of Disc Jockeying from a leading turntablist, with an introduction to beat matching, basic scratching patterns and tempo controls. Throughout the afternoon from noon-6pm Limerick-based graffiti and street artists will be painting live murals, outdoors in the heart of Limerick city at Arthurs Quay. People will be able to lean about cans, brush control and fonts, tags and styles – no booking required. The day will end with an Over 18’s Social Gathering in The Rec Room at The Commercial, from 10pm till late. This event will be hosted by leading Irish DJ, Limerick’s Ciara O’Callaghan Aka DJ CC, who will be inviting DJs from different walks of life to grace the ears
of those in attendance with a range of world music from 90s Hip-hop & RnB to Afrobeats to Amapiano to Irish rap.
Later in the year, Top 8 will be presenting similar events in Cork, Belfast and Dublin, nurturing Ireland’s ever-growing and vibrant Street Dance and Hip-Hop culture. Tobi Omoteso of Top 8 says, “We’re really excited about our new program, which will
give everyone access to amazing artists from all the elements of Hip-Hop culture - DJ-ing, MC-ing, Street Dance & Graffiti – a culture which has incredible potential to better the lives
of our local and national communities.”
Deborah O’Connor, Top 8 co-founder continues, “This is going to be a great day in Limerick,
working with some incredible local artists, and giving the people of Limerick a great variety of ways to find out more about Hip-Hop – and all for free.”
Top 8 thank the Arts Council of Ireland, The Irish Aerial Creation Centre, Dry Lane Studio,
The Commercial, Native TV and Cork Cipher Network for their support.

TIMETABLE

Street Dance (Breaking & Hip-Hop) Workshop | Location: The Irish Aerial Creation Centre |
Time: 12pm – 1:30pm

Rap & MC Workshop | Location: Dry Lane Studios | Time: 2pm – 3pm

DJ (Turntablism) Workshop | Location: Dry Lane Studios | Time: 2pm – 3:45pm

Graffiti (Street Art) Demonstration | Location: Arthurs Quay | Time: 12pm – 6:00pm

Over 18’s Social Gathering | Location: The Commercial (The Rec Room) | Time: 10pm – Till Late

Community Cre8. A series of free development sessions in dance, music, live performance and film guided by Tobi Balogun, with guest artists from the industry.

These labs are open to those aged 18-25. Aimed at bringing a wider range of voices to festival/events curation and planning.

Creating opportunities for them to engage with new forms of work, think alongside guest artists, and participate in practical labs.

If you want to learn how to create work for different audiences, explore how dance and other forms can interact, apply now by booking your spot here.

All booking applications are free of charge.

Guest: Kristina Pinhero

The 2022 Top 8 | Limerick Block Party, is an epic celebration of Hip-Hop and Street Dance culture, will take place on Catherine Street during the day for all and The Commercial bar during the night (Over 18’s only, ID required) on Saturday 19 March and Dance Limerick for dance/movement workshop on Sunday 20 March.

This family friendly event will kick-off at 12PM – 6PM, where we will
see music showcase, Breakin’ (breakdance) and Hip-hop Dance Battles,Djs and Graffiti artist take over Catherine street for 6 hours to bring a well needed celebration of Art, Music and Dance.
The second half of the day will commence in The Commercial, with a social gathering for audiences over the age of 18 Years. Where invited Dj and Rap artist will be showcased to provide the best of Hip-hop and world music. Booking online is required for the social gathering via top8ight.com (Limited capacity)

The Sunday 20 th March will see workshops in Street
Dance such as Breakin(Breakdance) 1pm – 2pm, Hip-Hop Freestyle
2:30pm – 3:30pm and Afro-Fusion 4pm – 5pm at Dance Limerick, which is open to all ages and levels of experience. This is a great way of ending and experiencing the wholeness of the festival. Booking online is required for the workshops via top8ight.com. (Limited capacity) This event is in association with Limerick City and County Council.