Born and raised in South East London, Ademola Junior Laniyan has tap danced on stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall with the recording artist Robbie Williams; Canadian Tap Pioneer Heather Cornell in Finding Synesthesia for both the London and Salzberg Jazz Festivals and in The Purcell Room for Out of the Blues with his tap Mentor Tobias Tak.
His credits outside the UK include improvised tap solos in both Riverdance for its European and Asian tours & the Tony award winning Broadway show After Midnight (Various Caribbean and Mexican islands) as well as Los Sones Negros for Suma Flamenca (Spain) with Flamenco legend Juan de Juan, La Serena Festival Internacional de Jazz ( Chile) with Chilean jazz trumpet legend Cristián Cuturrufo, and the Ernesto Nazareth Chorinho Festival (Brazil) as part of the Michele Drees Jazz Tap Project. The Jazz Tap Project were also featured in the 2013 & 2014 London Jazz Festivals and had the honour of supporting the Jazz legend Jon Hendricks at London’s Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.
Ademola Junior Laniyan also works as a professional actor and has merged both skills on stage while playing the title role in the touring show Master Juba, and the children’s show Mrs Wobble the Waitress as Mr Wobble.
As an actor he played Pvt Bell in Danny Boyles 28 Days Later & The Photographer in Gareth Maxwell Robert’s Kill, Kill, Faster, Faster as well as numerous other television and theatre productions within the UK.
Tap choreography credits include Net A Porter’s online Autumn Winter shoes campaign, Sky 1’s Louis Spence’s Show Business, a commercial for Zain in Lebanon and Tap Dance consultant for London’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. He was also commissioned by The Space to choreograph a tap number in collaboration with British Jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch.
Ademola Junior Laniyan has also taught extensively within the UK and continental Europe and South America
In his efforts to share his love of the dance with others, he co-founded the London Tap Jam, a regular opportunity for tap dancers to jam with each other supported by fantastic live musicians in the heart of London.