About | Andrea Walker

Biography

Andrea Walker is the founder and Artistic Director of 201 Dance Company, and choreographer of 201's award-winning SKIN ("A masterpiece of human sensitivity" - ★★★★★ Ed Fringe Review) and SMOTHER ("Taking Hip-Hop into thrillingly new terrain" - ★★★★ The Guardian). Walker's style is inspired by hip-hop and contemporary movement, and a huge passion for film, which translates to a highly cinematic experience on stage.

Based in Brighton (UK), Walker began dancing aged 14 in Rome, Italy, and continued his study and exploration of dance at The Metropolitan Arts Institute in Phoenix, Arizona (USA), and at The Broadway Dance Center in New York City. He graduated from Broadway Dance Center with a Certificate of Excellence, and was awarded BDC's Outstanding Student Award in June 2014. Walker is also the recipient of a BA in Film & Television Production from the University of Westminster.

Described by The Times as "Taking Hip Hop into promising new avenues", Walker recently choreographed HOME, a world-premiere for the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago ("Hauntingly effective" - ★★★★ Chicago Sunday Times), and is now hard at work on 201 Dance Company's latest production: SAD BOOK, adapted from the award-winning book by Michael Rosen and set to premiere at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Other credits include Coldplay, Aggro Santos, Ebony Bones, Kimberly Walsh, Xbox, T-Mobile, Martini and D&G.

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201 DANCE COMPANY

CHOREOGRAPHER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

201 Dance Company is a diverse-led company founded in 2014 by Choreographer and Artistic Director Andrea Walker. 201 strives to create daring, cinematic dance theatre that challenges social prejudices and engages audiences in topical social issues.

The company's productions of SMOTHER and SKIN’ have toured to dozens of UK theatres and internationally, reaching 14,000+ people. The Guardian has called Walker an artist with “considerable gifts as a storyteller and dance-maker”, while the Huffington Post has described 201's work as “one of the year’s finest treats”. In 2019, Walker and 201’s team reached 20,000 audiences at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, headlining Joffrey Ballet’s ‘Across the Pond’ season with HOME, exploring queer immigrant identity. HOME received nightly standing ovations (“Hauntingly Effective” - Chicago Sun Times). 201 Dance Company's latest production - SAD BOOK'- is an adaptation of Michael Rosen's award-winning book and will premiere at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Learn more about 201 Dance Company

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Press

"Walker is taking Hip-Hop into thrillingly new terrain" - The Guardian

"A talent to watch" - The Evening Standard

"Walker seeds expressive meaning into a movement vocabulary where we expect the head, not the heart, to go spinning" - The Herald

"This is the new generation of street dance" - The Times

"A showcase for rising talents ... Hauntingly effective" - Chicago Sun Times on Joffrey Ballet’s “HOME”

"HOME is a story ballet for our xenophobic times, an uncomfortable and moving work" - Chicago Stage Standard on Joffrey Ballet’s “HOME”

"HOME is unabashedly political ... Walker finds all the words he needs to persuade in mere — and magnificent — movement" - Stage and Cinema on Joffrey Ballet’s “HOME”

"In what can only be described as a brave work of art, Walker mixes raging intensity and a clear passion for "Dreamers" and their cause with a complex and unnerving take on what "acceptance" really means" - Chicago on Stage on Joffrey Ballet’s “HOME”

"Stand-Out Dance of the Summer" - The Guardian on "SKIN"

"CAPTIVATING and frankly ingenious" - Scotsgay on "SMOTHER"

"UNPARALLELED BEAUTY...A striking dystopian fairytale reminiscent of Jamie Brittain's Skins" - EdFest Magazine on "SMOTHER"

"SUPERB CHOREOGRAPHY. Electric, emotional and empowering, not to mention visually spectacular" - The 730 Review on “SKIN”

View Andrea's Work

Andrea Walker’s unique inspiration from cinema, hip-hop and contemporary movement has seen him choreograph all over the world.

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