Artistic Director of O’Driscoll Collective, Jamaal is a highly versatile performer & choreographer, born & working in Birmingham.
Since 2010, Jamaal has been developing his practice as an artist & teacher, working within Breakin’. He is well respected in the underground Hip Hop community through his long-standing membership of renowned Breakin’ crew MDK.
Jamaal has competed nationally & internationally, winning titles at prestigious events, including: Break The Shire (UK), Floorwars International (Denmark), Back In Action (Romania) & Just for Rockers (France). Over the past 6 years, his expertise within Breakin’ has been recognised at competitions where he has taken on the role of Battle Judge, at events such as: Break District, B-Side Festival & Dance 2 Connect Festival.
Jamaal is interested in perceptions of masculinity & male mental health within the Black British community. His work explores the influence of culture and society on male interactions such as familial & platonic relationships between men, to examine male behaviour more broadly. Jamaal enjoys making work for outdoor and unusual spaces and interrogates what happens when you keep Breakin’ outside (honouring its roots) vs when you bring it into formal theatre settings.
Through his company O’Driscoll Collective, Jamaal is dedicated to working within local communities – to provide opportunities for young people and to meet the public where they are. As such, Jamaal has an extensive track-record of delivering workshops and projects with local people at their heart. He regularly collaborates with other creative practitioners, including spoken word artists and digital media specialists, who form part of his innovative collective.
His choreographic & performance credits include commissions from Show Front Festival (Absolute Theatre, Coventry), Surf The Wave (Bournemouth), Artists 4 Artists (London), D2C Festival (Dublin), Dance Hub Birmingham, Breakin’ Convention’s Social DisDancing at Sadler’s Wells, Format Festival (Derby) and HomeGrown31 Commissions (The Black Country).
