A man who has run classes in hip-hop culture to around 30,000 children and young people is bringing his workshop to the Cwmbran Big Event on Saturday 14 June.
Miaer Lloyd, 54, moved from Pontypool to Thornhill with his parents in 1979. He told Cwmbran Life that the hip-hop culture “exploded” in the early 1980s and he fell in love with the art, especially DJing.
Hip-hop movement
The hip-hop movement originated in New York City in the 1970s and has four key parts: DJing, breakdancing, rapping (MCing) and graffiti art
Miaer’s career on the decks grew and after he left Cwmbran, he lived and worked in cities including London and Barcelona. In 2023, he flew to San Fransico to compete in the DMC World DJ Championships after being crowned the Technics DMC UK DJ Champion.
I asked him about growing up in Cwmbran. He recalled a funny story when he found a VHS video in ‘Tony’s Shop’ in Thornhill. It was called ‘How to Break Dance’ and Miaer used to hire it for 20p and watch it “continuously” with his friend, Carlton.
They would get “bits of cardboard” and practice in Cwmbran town centre where they met “other crews from Newport and Cwmbran, doing the same”.
He thanked the legendary DJ John Peel for introducing him to new hip-hop songs each week through his BBC radio show. It was a slow process to “pause and record the cassette tapes” but Miaer was able to create “mix tapes” to grow his love of hip-hop music.
Maskell’s, Newport’s roller skating rink
Another popular spot for the growth of hip-hip in the area was Maskell’s, the roller skating rink in Newport. Miaer’s remembers “breakdancing battles” against crews from Wales and Bristol.
Miaer runs Hip-Hop 12 and works with professional dancer ‘Tommy Boost’ to run classes at events and in schools across the country. He estimated they’ve worked with over 30,000 children and young people.
This year, they have sessions booked with Able in Upper Cwmbran and Torfaen Play’s summer camps.
He said they’d love to find a long-term sponsor or funder to enable them to bring the benefits of the workshops to more young people.
Miaer said he often spots “incredible” students in the classes, but worries that their skills will be lost if they don’t have anywhere to continue to improve their talents.
Their classes bring together lots of elements of the national curriculum, including music, dance and PE.
At the Cwmbran Big Event, he’ll run four one-hour FREE sessions throughout the afternoon.