Pluridisciplinary artist Adrien Rako operates on whichever front creativity takes him. Movement and sounds are two cornerstones of storytelling and two sides of the same coin for the Fribourg (Switzerland) – based artist, who learned at an early age to walk both paths as soon as he could noodle on a guitar or stumble through his first steps in a dance studio. Therefore, the mirror act of creating music for dance and choreographing to his own music in order to tell stories has always been an intrinsic part of Adrien’s artistic expression. The dual creative outlet has been his go-to whenever words fail.

Before turning to full-time composition, Adrien has made a decade-long career in dance, in and out of the stage. Firstly with the international physical musical theater show « STOMP », where he could fully express his need for rythm, percussion and movement. His quest for movement and physical expression has led him to work with choreographers whose art he deeply cherishes and under whom he trained through years of practicing dance in several studios worldwide, notably San Diego choreographers Keone and Mari Madrid, or Colorado based choreographers Larkin Poynton and Christopher Martin.

Music composition has always been the receiving end of the physical outpour in dance for Adrien. He started scoring for shows of Fribourg-based association Mastazz Dance & Co in parallel to choreographing early in his career. His first full-length score was featured in Mastazz Dance & Co’s 10 year anniversary creation « Palindrome », which holds a special place in Adrien’s heart for the same reason it received critical praise : « Palindrome » is a fully self-produced work of love by the Mastazz Dance & Co collective, featuring an important number of amateur dancers and showcasing the creative lengths and professionalism that amateur dancers are able to display when pushing their creative boundaries. The seminal work provided the foundation for Adrien’s musical endeavors.

Starting 2021, Adrien joined dance collective « Nous et Moi », for which he composed exclusive scores for screen and stage. Their first visual album « Nuances » was created during the covid lockdown at a time when online expression provided the sole place of expression for artists of all trades. Since then, Adrien composed several pieces for the dance collective, bridging the gap between movement and sound in a collaborative and parallel creative process. He pursues his career composing for dance acts, theater and stage as well as pushing for his own music to find shape independently from stage productions.

photo credit : Ermi Tadesse