About Me

I am a confident and versatile trained dancer in a range of techniques, from contemporary and ballet to gymnastics and sports acrobatics!I'm an experienced choreographer, having created a number of pieces for live theatre performance. I also take a keen interest in dance education and have broad teaching experience. Although dance is my main interest and area of expertise I have experience in acting and physical theatre and am interested in any opportunities to progress my skills and experience in this area too!

Experience & Qualifications

General Experience

Performance:
 Laban Degree Show Saturday 26th July and Tuesday 29th July 2010- Studio Theatre and Bonnie Bird Theatre, Laban.
I performed in a piece choreographed by Morwenna Truscott entitled In Amongst It. The piece was based around the theme of ritual and was set in a circular performance space ‘in the round’. As a dancer I was challenged both spatially and rhythmically to travel in a continuous circular pathway around the performance space and to keep strong, grounded set footwork rhythms to enhance the ritualistic atmosphere. I also performed in Brett Murray’s piece, Perzonal. As a dancer I performed technical and physically challenging movement which was inspired by the style of Mia Michaels, being quite commercial and integrating modern theatre dance and contemporary styles. I also performed in my own choreography, Hands Can’t Catch What Eyes Can’t See. This utilised my acrobatic skills, involving many lifts and acrobatic contact work.

 ‘Hearth’, a Commissioned Piece by Kerry Nichols. December 2009-1st March 2010
I danced within a twenty strong cast in a piece choreographed by Kerry Nichols. The piece was inspired by the music of David Lang and explored the theme of quixotic meetings and departures between dancers. The creative process that I was involved in shared aspects of the choreographic methodologies used by Wayne McGregor-Random Dance, as a dancer I experienced co-generating physical texts with other dancers and learning set, directed material. The movement vocabulary was technically demanding, fast and physical. Within the piece I performed in a set duet, a contact trio, an octet and a number of large group sections. I performed in the premiere of the piece in the Bonnie Bird Theatre, Laban on 3rd and 4th December 2009, and then in a number of toured performances in and around London and also toured the piece to an event at The Excelsior Hotel in Valetta, Malta on 25th February to 1st March 2010.

• ‘The Clearing,’ a Commissioned Piece by Charles Linehan. October 2009-March 2010
The piece explored circular pathways and was created from improvisation exercises. The finished piece included both set movement and moments of live improvisation. I performed in a group section in the piece which included aspects of improvisation, and two set duets involving set contact and contact improvisation. The piece was performed at the Bonnie Bird Theatre, Laban on 8th and 9th October 2009

• Reproduction of SCAN (2000) by Rosemary Butcher. Bonne Bird Theatre, Laban, February 2009.
I worked with choreographer Rosemary Butcher to create a reproduction of her choreography, Scan (2000). I worked within a creative team of twelve people, performing a number of contact quartets in the piece. The process I was involved in used improvisation exercises based on the theme of bones and the image of X-Rays to create movement. The piece was an architecture of space, incorporating changes of front to shift the work to be set in the proscenium arch theatre at the Bonnie Bird, Laban, opposed to the original version which was set in the round.
Choreography:
In addition to choreographing as part of my teaching experience, working towards creating performance pieces with participants of dance workshops and classes I have taught, I have also worked on my own choreographic projects whilst at Laban:
• Hands Can’t Catch What Eyes Can’t See. Performed in the Bonnie Bird Theatre Laban.
I choreographed the piece as my ‘Independent Project’ at Laban. It was performed on May 21st and on 29th May in the Degree show, and has since been nominated for inclusion in this year’s Neu/Now Festival by Colin Bourne, head of undergraduate studies. The piece was made for five dancers and involves integrating the spatial patterns of Laban’s A scale with spatial formations from the sport of rugby to create an abstract architecture of space and involves movement vocabulary which is very physical, acrobatic and technically challenging, the dancers perform partner and group contact movements as well as solo material. I took the sole responsibility of choreographer during the creative process of the piece, however I performed in the piece in my degree show at Laban on 29th June due to one of my dancers being injured.

• Site Specific Choreography (also performing experience): Channel.
I worked with four dancers in the creation of the piece and also performed in the piece myself. The choreography was set in three of the Laban corridors, viewed from the studio theatre from which a view of all of the three levels of corridors could be seen through transparent glass walls, creating movement that was read vertically by an audience. The movement involved, was quite pedestrian and minimalistic, concentrating on dynamics and the individual dancers’ performance choices rather than technique. I used the theme of chance and improvisation in the piece by including the ‘passers-by’ in the corridors into the dynamics and structuring of movement.

 Clothes make the Man. Performed in the Bonnie Bird Theatre, Laban.
I created this work for a group of six dancers. It was chosen for public performance in the Bonnie Bird Theatre, Laban on 17th and 18th June 2009. I used the theme of semiotics of costume to create the piece. I worked with movement based exercises involving contact improvisation in duets with my dancers, concentrating on architecture of space rather than emotion or narrative. In the finished piece the dancers change their costumes or are changed by other dancers whilst performing their contact duets on stage, to portray how clothing can lead an audience to place originally task based and non-narrative movement into a particular context, creating relationships and narratives between the dancers based on their preconceived ideas about their clothing and uniform.

Qualifications & Training

BA (Hons) Dance Theatre
BTEC National Diploma in Dance Level 3
Theatre Studies A Level Graded B
I.S.T.D. and R.A.D exams in ballet,tap and modern dance.

Other Information

Relevant Skills

Training
•Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, September 2007 to June 2010
BA (Hons) Dance Theatre
Training in Graham, Cunningham and Release contemporary techniques, and in Ballet. The course also included classes in choreography, contact improvisation, choreological studies, and teaching technique and involves many performance opportunities.

• New College, Telford, September 2004 to July 2006
BTEC, Advanced, Level 3 Diploma in Dance, graded Distinction; training in jazz dance, musical theatre dance, ballet, contemporary and modern dance.
A levels at grade ‘B’ in Psychology, English Literature, and Theatre studies.

•The Shropshire Academy of Dance and Theatre, September 2005 to September 2007
Participated in lessons, and I.S.T.D and R.A.D accredited exams in classical ballet, tap and modern theatre and also trained in jazz, street dance and contemporary techniques and performed in regular festivals and showcases. I was also a member of Shropshire Youth Dance Company.

• Gymnastics training-Park Wrekin gymnastics club and STACS 95 Sports Acrobatics Club
Previous to my dance training, I trained as a gymnast from the age of 3 to 17. I competed for my county and regional team in four piece gymnastics and I represented England in a competition in Budapest, Hungary in a sports acrobatics trio.

• Belmont Arts Centre Shrewsbury-Break Dance and Street Dance Lessons September 2003-September 2005
Participated in breakdance and street dance lessons under the instruction of Tamsin Fitzgerald (Two Faced Dance Company). I performed in a number of youth showcases around Shropshire with the dance group formed in these classes.