FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY’S home lies in the heart of the warm, ocean-facing city of Ourban/eThekwini in KwaZulu Natal. Our sense of geographical location is central to who we are, offering a distinctive flavour to this African contemporary dance company.
Often engaging with memory and history, FLATFOOT has developed a unique identity as a South African company renowned for its artistically and socially charged dance theatre.
Lliane Loots began FLATFOOT in 1994 as a part-time training programme offering contemporary dance classes to any Ourban/eThekwinl-based dancers able to attend. The company began with no funding, driven purely by the artistic and political impulse to provide dance training -primarily to Black dancers historically and economically excluded under apartheid. In 2002, a decision was made to secure a permanent base for the exceptional dancers emerging from the programme, and in 2003 the company became a fully registered and now internationally recognised contemporary dance company.
FLATFOOT prides itself not only on producing award-winning, globally commissioned work but also on its extensive 22-year history of dance education and development programmes across both rural and urban KwaZulu-Natal. The FLATFOOT ACCESS FESTIVAL (now in its 4th year) showcases the company’s integrated and disability dance portfolio, breaking new ground in its work with dancers living with both intellectual and physical disabilities.
This year, we are especially delighted to welcome our guests, Amanuel Solomon and Samuel Wubet from Ethiopia. The founding impulse of FLATFOOT – to grow dance and dancers in South Africa – remains as strong as ever, 22 years since its inception.
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