Robert Hylton

Robert Hylton - Enriching people through shared culture, life long learning and new experience

Pioneering hip hop theatre artist Robert Hylton, who’s left of centre
approach to hip hop, theatre, film and contemporary dance choreography
has carved an original artist.

Brought up in the Sunderland area, the first explosion of hip hop in the early eighties has constantly been a source of inspiration and continuously manifests through out his work. From his first fascination with The Robot then Popping and Breaking constantly practicing at home and in Saturday, daytime clubs such as Tiffany’s, Newcastle and the local youth club, Roberts’s obsession with dance was cemented for life.
In the late eighties when hip hop dance was disappearing he found UK Jazz Dance, heavily inspired by groups like IDJ and Brothers in Jazz, clubs like Walkers in Newcastle and Jive Turkey in Sheffield, the call of the underground beckoned, this led him to join Bamboozle, a street jazz crew based at Newcastle’s Dance City performing in Dance Umbrella 1990 amongst other festivals. This continuous thread of dance eventually brought many more performances and participation in 2 National competitions with Bamboozle. Which all led to full time vocational training at the Northern School Of Contemporary Dance (NSCD) in Leeds gaining a BA in Dance and his first professional dance position as apprentice at Phoenix Dance.
Hylton was a nominee for the Jerwood Choreography Award, and previously an Associate Artist at The Place theatre. Film work includes Jaffaman, funded by ‘Capture’ 2002 shown on channel 4,with director Oliver Ashton. His directorial debut was shown on channel 4 in December 2008 for his new short film Fresh ‘A Spaghetti and Fried Chicken Western’.

Education is at the forefront of Roberts work which has taken him all around the world, teaching hip hop and contemporary fusion, along side specific hip hop only intensives such as Skills n Drills a yearly event focusing on hip hop dance technique, history and video lectures. Educational film commissions include the ground breaking Two Sugars with My Hip Hop please… with a group of pensioners from West London commissioned by the Southbank. Robert was also movement director for an educational film The Real Thing commissioned by the Royal Opera House, BBC Blast and East London Dance for a hip hop version of La Boheme and in 2008 for Demon Juice a young peoples hip hop version of Don Giovanni for The Royal Opera House and East London Dance, and 2006 Frames commissioned by the National Gallery, working with young people from Ealing incorporating themes of paintings from Collections at the National Gallery.

His Stage and site specific work as soloist and company choreography such
as Life in Urban Classicism and Verse&Verses have toured relentlessly in the
UK and internationally as far a field as Australia, New Zealand, Bangkok,
Indonesia, Taiwan, Belgium, Copenhagen, Cyprus, Holland, Italy, Mozambique,
South Africa, Lithuania, Prague, Croatia, Cuba and Libya.

His personal journey has led him to extend his experience as a professional mentor, to many young artists and within his own self development Robert is continuously studying dance, theatre and film practice as well as constant training in Popping with The Electric Boogaloos.