YANNIS ADONIOU is originally from Athens, Greece where he began his lessons in dance and choreography. He was accepted to the National Ballet School in Athens and within two years won a scholarship with the Hamburg Ballet School. After graduating, Mr. Adoniou danced with the State Theater of Osnabruck, a company exploring expressionist dance theater, and the classical Bonn State Ballet. During that time, Mr Adoniou created 4 theatrical dance pieces that were recognized by Ballet International Magazine editor Patricia Stockemann, for their "clear structure and innovative and subtle movement vocabulary". Since moving to San Francisco in 1992, Mr. Adoniou has been a member of Alonzo King’s Lines Contemporary Ballet. In the off-seasons, Mr. Adoniou collaborated with other visual artists on various projects.
His most recent Bay Area works have been premiered at Dance Envision, the Cure II, Summerfest/Dance ’97, New Ballet Works, Brady Street, Lab Projekt USA ’97Concert and the Lesbian and Gay Dance Festival. In 1997, he created his acclaimed reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s "OTHELLO" for Summerfest/dance ’97. San Francisco Examiner dance critic Allan Ulrich stated in his review of Othello, "You have to admire any choreographer who tackles so widely treated a subject, but Adoniou is apparently fearless. What elicits admiration is the extent to which Adoniou exploits his dancers’ refined techniques, their speed and plastique. Adoniou knows how to move a story." In 1998, Mr. Adoniou premiered a new piece "O I Ø" for Labayan Dance Company, performed at the Cowell Theater.
Mr. Adoniou has also produced and directed several short films with New York filmmaker, Evann Siebens. Their film "Pothead" (1996) was selected to be screened at the acclaimed International Dance Film Festival in Toronto, and "Birth" (1997) has screened at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Roxie Move Theater in San Francisco.
Mr. Adoniou is pleased to realize his vision for Kunststoff – to create events where dance, film and visual art influence each other, and result in explosive experiences for its audiences.
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