Lineup Announced For IDENTITY, A Celebration Of East London's Eclectic Dance And Fashion

Curated by East London Dance and directed by maverick choreographer Tony Adigun (Fagin's Twist), IDENTITY unites fashion and dance to spotlight the blazing new artistic voices bursting forth from east London's vibrant creative community.

Polly Risbridger, Director of East London Dance:

"East London Dance has a deep and rich history of nurturing and collaborating with bold early-career dance artists as well as creating art that reflects the ever-evolving social and cultural matters that our communities face. IDENTITY is a thrilling opportunity to introduce wider audiences to the breadth of talent that east London has to offer."

Co-producers East London Dance and Shoreditch Town Hall invite audiences into a world of east London grit and glamour where dance and catwalk collide in a pulsating gig-like atmosphere as IDENTITY takes over the Victorian Assembly Hall.

Audiences are encouraged to 'dress to express' and from the moment they enter the building, they will experience alternative and underground forms of dance, style and musical expression coexisting, influencing and inspiring each other; all channelled through artists working at the cutting-edge of their art forms.

Infusing hip hop, breaking, voguing, krump, waacking and contemporary dance with their own unique styles Adigun's own Avant Garde Dance Company; Ffion Campbell-Davies & Julia Cheng of House of Absolute; Houston Dance Collective and Rugged Estate will challenge preconceptions of sexual, cultural, gender and ethnic identity.

Tony Adigun, IDENTITY director and founder of Avant Garde Dance Company:

"The thing I find most powerful about the creativity coming out of east London is that it is wildly eclectic, meaning you can't pigeon hole it and yet there is a shared mentality, a powerful energy of coming together to challenge the system. As an east London artist, my creative process is about collaboration across genres and working outside of traditional artistic conventions. Whether it's dance, fashion, music or art, no one form is more important than another, they all influence each other to become part of a cultural movement that reaches far beyond east London."

Choreographer Emma Houston, Houston Dance Collective on The Purple Jigsaw:

"Breaking and vogue have such distinct visual styles and common ground in terms of history of birth, making them ideal for this celebration of fashion and dance. Being a breaker, I love the sheer physicality of movement it allows as an element to explore alongside vogue's freedom of gender expression, and together they create a new realm for dynamic exploration. With this work, I want to talk about visibility and celebrate diversity by showcasing a spectrum of people who identify and express themselves differently."

Collaborating with fashion stylist Sabrina Henry and costume & textile designer Lee Yaroshevski these dance artists will bring audiences a slice of east London culture and creativity that defies conformity.

The main performance event will be accompanied on Saturday afternoon (14 April) by a costume & movement workshop designed to discover and explore participants' alter egos, as well as a special panel discussion co-curated by London College of Fashion, UAL and chaired by Brett Booth from Urban Nerds at 5pm. Tickets for these two events will be on sale at shoreditchtownhall.com from Monday 19 March.

IDENTITY - A celebration of east London's eclectic dance and fashion cultures

Shoreditch Town Hall

Thursday 12 - Saturday 14 April (PRESS NIGHT: Friday 13 April)

7.30pm

Tickets £15 (£12.50 concessions)

Identity is an East London Dance and Shoreditch Town Hall co-production.

Information: eastlondondance.org/events/identity/

Ticket booking: shoreditchtownhall.com/whats-on/identity