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 using rhythms, acrobatics and pantomime.

Stomp was created by Luke Cresswell, John McAuley and Steve McNicholas in Brighton, United Kingdom in 1991. The performers use a variety of everyday objects as percussion instruments in their shows.

Cresswell and McNicholas first worked together in 1981 as members of the street band Pookiesnackenburger and the theatre group Cliff Hanger. Together, these groups presented a series of street comedy musicals at the Edinburgh Festival throughout the early 1980s. After two albums, a UK TV series and extensive touring throughout Europe, Pookiesnackenburger also produced the "Bins" commercial for Heineken lager. The piece was originally written and choreographed as part of the band's stage show.

Between 1987 and 1990, Cresswell directed staged four large-scale outdoor events, including "Beat the Clyde". which involved floating a drum orchestra on a pontoon in the centre of Glasgow; the largest of these events, the "Heineken Hove Lagoon Show", involved a 120 piece drum orchestra featuring the Brighton Festival Chorus and a full orchestral string section.

In the summer of 1991, Cresswell and McNicholas produced, financed and directed the original Stomp show, previewing at London's Bloomsbury Theatre and premiering at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, where it became the Guardian's "Critic's Choice" and won the Daily Express's "Best of the Fringe" award. Originally a seven-piece (with Luke Cresswell, Theseus Gerard, Fraser Morrison, Carl Smith, Nick Dwyer, David Olrod and Sarah Eddy), Stomp grew to be an eight person outfit with the addition of Fiona Wilkes in the autumn of '91.

Between 1991 and 1994, the original cast of Stomp played to capacity audiences around the world. The touring culminated in a season at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London in January 1994, where Stomp received an Olivier nomination for the "Best Entertainment Award" and won "Best Choreography Award in a West End show".

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