TAO Dance Theater is a full-time contemporary dance company founded by Tao Ye, Duan Ni and Wang Hao in 2008. It is the first contemporary dance company in China to be invited to perform at the Lincoln Center Art Festival in the United States, the Edinburgh International Art Festival in the United Kingdom, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and Theatre de la Ville in France. They have also been invited to perform at the American Dance Festival (ADF), where they additionally served as resident artists. The Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London – UK, has commissioned five works by the company and invited them to perform in London six times.
The projects of the Numerical Series, created by the company with a simple creative concept and straightforward physicality, have toured five continents, more than 40 countries and over 100 different art festivals. The company has attracted extensive attention from people from all walks of life, becoming one of the most sought-after Chinese contemporary dance companies on the international stage.
In terms of interdisciplinary activity, the company has presented its work in a wide range of spaces, such as the ruins of the ancient Roman arena, the Paris Fashion Week Show, the ArtScience Museum in Singapore, the Aranya Seaside Stage, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall, and Beijing International Design Week. At the 2015 Paris Fashion Week, the company was invited to collaborate on-site with the brand Y-3 by Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto. In 2019, the company and Cloud Gate dance Theatre co-produced Exchange, touring more than ten cities in China. In 2021, the DIY performance Infinite Walking was listed on the TikTok hot search list for several week sin a row. Tens of thousands of viewers imitated the body-free-walking style, and the relevant videos were played nearly 500 million times.
Alastair Macaculay, the chief art critic for the New York Times, described the work of the dance troupe as “theatrical force and authority. (The dancers’) athletic control is remarkable. Powerful drive… physicality and momentum… extraordinary and appealing.” Time Out New York named the company’s performance one of the “10 Best Dance Shows of 2014,” making them the only Asian company on the list. In 2023, TAO Dance Theater was awarded the Silver Lion for Dance at La Biennale di Venezia.
In 2021, TAO Dance Theater established the DNTY art extension brand and TAO Studio. The former combined artistic innovation with the design concept of “clothes that follow the body”, inspired by the style of creative individuals from all fields. The latter “pays attention to more people’s bodies”, launching the Circular Movement System, so that more people may discover that “the body can still move like this”, experiencing and exploring the infinite possibilities of their physicality.
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