They have backgrounds in modern dance, hip hop, popping, electro, and more. Lloydscompany and Dansateliers are guiding new creators Dorrit Griffioen, Oumar Jalloh, Bo Jacobs, and Anna Raiola through a seven-week process to create a new piece. These can be seen from February 5 to 15 at Dansateliers in Rotterdam.

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At One Night's Dance, the annual talent development program for emerging dance makers, Lloydscompany and Dansateliers always guide four makers through their research and creative process. They also learn from each other in joint feedback sessions about choreography, dramaturgy, music, creative production, and communication.

THE CREATORS

For Dorrit Griffioen, dance is a language that everyone speaks, a way to connect, share stories, and communicate beyond words. “I started dancing because I saw others doing it and thought: how cool, I want to do that too! But it became so much more; it became a language that can say more than Dutch or English.” 

During her studies in Paris, Dorrit was introduced to different dance styles and found her home in hip hop. She then completed her dance training at the Dutch Creative College. She immerses herself in hip hop freestyle and battles and explores how she can bring that raw energy into the theater. In her work, she seeks authenticity, connection, and the power of intuitive movement.

After studying at Fontys School of the Arts (Contemporary Urban), Bo Jacobs developed a movement language that combines physical precision with emotional depth. “As a child, I had many feelings that I couldn't always express in words. Dance became a means of doing that for me.”

She combines her movements with text, music, or scenography. She invites the audience to feel, question, and transform. She has danced with Nürnberg Ballet (Germany), Wayne McGregor (La Biennale Danza Venezia, Italy), and IID Company (Netherlands), among others. She also creates choreographies such as LIMP (Amsterdam Fringe Festival 2024), The Great Forgetting (Hannover Ballett 2024), Unveiling Echoes (Nederlandse Dans Dagen 2025) and Huidschrift (Schrittmacher Festival 2025). 

Oumar Jalloh started breakdancing at a young age. This is how he took his first steps as a professional artist in the Dutch hip-hop scene. He became acquainted with electro and contemporary dance and focused his work more on film and theater. He further expands the art forms in his work by combining memes, fashion, and scenography into artistic and expressive scenes. In order to be authentic, freedom in creative expression is central to him. He goes beyond what some people consider normal or acceptable; he dares to show strangeness.

He sees One Night's Dance as a great opportunity. "This program offers a lot of support and space for the personal process. Right now, I have some abstract ideas, and this process gives me more clarity about them so that I can create a new piece." 

Anna Raiola is a modern dancer, born in the United States to Italian and Mexican parents. At the age of 18, she moved to Rotterdam to study at Codarts University of the Arts, where she graduated in 2021. All these cultures sparked her interest in themes such as connectedness and identity. 

Anna's work is characterized by theatricality. She works for various choreographers and is now developing her own artistic voice. “I love to create an alternative reality on stage. That's why I'm playful on stage, playing with everyday movements, between hard and soft, and the memory of touch.”

Listen to all the interviews with the creators on Spotify.

Photos: Michelle Urbiztondo