Stomp, dance troupe

Stomp is a percussion group (originating in Brighton, UK) that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a physical theatre performance.

Stomp has no words – everyone can understand it. It has little or no melody in the traditional sense, so it doesn’t matter if your taste in music is jazz, classical, dance or pop. STOMP is about rhythm, which is common to all cultures. Everyone knows rhythm, if only from the beating of their own heart – it is the basis of all music.

STOMP is a group of people, with very strong personalities, who work together using simple building blocks to create something complex , something everyone can identify with: everyone has, at some time, to engage in group activity, whether they like or know the people they are working with or not. It’s the little idiosyncrasies, the differences between people, and the games of one-upmanship that ensue, which define the group dynamic.

There are several STOMP companies currently performing around the world: up to three working from the UK and two in North America. Each company has its own style, its own feel: this is because even though the show is very tightly choreographed and orchestrated, there is a lot of room for every performer’s own personality to shine through. The show is as much an expression of eight individuals with very strong personalities as it is a vision of rhythm.