Dance United

Artistic consultant/
Royston Maldoom

Choreographer Royston Maldoom has been the initiator and leader of numerous dance projects in Northern Ireland and all around the world. Now resident in Berlin, he is known particularly for his work in the field of community dance. His work was honoured in the movie Rhythm Is It!, which received the German Lola Movie Award for best documentary film in 2005 and reached large audiences worldwide. His perception of community dance is “…dance with anyone, anywhere, at any time…” regardless of experience, age, gender or social or ethnic background.

Royston has received many international honours and awards including: Deutscher Ehren-Tanzpreis (2005) the German Honours Prize in Dance for his continuous and groundbreaking engagement for dance throughout the years; Special Schiller Award (2005) for his work with Le Sacre du Printemps with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle; Order of the British Empire (2006) for services to dance; German-British Forum Award (2007) for his engagement for British-German relations; Club der Optimisten (2008) for achievements in dance

Mags and Royston are particularly well known in the dance world for their collective work with street and working children in Ethiopia over a period of ten years. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan paid tribute to their achievements, saying, “…it is remarkable what you have done for these children… what you have done here should be an inspiration for civil societies around the world.” For more, see: Adugna – A Shared Gift, available to view on www.filmafrica.net/video/adugna.htm.