Since its launch
in 2009, with a remit to explore and celebrate the vitality of dance from
Africa and its diaspora, the ADAD Bloom Festival this year bloomed to
incorporate events in Bristol and Leeds, as well
as London.Over 1,400 people attended festival events at
Circomedia in Bristol on 30 April; The
Carriageworks and Phoenix Dance Theatre, Leeds, on 22 and 23 July respectively;
and at the festival’s grand finale at the Southbank Centre, London, on 24 and 25 September.
Visitors
strutted their stuff at open workshops covering a plethora of styles including
Afro-Brazilian and Ugandan dance; debated and networked at talks focusing on
Europe and the African diaspora; gained an insight into the creative process at
an open stage platform for dance works-in-progress; viewed short dance films plus
a documentary on the history of Phoenix Dance Theatre; and watched performances
given by Vocab Dance Company, Tolo Ko Tolo, Daliah Toure, David Hamilton, FE’
Dance, Ballet Nimba, Khula Arts, African Sambistas, Tabanka Crew African
Peoples’ Dance Ensemble, Africo Productions, Lamp Fall, Avant Garde Youth
Company, connectingvibes*, and The MaxwellDanceProject.
Here are
some of the festival highlights in pictures:
The next ADAD Bloom Festival will take place in
2013.
