Talking to Visual Theatre Maker Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes returns to Manchester

Benji Reid is a British photographer, visual theatre maker, and educator. His work focuses on the intersection of race, nationhood, and gender with particular attention to the Black British experience, Black masculinity, and mental health.

His photograph Holding on to Daddy (2016) was the winner of the Wellcome Photography Prize 2020 in the Mental Health category. A pioneer of Hip Hop Theatre and culture in the UK, Reid defines himself as a ‘Choreo-Photolist’, a term he coined to refer to the practice of merging theatre and choreography in his photography. His work has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in New York, Somerset House in London,and Design Fair Paris.

He attended the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, studying ballet, contemporary, choreography, and lighting design. After appearing in Alan Lyddiard’s production of The Tempest at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he auditioned for Soul II Soul, be came chief dancer and co -choreographer for some of their numbers, and went on a world tour as part of the collective. Reid then trained for a year with David Glass, touring nationally with the David Glass Ensemble. He has worked with director Denise Wong
and Black Mime Theatre, as well as directing Aeroplane Man by Jonzi D, and co-creating the pieces Silence da Bitchin’ and Cracked.

The hip hop musical Avalanche at Nottingham Playhouse marked the foundation of Reid’s own company, Breaking Cycles. Reid took part in the Hip-Hop Theater Festival in New York, and was the curator of The Illness at Sadler’s Wells in London. Reid’s show The Holiday toured to PS122 in New York, Sydney Opera House, the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House, and more.

How does it feel to have Find Your Eyes returning to Manchester International Festival?

Returning to MIF with Find Your Eyes feels like coming home to a city that has shaped me. Manchester has always been a place of reinvention, of raw creative energy, and this piece is born from that spirit. It’s an honour to bring it back, refined, deeper, and more urgent than ever.

Tell us what the title means.

Find Your Eyes is about vision—inner and outer. It’s about seeing yourself clearly, stripping away what the world has told you to be, and reconnecting with the truth inside. It’s also about finding new ways to see movement, light, and storytelling. It’s an invitation to wake up.

How is dance used to tell a story, and what is that story?

Dance in Find Your Eyes is more than movement; it’s language. The body holds memory—joy, pain, resistance—and through choreography, I explore the tension between flight and fall, power and fragility. The story? It’s a journey of transformation, of breaking through personal and artistic limits to rediscover what’s possible.

Tell us what form of dance is used.

It’s a fusion—hip-hop, contemporary, physical theatre, and a touch of the unexpected. I call it choreo-photolism—movement crafted to be seen as a living image, every frame a story.

What has changed from 2023, if anything?

Everything and nothing. The essence remains, but I’ve pushed deeper. Technically, the staging has evolved, the storytelling is sharper, and I’ve embraced new risks. I’m always questioning, always refining—so this version of Find Your Eyes carries new scars and new wisdom.

Tell us some of the techniques used to support this performance.

I use a blend of choreography, visual composition, and theatre techniques to sculpt emotion in real-time. Light plays a huge role—it’s not just illuminating the stage but shaping movement, creating illusions of flight, depth, and pause. There’s also a cinematic quality, where each moment could be a still photograph bursting into life.

What challenges were there, and what are the joys?

The biggest challenge? Finding the perfect balance between storytelling and improvisation—keeping the work alive while maintaining its structure. The joy? That moment when the movement, the light, the emotion all sync, and the audience is with you, holding their breath. That’s magic.

See Also

The Big Interview: Actor, Filmmaker, Author Michael Obiora

What made you want to dance?

I was drawn to the rawness of movement. Hip-hop in the 80s gave me a language when words weren’t enough. It was rebellion, it was expression, it was survival. Dance became my way of making sense of the world, and eventually, my way of reimagining it.

How much do dance styles evolve, or do they stay the same?

Dance evolves like language—new dialects emerge, but the essence remains. What changes is how we frame it, the stories we tell with it. Hip-hop, for example, is still rooted in its origins, but now it speaks in ways we couldn’t have imagined 30 years ago.

Who influenced you the most?

My influences are a mix—A tribe all quest energy, Pina Bausch’s storytelling, #Basquiat’s rawness, . Each of them taught me something about rhythm, about defiance, about telling truth through movement and image.

Why should people see the show?

Because it’s not just a performance—it’s an experience. Find Your Eyes is about transformation, about seeing yourself in a new way. If you’ve ever felt lost, if you’ve ever questioned your path, this show is for you.