African Dance and Theatre Association
ABOUT US
Delivering emotionally charged performances to audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds, ADANTA is easily emerging as one of UK’s premier traditional African performing groups. ADANTA is an artist-led voluntary cultural organisation based in London. Our mission is to preserve, promote and perpetuate traditional African culture by providing quality entertainment and education to our local, national and international audiences in an effort to facilitate cultural enrichment and to foster a greater cultural understanding particularly in creating greater appreciation for African ways of life. Formed in 1997, ADANTA taps into over 30 years stage experience of the artistic staff in the organisation and effectively uses it to make a contribution towards ensuring African dance and music is easily accessible to people of all cultures in the UK and overseas.
PERFORMANCES
We hold public performances for events organised by individuals, community groups, local authorities, schools and universities. We perform traditional African dances from Nigeria, Ghana, Zaire and South Africa. Adanta bring to the stage an exquisite celebration of pure traditional African dances, drum and drama. Our dances are designed to entrance audiences, and our presentation of dances from several regions of Africa is energy packed, and guarantedd to excite, educate and entertain. Our most popular dances are the Atilogwu dance from Eastern Nigeria, Oji Anya Lere, Zulu Warrior dance and Soukous.
PRODUCTIONS
Adanta have had one theatre production to date. Our premier production, “Alankwa – The Land of a Thousand Dances” was a great success. We are in the process of developing a follow-up for a national tour in 2006. Our theatre productions use a fusion of traditional African dances and contemporary dances to explore
PERFORMANCE PROFILE
Our performance profile includes having the distinct honour of appearing at Buckingham Palace during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations. Other performances include a 10 day performance tour of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a 2-day performance in New Jersey and performances in major events in several cities in the UK.
WORKSHOPS
We hold one-off performances and workshops on African dance music and drama for schools, colleges, universities and local authorities. Our workshops are designed to enable the participants explore and develop their creative skills using African dance music and drama as a medium. We tailor our workshop programmes to suit the educational and social needs of individual schools. Our programme of activities is popular with schools in London. We have worked with schools in Brent< Barnet, Enfield, Camden, Redbridge and Haringey. The request for re-run of workshop programmes from the schools we have worked with is a testimony to the huge impact our activities have on on participants.
WEEKLY CLASSES
We hold dance classes twice a week. Professional dancers and drummers with good track record of teaching and performing African dance are always on hand to help participants develop their skills in African dance, drum and drama. We also hold street dance classes where traditional African dance movement are cleverly fused with contemporary hip-hop movements. The dance classes are open to people of all cultural background and walks of life. We like to create a warm and friendly atmosphere so that participants