Borealis Soul’s Cypher for Change—Reviving a Community-Unifying Hip-Hop and Breakdance Festival 

Yukon group Borealis Soul plans to feature some 40 dancers in a celebration of the hip-hop community’s culture and diversity.

Reviving an iconic hip-hop and breakdance festival

Hip-hop music-and-dance group Borealis Soul is reviving the Cypher for Change festival. In 2010, this landmark event featured more than 40 dancers from across Canada. In hip-hop, a ‘cypher’ is a circle or space in which artists perform and create together. This new version of the festival will be called Cypher for Change: Full Circle.

Diversity at the heart of hip-hop culture

Thanks to the universal language of dance, the breakdance community attracts people from many backgrounds. Borealis Soul wants to incorporate this diversity and foster creativity by programming a major festival component to share knowledge and experiences. In addition to celebrating the hip-hop community’s diversity, the event aims to raise the profile of Canada’s hip-hop artists.