Line Breaks festival features New York City guest artist DawN Crandell

Performance arts scholars of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s First Wave Hip-Hop Theater Ensemble will present their solo, duo and ensemble works as part of the 7^th Annual Line Breaks Festival from Wednesday, March 13 through Wednesday, March 20.

The nightly performances, from 6 to 9:30 p.m., are open to the public in Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Avenue. The free festival is presented by UW–Madison’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI). A full schedule of performances can be found here.

The festival will feature New York guest artist DawN Crandell. Crandell is a dancer, choreographer, theatre artist, poet, grassroots cultural activist and educator who has performed at multiple venues throughout New York City as well as stages in the UK since moving there. Crandell’s show is an autobiographical story of her lifelong struggle with identity as a queer, black multi-ethnic feminist and will run on the two final nights of the festival, Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20. Crandell also will host a series of special Guest Artist workshops on Monday, March 18.

The annual Line Breaks Festival also provides an opportunity to bring the visions of the student artists of the First Wave program to fruition on stage. Among each performer’s exploration into identity and social issues is the critical aim of healing. Each night of the festival has a break for talkback sessions with the performers from the first hour’s shows.

The student productions combine the tools of words, music, rhythm and movement with a strong foundation of cultural history and lived experience. Drawing on their own life stories and the stories of those who have preceded them, the students tackle complex yet intensely personal subjects that reflect the many identities they inhabit.   

The festival begins with the traditional introduction of the newest First Wave Scholars, the sixth cohort. The ensemble production “Welcome Mat at Capacity” will open the first night’s performances.  

Founded by UW–Madison’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives and a program in the Office of the Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer, the First Wave Hip-Hop Learning Community and Theater Ensemble is a collective of spoken word poets, emcees, dancers, singers, actors, and activists from across the United States, brought together as scholars at UW–Madison. 

Using the pedagogy of traditional spoken word, movement and performance, the students use these principles of linguistics, writing, communications, social and political awareness as an additional learning framework for their major areas of study across the university. 

Under the artistic direction of Christopher Walker, assistant professor of dance, the Touring Ensemble is a select group of First Wave students, chosen by audition, to tour and perform nationally and internationally. Since the formation of the program, the ensemble has performed in England, Mexico, Panama and Jamaica as well as across the U.S., including featured performances on Broadway.