Hip Hop Performance Specialist: Breaking, Academy Breakin’ Convention

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS EAST

Sadler’s Wells is a world-leading creative organisation, dedicated to presenting, producing and touring dance made today in all its forms. Sadler’s Wells commissions, presents and produces more dance than any other theatre in the world – from tango to hip hop, ballet to flamenco, Bollywood to cutting-edge contemporary dance.

With an innovative, year-round programme of performances and learning activities, this is the place where artists come together to create dance, and where we welcome everyone to experience dance and be inspired.

Our aim is to reflect and respond to the world through dance: enabling artists of all backgrounds to create dance that moves us and opens our minds; sharing those experiences with the widest possible audiences to enrich their lives and deepen their understanding of what it means to be human.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Hip Hop Performance Specialists at Academy Breakin’ Convention will be experienced professionals who will work part time on a fixed term contract focused on hip hop Social Dance, Emceeing, Breaking and/or Popping who have a desire to share their passion, love and knowledge of the culture, develop personal practices and in relation to the other artforms across dance, music and visual art and recent experience of the creative industries.

This role will work with the ABC Assessment and Pastoral Leads to support learners to successfully complete the UAL Level 3 qualification and prepare the next generation of leaders entering the creative industries. Working in collaboration with the curriculum delivery team, the role will support to plan and co-deliver a hip hop training programme which provides students with the knowledge, skill and understanding to create hip hop theatre.

Learners will engage in project-based delivery with several formative and summative assessment points to measure progress toward the formal qualification – a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Performance and Production Arts specialised in Hip Hop Theatre. As a specialist practitioner, you will contribute your hip hop specialism and work with other specialists to support students to find relationships between artforms as well as honour the individual histories, techniques and audiences.

The intended outcome is for our learners to leave empowered with a clear understanding of their practice and a secure base of knowledge to inform the ongoing development of them as a whole: personally, artistically, professionally (within the industry) and making deliberate choices aligned with their principals.

Tutors alongside the core delivery team, will play an essential role in developing student’s foundational knowledge, rationale, experimentation and expression, as emerging artistic leaders who innovate with integrity, create collaboratively with community, and exploration with equity as a core value.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ROLE

Teaching and Learning

• To plan and co-deliver a sequence of workshops and lectures, providing students with the skills and tools, to apply this understanding for each project on the course (Sessions should demonstrate foundational knowledge, rationale to articulate their skills and tools which provide an artist room to explore and express and apply a clear understanding of how we can create hip hop theatre shows/events).
• To create fun, challenging, engaging and well-designed schemes of work, projects, lessons and activities, in line with current educational research and contextual issues affecting the arts sector.
• Safeguarding – To support the implementation and integration of the safeguarding policy and report concerns to the designated safeguarding leads at Sadler’s Wells.
• To support learner diagnostic assessments, planning and differentiation of resources, lessons and assessments.
• To ensure learners are supported, and being challenged creatively, and given SMART targets based on regular recorded observations which will inform further support, early intervention and additional sessions for targeted learners (Where necessary, referring to the Pastoral Lead for additional support).
• To demonstrate understanding of the relationships between each artistic element of the course. Working closely with teams to regularly embed cross curricular links, for highly engaged learning which can be monitored to evaluate effectiveness and quality assurance.
• To monitor student wellbeing and personal development through an ongoing, high quality and auditable trail of formal and verbal learner feedback.
• To engage in formal lesson observations from the Head of ABC, Assessment Lead and Pastoral Lead, using appropriate tracking documents and respond appropriately and collaboratively to feedback on sessions to ensure students’ needs such as EAL (English as an Additional Language), Social Emotional Mental Health (SMEH), Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) can be supported.
• Support the standardisation, moderation and examination of student portfolios for verification internally and externally.

Mentorship

• To be a mentor and role model to support aspirations, career progression routes, higher education and industry opportunities.
• To be well researched on the historical knowledge of your specialist element, and up to date with the current industry trends, events and topical debates to ensure student knowledge remains relevant and specific to the current global market and professional industry.
• To promote a safe and secure learning environment where equity, equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging is regularly advocated and celebrated.
• To apply clear, consistent behavioural expectations in an environment of mutual respect. Remaining trauma informed, should any undesirable behaviours occur, to decrease barriers to learning and follow the disciplinary procedure in a fair and transparent manner with accurate record keeping.
• To support key academic calendar events, such as: admissions workshops, enrolment day (GCSE results day), induction, outreach, careers fairs, parent evenings, open days, CPD, faculty meetings, student showcases, shortlisting for academic cohort selections.
• Provide emergency cover on occasion, if required.

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS

Essential

• Practical experience and specialism in Breaking.
• Working within an educational setting in either secondary, further, or higher education.
• A knowledge of the UK hip hop cultural sector and the performing and production arts.
• Demonstrable interest and passion in the development of hip hop artists and culture.
• Demonstrable skill in the development of baseline, formative and summative assessments.
• Demonstrable skill or willingness to develop professional understanding of schemes of work, projects, lesson plans and activities, in line with the Department for Education’s standards, Ofsted frameworks, The SEND code of practice.
• An interest in the performing arts and the role they play in education and the community.
• Positive and proactive work ethic, with commitment to meeting high standards.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build good relationships with organisations and individuals.
• Ability to adapt working style to different people, including community and professional settings.
• Reliable and punctual, with positive time management.
• Ability to work in a busy environment and proactively prioritise a varied workload successfully.
• Demonstrable computer literacy skills, with ability to effectively use a range of software applications including Microsoft Office: Excel, Word, and Outlook and cloud-based software such as Google Classroom, CPOMS (Safeguarding) and Arbor.
• Awareness of current global, national and regional debates and conversations in the hip hop and creative industries.
• Willingness to work some evenings and weekends (for student progress and recruitment events).
• Experience of coordinating participatory arts activities in education, charity and/or community engagement settings.
• Organised, proactive and flexible approach to work.
• A commitment to equal opportunities, social cohesion, and alignment with Sadler’s Wells values.
• Must hold the right to work in the United Kingdom.

Additional, but not essential

• Availability for the ABC team training week: 16th – 19th June 2025.
• Trained in Child Protection and/or Safeguarding.
• Trained in Youth Mental Health/Mental Health First Aid.
• Previous experience and/or qualification in mentoring.
• Availability to teach 4th – 8th August 2025 at Academy Breakin’ Convention’s Summer Sessions 2025.
• Availability on 28th August 2025 for shortlisting training.
• Working within a formal educational setting as a creative subject leads with planning responsibility.
• A practicing artist in more than one of the ABC hip hop elements: Breaking, Popping, Social Dance, Emceeing, DJing, Music Production or Graffiti, either currently or throughout your career journey.
• Experience in working within a Theatre, Arts or Entertainment/Multi-purpose Venue environment.

Hours: This role is a part-time post with fixed teaching hours and may also have some involvement in wider participatory events at Sadlers Wells.

Salary:You will be offered a pay rate of £150 – £300 per session based on part-time working, inclusive of meal breaks.

To view the full job description, please click here –> Sadler’s Wells – Hip Hop Performance Specialist Breaking, Academy Breakin’ Convention – Full JD

This is an ongoing vacancy, Sadler’s Wells will aim to contact candidates on an ad-hoc basis. Once a suitable candidate is appointed, this vacancy will close without further notice.