Gain insight into each member of Clean North with our exciting “Meet The Crew” series starting tomorrow evening at 6pm!
I, Bgirl Labyrinth, will be conducting interviews and giving my own personal views on each crew member. I joined Clean North in 2014. As the crew has grown, so have I. Personally, I had always hoped to be a part of something like this so to be in this position now, writing to you all, is a dream come true. Clean North are family to me so I can’t wait for you to get to know them in some of the ways that I do. Here is some unprecedented info about my crew Clean North!
Who are we? What do we do?
We dance! We’re a crew of Bboys & Bgirls based in Bradford, UK. Clean North was established in 2002 so we have been around for over 15 years now. The “what” of it all hasn’t changed. We do everything from competing and performing to teaching and choreographing. We get to travel across the UK and the world through breaking! Clean North have performed for major global companies such as HSBC, Land Rover & Footlocker to name a few. We recently performed as part of the Bradford BID presentation, in collaboration with The Brick Box, last year which was a huge deal for the city! Clean North play an active role within the Bradford community providing workshops and performances throughout the year. We are a Bradford based crew after all so giving back to community is very important to us.
We are definitely a diverse group of Bboys & Bgirls. If you saw us walking down the street together, you’d be puzzled as to how/why we are hanging out. We’re an odd bunch due to the age range and different backgrounds that we come from. This is something that I really love about us though. We’re united through Hip Hop!
Many people comment on how Clean North are like a family. They can feel that energy about us. This isn’t by accident. We’re not “like” a family, we are one. Getting to that point takes a lot of time and effort from each and every member. Each member in Clean North naturally fits in the crew as we all stand for the same thing and we all have the same values. You can’t be on page 26 of completely different books and still expect things to just work out. It’s like trying to build a house without laying the foundations down. It just wouldn’t work. You need to be on the same page and have similar goals. There needs to be respect amongst one another. These are things that Clean North have. We all know our mission, we move as one. Much like our own families, we have our ups and downs but because we have mutual respect, care and love for one another, we can handle anything that comes our way. Yes, we train, battle and perform together but it’s what we have beyond that that makes us a family, not just a crew!
Breaking is in the spotlight at the moment due to it potentially being in the Paris 2024 Olympics. This is huge! There are misconceptions in the media about what it is that we really do. We take what we do seriously but to receive this same treatment can be difficult at times. To the general public, most of the time they just see the dancing and that’s it but there’s so much more to it than that. This is a lifestyle and a culture that we are a part of and we don’t want this to get lost amongst all the talk and attention breaking is getting. I’m very excited about the possibility of breaking being in the Olympics but I understand that regardless of what happens, my crew will still be pushing towards the same mission. I won’t say what it is. Just remember that the Olympics happens every 4 years. There’s a lot of work that can be done in the time in between!
Naturally the influx of dancers in the UK and across the world is growing and it will continue to grow. Since our last event Tech Styles (Bradford’s premier international breaking event) the numbers have grown within Bradford too. We feel that it is important for the scene and general public to get to know who Clean North are as individuals, and how that makes up the crew as a whole. Over the years, Clean North has seen a lot of changes internally and externally. The longevity of the crew, I believe, is down to focusing on the positives through times of hardship, hence why we are still here today. Things are the best they have been for a long time so now we feel as though this is the right time to proceed with our “Meet The Crew” series and people can see who the real Clean North are!
We’re going to start this off with the man with 1K stories… the man with 1K bad jokes…
Meet BBOY 1K at 6pm tomorrow!
-Labyrinth
