Artists
Freddie Opoku-Addaie is a choreographer, performer, teacher and Artistic Director of Jagged Antics. Born in East London, partly raised in Ghana, a career path in Dance started through youth projects with East London Dance and The Place. He graduated from London Contemporary Dance School in 2002. While at LCDS he received a scholarship to study at California Institute for the Arts.
He choreographed his first major work, The Makin’s of U, as part of Random Dance’s AWOL in 2004. Since then his work has been performed at The Place’s Robin Howard Theatre, Stratford Circus, Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, SouthBank Centre, Swindon Dance, amongst others. In 2006, Opoku-Addaie worked on Kim Brandstrup’s research and development project, Dancelines and was commissioned to make We Flew as part of the Summer Collection 07 at the Royal Opera House for ROH2.
Freddie’s the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Robin Howard Choreographic Commission and will present an evening of his works in the spring, including Silence Speaks Volumes a finalist of the Place Prize 2006 and 1st prize at the VI Certamen International de Coreografia Burgos-New York in Spain 2007. As a result of the overwhelming critical acclaim of the work, Jagged Antics have been touring throughout this year in Spain, including performing at a gala in the Centro Cultural De La Villa, Madrid.
Freddie Opoku-Addaie is currently in the research and development stage of several new works including Signs Of and a co-choreographed duet with Jorge Crecis Bf. Freddie’s strong commitment and belief in Education and outreach projects has created Stone Arch, a creative and performance projects collective that he has been initiated for young talented performers. He is also going to re-stage his Youth Dance England/East London Dance Youth Company commissioned work Set In Stone?
He is currently working on The Mary Neal Project a learning programme in 2 primary schools led with Laurel Swift, which looks at tradition with fresh eyes, connecting contemporary dance and Morris steps. The Mary Neal Project unpacks an old box to create something innovative and new: a celebratory encounter between contemporary arts and English folk practitioners. The project is directed by Lucy Neal, founder of the London International Festival of Theatre.
As a creator, performer, student and teacher Opoku-Addaie has worked with Wayne McGregor/ Random Dance, Jonzi D, Saburo Teshiigawara/Karas, Elsa Wooliaston Almeida Theatre, East London Dance, Mark Murphy/ V-Tol, Rashpal Singh Bansal, Pan Intercultural Arts, Thomas Small, Saju Hari, CandoCo Dance Company Clod Ensemble, Project Phakama, RichMix, amongst others. Freddie Opoku-Addaie is also active in the commercial theatre sector, choreographing and performing for Bailey’s, Ford, MTV, and other promotional and corporate events in the UK and internationally.
