| Makers | Avant Garde Dance Company |
| Part of | Holland Dance Festival |
Not without reason, Avant Garde Dance Company occupies a prominent place in London's innovative hip-hop and contemporary dance circuit. Founded in 2001 by choreographer and artistic director Tony Adigun, the company boasts a unique style that seamlessly fuses dance, music, literature, circus, and digital art. The group's creations are groundbreaking, often tinged with a magical quality that leaves the audience enchanted.
After gaining considerable experience in the commercial realm—choreographing for artists such as Janet Jackson, Usher, and Ashanti—Adigun assembled a group of hip-hop dancers to form Avant Garde Dance, aiming to create provocative contemporary dance performances. This endeavor resulted in an individual, unconventional yet artistically sophisticated language.
Following tremendous success in the United Kingdom and beyond, Avant Garde Dance is making its debut in the Netherlands during the nineteenth edition of the Holland Dance Festival. With Illegal Dance, the group offers a complete sensory experience of dance and theater. The performance narrates a story set in a future where artistic expression is globally prohibited by oppressive regimes. Paranoid leaders criminalize art in the vain hope of suppressing subversive ideas and dangerous collective expressions. By seamlessly combining dynamic contemporary choreography with inventive technical staging, Tony Adigun presents a society in which everyone's life is defined by an insurmountable tension between the desire for free expression and the longing for safety.
Illegal Dance is a collection of stories, people, and places, portrayed through various media and art forms, fueled by an overarching belief in the power of artistic expression in times of division.
From January 24 to February 17, 2024, the Netherlands will be immersed in international dance. For four weeks, the Holland Dance Festival, for the nineteenth time, opens a window to the world in The Hague, Delft, Tilburg, and Rotterdam.
Holland Dance Festival showcases the universal character and the enormous richness and versatility of dance. The festival aims for innovation without forgetting the history of dance. Dance icons take the spotlight, and leading choreographies find a place in the festival. But of course, dance art cannot thrive without 'new blood', and therefore the festival also provides a stage for emerging dancers and choreographers.
Korzo Zaal