In 1996, Dance United founders Mags Byrne, Andrew Coggins and Royston Maldoom, together with the Ethiopian Gemini Trust, created a unique dance project in Addis Ababa with street children which led to the foundation of the Adugna Community Dance Theatre Company.

Trained intensively over many years in Addis Ababa by dance artists from all over the world, eighteen young Ethiopian dancers graduated in 2002 with accreditation from Middlesex University (UK). In 2004, Junaid Jemal Sendi won the international Rolex Young Choreographer award, the first ever African artist to win this prestigious accolade. Junaid and fellow Adugna dancer, Addisu Demissie, also played key roles in Dance United’s DESTINO at Sadler’s Wells in 2009.

Today, the Adugna Community Dance Theatre Company continues to perform in the back streets of Addis Ababa using dance to teach and inspire others. Recently, they established a sister dance company involving young people with physical disabilities, the first of its kind in Ethiopia.

Dance United continues to support the work of Adugna. If you would like to find out more or make a contribution in support of their work, please donate here.

photography: Rosa Verhoeve

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