"Old Kent Road creates conversations between music and emotion by combining tap dance with live music."
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UK THEATRE NETWORK
WHO ARE WE?
Old Kent Road was founded by Artistic Director Avalon Rathgeb in 2014 and aims to gather the very best tap dancers and musicians which have inspired her journey to create unique stylised tap choreography that is bigger and better than the sum of its parts.
OKR is a passionate group of tap dancers who are raising the bar in the UK tap dance scene. Bringing their expertise to the British public and sharing the wonder of the art form, they work together to develop distinctive choreography and pay homage to history and jazz culture along the way. Old Kent Road have been awarded Arts Council England funding 3 times which they are honoured to have received and gives them the ability to continue creating and sharing Tap dance. The company trains and rehearses weekly, to share their ideas and experiences while developing a company language and body of work.
In 2015 OKR were invited to share the first stage of ‘Fall Out’ at Resolution, the UK’s biggest dance festival. The following year they were awarded Arts Council England funding for the 1st time to develop ‘Fall Out’ into the company’s first full length show, which was then performed at the Blue Elephant Theatre in London. Segments were also seen at Tanz Haus in Dusseldorf and as part of the Brighton Tap Festival Gala.
In 2017-18 the company performed ‘Fall Out’ at The Tabernacle (London), OffBeat Festival (Oxford), DanceBase (Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and InMotion Festival (London), Salisbury Playhouse, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Dance City Newcastle, The Witham (Barnards Castle), Alnwick Playhouse and Arts Centre Washington. The company created video footage of ‘Capella Josh’, an original piece of choreography by Josh Hilberman. Awarded funding for a second time to create a new show ‘Dirty. Tap. Funk’, which was commissioned by Theatre Bench for InMotion Festival. The show was co-choreographed by Avalon Rathgeb and Ryan Campbell-Birch. The company were also invited to perform at South Bank Centre’s Independence Gala as part of IndiaUK2017.
Arts Council England funded the creation of OSCiLLATE co-choreographed by Avalon Rathgeb and Dre Torres which was revealed to the world in summer 2018 premiering at Sadler’s Wells-The Lilian Baylis Theatre. OSCiLLATE was performed at Latitude Music Festival, The London Cabaret Club as part of London Tap Dance Intensive and a two week run at DanceBase as part of The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Old Kent Road are super excited to tour OSCiLLATE at 20 different venues in 2019/20!
OUR MANDATE
"My vision is for tap dance to be seen by people of all ages, backgrounds, genders
and cultures. To see the positivity the form brings and to showcase our most
proficient dancers in one show, accomplishing something that they love.
My vision and hope for the company in the long term is to allow young technical tap
dancers to know that there is a company, that they can aspire to be a part of once
they have finished their training: That there is an objective in their pursuit."
Avalon Rathgeb
Company Founder
MEET THE COMPANY
ASSOCIATED ARTISTS
EDUCATION
Old Kent Road is committed to offering the next generation of English tap dancers accessibility to tap classes, open rehearsals, and jams. We offer a weekly open Intermediate/Advanced tap class at Pineapple Dance Studios based in Central London. Click here to purchase our pre-recorded online class series.
Our jams allow both experienced and novice tap dancers a chance to improvise with a live band, and our open rehearsals give dancers a chance to experience tap dance in a professional company setting. Please sign up to our newsletter and follow us on social media to be the first to know about future jam and open rehearsal dates.
Scan this QR code to access Old Kent Road's favourite jazz standards and tunes for improvisation.
CONTACT US
Get in touch with us today to learn more about our performance schedule, events and work.