Let's dance!

With more than 16 years of dance experience as a performer, teacher, choreographer, community arts practitioner, and director of arts initiatives, Antonio has had the opportunity to work in diverse cultural, artistic and social contexts.

Throughout his career, he has sought to engage and empower communities, including working with disadvantaged communities, in slums and orphanages in Uganda, to different communities in Europe and New Zealand.

His artistic practice includes a blend of styles including hip-hop, contemporary, dancehall break-dance, house dance, and Ugandan traditional dances.

He described his appointment to the Fellowship as a “landmark” in his career which fills him with “great joy and faith”.

“It is a very uncommon opportunity getting someone all the way from Kampala, East Africa, to Dunedin, in the far south of New Zealand. It confirms how the Fellowship walks the talk, and I am going to give it my best execution to give more pride to the name.”

The self-described dance-nomad said he will spend the year on a project which aims to bridge communities in Dunedin and integrate his dance experience into institutional settings.

“I hope to pave new ways for collaborations and partnerships as I bring together people of diverse backgrounds into a safe space to build mutual relationships and networks. I hope that my project will be an inspiration to many and create reference in various ways.” 

Antonio worked with both senior drama classes on Afro-fusion dance, to complement their physical devising work in class. He led them through a range of physical warm-ups, before teaching them small sequences of dance which they explored and then performed in front of each other. A very worthwhile dance workshop for all involved and I am extremely grateful to Antonio for coming to McGlashan to work with us.