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Artistic Director Joseph Yvan Toonga created Just Us Dance Theatre along with his close friend Ricardo Da Silva in 2007. The company was formed upon the love both artists shared for contemporary dance and physical theatre and other social forms of dance.  With influences from Hip Hop, Kuduro (South African National Dance), contemporary dance and spoken word the movement vocabulary created gives the company its unique expressive style. The company aims to make dance more accessible by using a movement language people understand. Just Us also engages people through choreography by using narratives that people can relate to.

Since 2007, the company has performed at a variety of dance festivals such as ‘outspoken dance’ at Lilian Baylis, Connect festival – ‘High Res’, Scoop, LiveVibe at the Peacock Theatre and in late 2010 Joseph Toonga was awarded the Blueprint bursary which was funded by East London Dance, London Youth Dance and Sadler’s Wells allowing the company to tour different London venues such as The Place Theatre, Arts depot, GDA (Greenwich Dance Agency) and Stratford Circus.

 

Picture Perfect?

"There is a physical closeness in that moment, but there is also an unspoken distance which sets us miles apart"- quote from Joseph Yvan Toonga

Choreographer: Joseph Yvan Toonga
Dancers: Angela Hurst, Kindall Lynne Payne, Fifion H Campbell-Davies, Hannah Anderson-Ricketts, Maria Fonseca