A HERSTORY OF FLIGHT

BANDALOOP was founded in 1991 by Amelia Rudolph to create a dance company that called on her experience with and passion for movement, climbing, artistic expression, and connections to the environment. It grew from the intersection of her background as a dancer and choreographer and her academic studies in comparative religion at Swarthmore College and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

During that time, Amelia explored the concept of performance-as-ritual, which was central to her written and performed thesis project, “Walk and Talk, Text and Context.” Amelia became an avid climber and discovered that climbing, besides luring her into the Sierra backcountry, was another form of dance -  a "duet" between the rock and the climber.

This combination of experiences unveiled Amelia's desire to create artworks that celebrate the majesty and vulnerability of natural spaces, highlighting their beauty, strength, and possibility.  Further, Amelia knew she wanted to create a different kind of dance company based on kindness and adventure.

In 1991, BANDALOOP had its first live performance at a climbing gym, City Rock in the San Francisco Bay Area. Soon after, the company’s first performances in the Sierra, in the Buttermilk boulders, and on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley dovetailed into groundbreaking performances on the Space Needle in Seattle and at the “Power of Houston” festivals, launching the company into national prominence. Since then, Amelia and dedicated dancers and staff members have created a company that constantly pushes the limits of how people view their relationships with their environment and each other, and how they understand and experience dance and movement.  

Today, the company is based in Oakland, CA, where the company creates work for its home season and live performances presented globally each year.  The organization has deep roots in activism, championing support and sustainability of two crucial pillars of BANDALOOP’s work: nature and people. Uplifting and amplifying the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ voices at home has been a sustained evolution organizationally; when the pandemic began in 2020, this effort emerged publicly with the short film #ResistanceIsBeautiful.

Education and outreach are also an intrinsic part of the organization’s mission. In addition to its ongoing work with Oakland youth at Destiny Arts, BANDALOOP offers regular classes, camps, and intensives at its home studio in West Oakland and in the mountains across the United States.