The dreamy, melodic Malayalam track, ‘Shilayil ninnum’ plays and the six dancers move in sync, blending freestyle, locking and breaking. That was Flow Factory on stage performing to the track from Chronic Bachelor at DanceEast Youth Fest in Suffolk, the UK, a few weeks ago. Their set had two other tracks, ‘Take away my eyes, take away my ears…’ from Dennis Llyod’s ‘Leftovers’ in hip-hop freestyle and ‘Drop’ by Timbaland and Magoo, which had the the high-energy, street dance style, litefeet.
It was the premier show of ‘Grooves of South’, a hip-hop showcase by the all-Malayali crew that focusses on the ‘fusion of South Asian folk tradition and contemporary street dance’. The artistes were Ajith Shaji, Mathew George, Sumitha AS, Anwil Joju, Ramu R Krishna and Clifferd Dominic. The group has been creating a buzz in the UK with their dance routines in the last two years.
All of them had moved to the UK for higher studies and it was their passion for dance that brought them together, says Mathew, co-founder of the group, over a Zoom call. “We didn’t know each other when we reached here. It is just that we all have been part of a dance crew, either in college or outside of it, at some point of time, back home. Although we live in different parts of the UK and have pursued different courses, two among us knew each other and through them others came on board. When there came an opportunity to form a dance troupe for a competition in 2024, this network turned useful. While some of them have returned to India, the rest of us are keeping the troupe afloat. We think this is something new for the UK audience — a Malayali crew on the street dance stage.” While Ajith, the founder, is the artistic director, Mathew and Sumitha take care of choreography, and Anwil, Ramu and Clifferd look into concept and production.
Their journey has been slow and steady. To start with, they came second in their first competition. “One major event was the London audition of the prestigious World of Dance (WOD) contest. Although we were selected for the final round in the US, we didn’t go since we couldn’t afford the expenses for visa and travel,” says Mathew. At WOD London, they regaled the crowd with the hip-hop version of ‘Aigiri nandini’ by Brodha V. After that they took part in the qualifier of Hip Hop International, where they were placed sixth.
Flow Factory after emerging runner-up at Global Dance Organisation World Championship
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The big break was coming first in the regional round of the contest held by British Dance Organisation in 2025, dancing to ‘Leftovers’, ‘Riptide’ by Conor Price and ‘Drop’, after which they qualified for the Global Dance Organisation (GDO) World Championships. “We were runner-up in the finals held by GDO and the best part is we competed with teams from countries such as Czech Republic, Japan and Germany. That gave us the confidence to take this forward,” he adds.
Later, besides competitions, they started performing at charity events and taking part in dance youth festivals held across the country. “We are currently building a portfolio that has competitions, charity events and youth festivals,” Mathew adds. At the dance youth festivals they also hold workshops for aspiring dancers.
“When we started, we had no blueprint. There was just the energy and a belief that we had something worth saying. We were figuring it out session by session. And now we are performing on a stage and delivering workshops for the youth,” says Anwil.
They explain that Grooves of South is a hip-hop showcase ‘celebrating the unique, energy and style of Keralam’, how hip-hop is expressed in the South and the way dance community has shaped it to give something new.
Mathew adds, “Our aim has been to blend South Indian dance vocabulary with the foundational principles of hip-hop.”
The group is elated that they are getting regular invitations for youth festivals. They have also performed at events organised by Malayali associations. “We started by just playing music and would freestyle to develop the piece. We’d bring in a phrase, the crew would react, something would click and we’d build from there. The styles came in naturally. Locking for the hits, litefeet to keep the feet alive, breaking when we needed to shift the whole energy of the piece,” that is how Sumitha breaks down their dance routines.
Flow Factory on stage at its first competition
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Among the Malayalam songs they have experimented with include ‘Ente maavum poothe’ from Adi Kapyare Koottamani and ‘Palavattam kaathu ninnu’, the indie track by Vineeth Sreenivasan. They have also danced to Tamil tracks such as ‘Yethi yethi’ from Vaaranam Aayiram and ‘Vibe’ by Paal Dabba. “We are working on a new piece based on The Ramayana, where the spotlight is on the antagonist. It explores, who gets to decide the villain. For this we are using the Tamil track, ‘Usirey poguthey’ from Raavan,” Sumitha says.
Their works are available on the Instagram handle @flow_factory_
Published – October 28, 2026 03:55 pm IST
