Born in Greece, Yannis Adoniou began his
career at 16 when he was selected for a full scholarship to study at the State
School of Dance in Athens. At 17, he moved to Germany where he began his
professional career as a performer with Hamburg Ballet and Bonn Ballet. At
Bonn, he was encouraged to begin a choreographic career, and early works
demonstrated a kinship with the artistic ideals of the American master, Alonzo
King. A meeting with Mr. King in Frankfurt led to an invitation to join King's
LINES Ballet in San Francisco. There, Adoniou danced and created leading roles
from 1993 to 1998, at which time he went on to found the critically acclaimed
dance company, KUNST-STOFF.
Adoniou created KUNST-STOFF, initially
with long time collaborator Tomi Paasonen, to explore the intersection of
multiple art forms and aesthetics, employing dance as the central medium. An
accomplished filmmaker (with works presented at Dance Forum Monaco, Dance
Camera West Film Festival, Cinedans Amsterdam, and REDCAT among others)
Adoniou's performance works are often set in unexpected visual worlds, drawn
from his equally profound gift for visual art. Now entering its second decade
of acclaimed performances, KUNST-STOFF's growing body of work has defined a
signature style that combines classical rigor with the unbridled expressivity
of improvisation and abstract modern idioms. ?
Adoniou's international commissions
include works for Herbst Dance Festival in Heidelberg, Bonn Ballet, Prosxima
Dance Company and Dance Forum Monaco, and in the Bay Area, works for ODC
Theater, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts / Bay
Area Now, San Francisco International Arts Festival, Company Mechanique, Dance
Brigade, and West Wave Dance Festival. Commissions for youth and young
professionals include works for LINES/Dominican University BFA program, the
dance department of SUNY Purchase, and Dance Theater International. With
KUNST-STOFF, his works have toured nationally and internationally to BERLIN
TANZTAGE Festival, Dock 11 / Berlin, Dimitria International Festival, The DUMBO
Festival and Wave Rising Series in New York City, The Southern Theater in
Minneapolis, Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, and the 5th Athens International
Dance Festival among others.
Mr. Adoniou has received the prestigious Isadora
Duncan Award, a 2005 Goldie Award, and choreographic excellence awards from the
James Irvine Foundation and Dance/USA, San Francisco Arts Commission,
Zellerbach Family Fund, and the Maggie Allesee National Center for
Choreography. He was part of the 2008 American delegation to Tanzmesse in
Dusseldorf, and as an acknowledged master teacher, he conducts classes and
workshops across the United States and Europe.
Maggie Allesee
