Groove on Down the Road, Southbank Centre

This summer the Southbank’s Elizabeth Hall welcomes the return of a unique dance show, which is performed both for children and by children. ZooNation Youth Company is a hip-hop dance group whose performers range in age from 10 to 19, and in their short careers these rising stars have already notched up an onstage hit at the Southbank in the form of Groove on Down the Road, created by artistic director Kate Prince.

The 2013 sensation, a hip hop musical based on The Wizard of Oz, proved so popular that it returns to the Southbank this summer for a 3 week run. Don’t let their fresh faces and modest statures deceive you; the dancers perform at an incredibly high standard, having been selection by audition from all students at the prestigious ZooNation Academy of Dance.  

The show promises great fun for all the family, featuring music from the likes of Stevie Wonder, José González and Justin Timberlake. The script provides a fresh take on a well-known and loved story, replacing evil witches and their monstrous minions with real-world evils like poverty and cyberbullying. Drawing on a blend of classic cinema and modern dance, this performance ingeniously mixes the original with the familiar and will have every child desperate to learn all the moves – and parents secretly tapping their feet.