Wanted Posse Come to The 2024 Edinburgh Fringe

Break Dance may be the star attraction of the Paris Olympics this summer but the Edinburgh Fringe is playing host to some of the most innovative and daring work in the genre with the explosive Dance N'Speak Easy at Underbelly.

Hip-Hop's world champions, Wanted Posse, are here to transport audiences to an electrifying alternate universe where Charleston footsteps and jitterbug beats meet freestyle hip-hop in a 1920s New York speakeasy. Infused with dazzling dance routines and thrilling burlesque to the remixed sounds of Miles Davis, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin, this is an afternoon of high-energy family entertainment packed with humour, passion and pathos.

A wonderful introduction to the world of dance, Wanted Posse's routines explore the incredible influence that melting-pot New York has had on modern music and dance. From the rhythms of Latin America, to the influence of Italian style and attitude, to the harmonies of Irish migrants, Dance N'Speak Easy entrances audiences with new and original takes on many of their favourite tropes. There may be Gangsters and Molls galore in this speakeasy, but it's choreographer Njagui Hagbé -aka Hagson (crew name) that turns these Godfather style henchmen into swaggering Gatsby like gods.

The decor, designed by Dominique Mabileau, recalls New York skyscrapers in the reflection of the production's immense chandelier, made of a multitude of glass bottles, a potent symbol of the years of Prohibition.

In speakeasies many dancers and jazz musicians were also able to express themselves in new and unconventional ways. With Dance N'Speak Easy, Wanted Posse pay tribute to these early pioneers and remind the viewer of the importance of not giving in to fear and defending the need for everyone to have freedom of expression.

This family friendly dance show is the perfect afternoon out at the festival.

Choreographer Njagui Hagbé said:

'This year, Hip-Hop will debut at the Olympic Games in its most exciting form - Breaking, it will touch people all over the world and on this special occasion I've decided to be back on stage for the 10 first dates at the Fringe.'

In 2013, we were selected for the final of France's Got Talent and presented Prohibition. The reception was so enthusiastic that we decided to create a whole show based on the same idea: the forbidden. Dance N'Speak Easy is a theatrical choreographic project, based on the themes of otherness and freedom, as seen through the eyes of the Prohibition years. We wanted to go back to these troubled years and draw parallels between the prohibitions of that period and our current situation. Our demand is clear: we want to defend our right to dance.

In our company we work as a whole. We never forget our roots and each one of us brings something onto the stage. The project aims to reinvent our dance, we want to get out of our comfort zone and break the codes of Hip-Hop by mixing it with other styles (Charleston, Swing or Lindy Hop) and also with other genres such as burlesque and theatre. It also goes through the theatrical staging and the stylism which takes its cue from the codes of cinema in the creation of characters.'

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