Rediscovering Ancestral Movement

01.03.2025 - 19:00 - 22:00

BIOGRAPHIE

Thomas Presto is the founder and creative director of Tabanka Dance Ensemble, the first and only Black dance company focused on dances of the African diaspora in Scandinavia and the creator of the Talawa Technique™. The Talawa Technique™ uniquely combines elements of African and Caribbean dances to train polycentrism, multiple movement qualities, grounding, and polyrhythms separately. Talawa Technique™ incorporates rhythmic structures, a specialized approach to grounding, and traditional African aesthetic movement qualities such as: trembling, waving, and pulsing. In this polycentric educational model, infused with polyrhythm, the criteria for a professional dancer are redefined. The pursuit is not only technical excellence but also an understanding of polycentricity and polyrhythm as essential elements. Participants develop not only physical skills but also a deeper understanding of ancestral philosophies. 

The Talawa Technique is the only technique available in Europe consisting of a philosophy, training technique, and professionalization method that opens the ancestral library of the Black body and teaches how to utilize it. 

The Need for Legacy is a platform for creators, performers, and researchers of color, dedicated to fostering an inclusive Dutch performing arts scene. It does this by both mapping the histories of creators of color and by responding to the current needs of artists of color in the performing arts.   

 In samenwerking met: Timiss, The Need For Legacy, Tabanka Dance Ensemble, DAKH, MDF - The Label, Koninkrijk der Nederlanden

 In partnership with: Timiss, The Need For Legacy, Tabanka Dance Ensemble, DAKH, MDF - The Label, Koninkrijk der Nederlanden