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Ink Cypher

Ink Cypher is the home of our commissioned writing; it's where you'll find exclusive, original features and long form writing on Hip Hop dance from a suite of international voices.


Published in August 2024, Ink Cypher - In Print is an exquisitely designed, limited edition, Hip Hop dance newspaper featuring all of the commissioned texts from rounds one, two and three, alongside a host of new features.​ Buy it here.

A cypher is a space of dialogue and a place to build energy; so for rounds two, three and four we wanted people to read what we'd published and write something that answered, responded to or challenged what had been written from one (or more) of the previous rounds authors. This is an Ink Cypher.

Some of the people in Ink Cypher are established writers, some are writing in English for the first time and for others this is the first time they've been commissioned.

In round one there's 26 works from people based in Taiwan, Canada, Ghana, Scotland, Singapore, France, Greece, Dubai, USA, England, Germany, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkey.

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In round two there's 15 works from people based in Nigeria, Argentina, Australia, England, Ghana, USA, Spain, Brazil, Cuba, Ireland and France.

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In round three there's 14 works from people based in Colombia, Botswana, England, Sweden, Argentina, Cuba, Spain, USA, Germany and Ghana.​​

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In round four there's 10 works from people based in Hong Kong published in English and Chinese.

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All of the commissioned essays will remain free to access via the Hip Hop Dance Almanac, however, there are very real costs attached to commissioning, editing and publishing these works.

If you value the work we're doing and are able to contribute, then please donate. Ink Cypher is our publishing imprint, a platform to present thoughtful and critical responses.

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The order in which you read information can affect the interpretation of what comes after it; if you want a route through these texts here's Reading Route 1 and Route 2

Round 4​​

Published November 2025

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My Dearest Dance Teacher: please treat me properly and don’t disappoint me. Again.

Kelly Lee
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Connection(s) in Hip Hop Dance - A Handbook of Occasions, Expressions, and Love

John Wen

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Dear Diary: Is gender classification needed in krump dance battles?

Fan Chan

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4 Scenes, 3 Characters, 2 Artforms and 1 Trauma - Generating Awareness on the Invisible Practices and Work Ethics in Street Dance and Theatre in Hong Kong

Ching Chu

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DANCE-IST / CHOREOGRAPH-IST / OG-IST
HoTung

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The Future of HipHop vs The Future of Evolution vs Evil SuenNam
SuenNam

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The Potential of Krump in Hong Kong Theatre
Hoax

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Thank You Mr.Hip Hop! In The Rhythmatic Hip Hop Universe
Mr.ChanYip

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From The Street to the Theatre - What Changed in Hong Kong and in Street Dancer's Mentalities?

Sica

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The Diary of a Bicep​
Fan, HoTung, Sica, John, Hoax, Kelly, Yip, Ching, SuenNam and Ian

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Round 3
Published May 2023

 

Decipher The Cypher

Astrid Aristizábal

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Kalima Mipata's Leap From Botswana to Broadway

Bakang Akoonyatse

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Transforming Our Own History
Belu Arendt

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Afrikan Dancers as Embodied Archives: Contemporary Movements as Evolving Archives

Dodzi Aveh

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Hip-hop Dance for Joy and Liberation

Edmund Adjapong
 

“Hip Hop is my Country”: Breaking on the Move between Istanbul and Berlin

Funda Oral & Danielle V. Schoon

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In F(l)avour of Masculine: The Disbalance of Power in the European Street Dance Battle Scene

Gabija Cepelyte

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Invisible Resistance: Hip Hop and the East of Cuba

Gladed Brown

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An Interview with Grudge Oneski - The Realest Bboy in the UK

Iain Bleakley

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This Queen's Honours

Lucy Crowe

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Sharing and its Limits: A Non-Anthropological Perspective on Barcelona Freestyle Dancers

Malvina Tessitore

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The Necessity of Care: A Guide to Radical Accessibility Within Hip Hop

Saskia Horton

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Hip Hop Hair: How Hairstyles Influence Movement

Starla Carr

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Living Hip Hop in Uruguay: A Portrait of Bgirl China

Wendy Pedroso Martinez

Round 2
Published May 2022
Round 1
Published November 2021

DANCING GODDESSES: African American Women Hip Hop Dancers - Cultural Contributors

Ariyan Johnson

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This Dance Is Not Our Own
Brian Toh

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How Dislocated Minorities in Turkey turn to Hip Hop to Build Community and Resist Marginalisation

Danielle V. Schoon and Funda Oral

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Derogatory Dancing: Heteronormative Inscriptions on Female Hip-Hop Dancers in Breaking and Commercial Spheres

Deanne Kearney

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The Woo Dance vs Kete: Tradition Recycled or Coincidence?

Dodzi Aveh

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Where is Disability in Hip Hop Dance?

Emily Tisshaw

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How Do You Make a Solo?

Emma Ready

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Dancing Giving A Voice: the power of voguing in Colombia protest

Evelyn Ramirez

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Self Teaching In Street Dance
Fabrice Pika Taraud

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“Make Some Noise for the Ladies…” Sexism in European Hip-Hop Dance Battles
Francesca Miles

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Dance As Hard As A Man: how female Hip Hop dancers have had to man up to try to get a place in the hip-hop scene
Godlive Lawani

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The chance encounter as the fifth element of Hip Hop

Iain Bleakley

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The Commodification of Trauma in Hip Hop Theatre

Isaac Ouro-Gnao

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Club and Street Dances: An Art of Remembrance

Larissa Clement Belhacel

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Jackanory meets Diversity: Hip Hop culture - when dance becomes theatre

Lucy Crowe

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Implications of Hip-Hop-izing Western Institutional Spaces:
A reflection on how hip-hop dancers transform “unlikely hip-hop spaces”

Maïko Le Lay

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Letter to an OG
Marcus Marzipan

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Episodes of a Hip Hop Memory
Michael Joseph

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Cisfemininities as bodies-without-organs in hip hop, street and urban dance styles

Natalia Koutsougera

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Our Aging Elders: The Vanishing of Our Living Libraries & The Erasure of Cultural & Intellectual Hip Hop/Street Dance Codes

Natasha Jean-Bart, aka Tash

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From Localities to TikTok: Hip-Hop Dance in Indonesia

Nia Agustina

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Cairo Calling: A Profile of Layla Ghaleb

Samia Qayium

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The Recognition of Streetdance in Germany

Takao Baba

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FROM SCARIFICATION TO KRUMP - How body adornment has transformed dance across the diaspora

Temitayo Ince

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A Story of B-Boying in South Africa
Tseliso Monaheng

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The Social Impact of Monday School and Battle Jam - Les Petites Choses Production

YingLv Wang​

Alongside commissioned writings we also present in depth interviews and primary accounts of people who are active and an integral part of the broad diaspora of the UK Hip Hop dance community.

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