About Tonny A.
Tonny A. is a performance artist, dancer and writer. He makes performances at the boundaries of dance, live and installation art.
Tonny was born and raised in France, in a small suburban town near Paris. In the mid-90’s, Tonny studied History and Politics at La Sorbonne University. In 2001, he moved to London where he started performing as a performance poet in the Cabaret and Poetry scenes. Besides performing his poetry, Tonny ran Sweet and Sour, an art event showcasing live poetry, music and dance with visual arts at the 291 Gallery and then at the Bethnal Green’s Working Men’s Club until 2006.
In 2006, he also staged and performed in In The Shadows of Senghor, a performance piece that reimagined the poetry of Leopold Sedar Senghor as a journey through historical times, marked by France’s colonial history in the 30’s and Senghor’s understanding of his own identity as a black man. In 2008, Tonny pursued his interest in staging historical moments that shaped his vision of the world as he was growing up by choreographing Generation Next, a dance performance for 6 dancers which revisited 1968’s key moments and their cultural legacy.
In 2009, Tonny conceived and performed Sexual Acts of Contrition and Catharsis. Both solo pieces were an exploration of Tonny’s relationship with his gay identity.
In 2010, Tonny was invited to work with the Live Art Development Agency on a symposium about live art and disability. Tonny participated to Access All Areas – The Symposium in 2011. His presentation was made in direct response to artist Bob Flanagan’s title piece “My Body Did Everything I asked it”.
In 2011, Tonny debuted his full-length solo burlesque piece, Women in Me at The Blue Elephant Theatre. Women in Me experimented with the traditional image of the male dancer and his masculinity.
In 2014, Tonny created his next Solo piece, The O Syndrome, a politically charged performance which was then performed at The Place’s Resolution! Dance Festival, examining the contradictory effects of being stigmatized for being a foreign.
Tonny’s dance training is in improvisation and somatics. Between 2009 until 2016, Tonny followed classes and workshops from a variety of practitioners and with Rosemary Butcher, Rosalind Crisp, Tere O’Conor and Lucia Walker in particular. From 2015 to 2017, Tonny studied for an MA in Creative Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance; during that time, Tonny focused his interest in researching how objects’ physical contact with the body can trigger and manipulate its motion.
In 2018, Tonny performed at SPILL Festival his durational piece The Drumming Experience of OneSelf. The piece was initially conceived while Tonny was at Trinity Laban; it explored the multiple varieties of the body’s physical relationship with objects and, as a consequence of the physical contact, how the representation of the performer’s body is constantly hijacked by the unbalanced relationship.
Tonny also performs for other visual artists and directors’ projects. In the past, those included The Book of Blood by Leibniz in 2007 and 2008, Inferno by Romeo Castelluci and Societas Raffaello Sanzio's Inferno in 2009, The Look of Performance by The Hut Project in 2012 and Moving Mountains by Robert Pacitti in 2015.
Tonny is currently working on a 3-part film and performance project. He hopes to present the first part in Winter 2021/22 before exhibiting and performing the second and third parts throughout 2022.
You can find out more about Tonny's body of work here
*Photography by William Wilcox Photos (2018).
Tonny was born and raised in France, in a small suburban town near Paris. In the mid-90’s, Tonny studied History and Politics at La Sorbonne University. In 2001, he moved to London where he started performing as a performance poet in the Cabaret and Poetry scenes. Besides performing his poetry, Tonny ran Sweet and Sour, an art event showcasing live poetry, music and dance with visual arts at the 291 Gallery and then at the Bethnal Green’s Working Men’s Club until 2006.
In 2006, he also staged and performed in In The Shadows of Senghor, a performance piece that reimagined the poetry of Leopold Sedar Senghor as a journey through historical times, marked by France’s colonial history in the 30’s and Senghor’s understanding of his own identity as a black man. In 2008, Tonny pursued his interest in staging historical moments that shaped his vision of the world as he was growing up by choreographing Generation Next, a dance performance for 6 dancers which revisited 1968’s key moments and their cultural legacy.
In 2009, Tonny conceived and performed Sexual Acts of Contrition and Catharsis. Both solo pieces were an exploration of Tonny’s relationship with his gay identity.
In 2010, Tonny was invited to work with the Live Art Development Agency on a symposium about live art and disability. Tonny participated to Access All Areas – The Symposium in 2011. His presentation was made in direct response to artist Bob Flanagan’s title piece “My Body Did Everything I asked it”.
In 2011, Tonny debuted his full-length solo burlesque piece, Women in Me at The Blue Elephant Theatre. Women in Me experimented with the traditional image of the male dancer and his masculinity.
In 2014, Tonny created his next Solo piece, The O Syndrome, a politically charged performance which was then performed at The Place’s Resolution! Dance Festival, examining the contradictory effects of being stigmatized for being a foreign.
Tonny’s dance training is in improvisation and somatics. Between 2009 until 2016, Tonny followed classes and workshops from a variety of practitioners and with Rosemary Butcher, Rosalind Crisp, Tere O’Conor and Lucia Walker in particular. From 2015 to 2017, Tonny studied for an MA in Creative Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance; during that time, Tonny focused his interest in researching how objects’ physical contact with the body can trigger and manipulate its motion.
In 2018, Tonny performed at SPILL Festival his durational piece The Drumming Experience of OneSelf. The piece was initially conceived while Tonny was at Trinity Laban; it explored the multiple varieties of the body’s physical relationship with objects and, as a consequence of the physical contact, how the representation of the performer’s body is constantly hijacked by the unbalanced relationship.
Tonny also performs for other visual artists and directors’ projects. In the past, those included The Book of Blood by Leibniz in 2007 and 2008, Inferno by Romeo Castelluci and Societas Raffaello Sanzio's Inferno in 2009, The Look of Performance by The Hut Project in 2012 and Moving Mountains by Robert Pacitti in 2015.
Tonny is currently working on a 3-part film and performance project. He hopes to present the first part in Winter 2021/22 before exhibiting and performing the second and third parts throughout 2022.
You can find out more about Tonny's body of work here
*Photography by William Wilcox Photos (2018).
