With over 300 locations activated worldwide in our three-decade history, BANDALOOP delivers unparalleled artistic innovation, technical precision, and an unwavering commitment to a culture of safety.
About BANDALOOP
BANDALOOP honors nature, community, and the human spirit through perspective-bending dance.
A pioneer in vertical performance, BANDALOOP seamlessly weaves dynamic physicality, intricate choreography and climbing technology to turn the dance floor on its side. Founded in 1991 by Amelia Rudolph and now under the artistic direction of Melecio Estrella, BANDALOOP re-imagines dance, activates public spaces, and inspires wonder and imagination in audiences around the world. The company trains dancers and youth at home and on tour, and has performed for millions of people in over 300 cities in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Asia, on screens in films and digital media and most recently became Broadway’s first vertical choreographer in Idina Menzel’s REDWOOD.
Based in West Oakland, CA at BANDALOOP Studios, the company incubates and produces work for its local audiences and for touring performances presented around the globe. Education and outreach are an intrinsic part of the company’s mission. BANDALOOP offers regular classes, camps, and intensives for youth and adults at its home studios and in the mountains, and team building programs for executives.
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• Embracing the Adventure of the Unknown
• Igniting Imagination
• Creating Elemental Connection
• Revolutionary Leadership
• Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accountability (IDEA)
• Determined Endurance
• A Culture of Safety -
Nourished by its roots in the mountains and environmental activism, BANDALOOP creates public art that is site-responsive to place and community, reimagining what is possible through perspective-bending dance. BANDALOOP is a learning organization that acknowledges its own fallibility. As such, we approach the work of anti-oppression and building equity with curiosity and humility. BANDALOOP works to be a more equitable organization with the understanding that harmful historical bias and oppression pervades the performing arts, a reflection of the larger system of false hierarchies of human value. We are committed to unearthing the inequities in our company culture, and changing the way we work together to cultivate a welcoming and supportive environment for all. We are doing this by funding our ongoing IDEA work (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accountability/Access); shifting the power dynamics within our company to be more equitable; implementing inclusive, diverse, and supportive hiring practices; and engaging creative processes and teaching pedagogies that recognize histories of oppression and seek pathways to just and healthy relationships.
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As a vertical dance company with a home in Oakland and a strong value for community, BANDALOOP is dedicated to addressing inequity close to home while redefining what it means to be an organization built on social and environmental justice. Activism is deeply rooted in the essence of who we are. Read about our commitment to embed sustainability in our organizational ethos and create public art inspired by nature that reimagines our relationship with it.
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BANDALOOP is based in unceded and federally unrecognized Lisjan (Ohlone) territory, colonially known as Oakland, California. We recognize that the majority of us are newcomers, and have benefited / are benefiting from the colonization, expropriation, and genocide of native people / native land. We speak of the Ohlone people in the present tense, they are here, they are vital and still stewarding the land.Please join BANDALOOP in paying your annual Shuumi Land Tax to The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.