10 May KSF Artists of Choice 2016: UK Dance Selection Panel
Today we were interviewing shortlisted applicants for KSF Artists of Choice: UK Dance Category. Below you can read about the high level industry professionals who worked with us on the selection panel to uncover some of the best new talent working in the UK Dance industry today.
Ivan Blackstock is the co-founder and Artistic Director of BirdGang Dance. He trained at The Urdang Academy, winning a DADA Award and the in-house choreographic platform award, and London Contemporary Dance School. He created A Harlem Dream for Dance Umbrella and the Young Vic. He was the Hip Hop Preliminary Round Judge for BBC Young Dancer. He received the 2013 Award for Guardian and HClub100 for the “most influential and innovative people working across arts, culture and the creative industries in the UK”.
Lauren Cuthbertson is a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. Roles include: Juliet, Manon, Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty), Giselle and Odette/Odile (Swan Lake). Christopher Wheeldon created the title role in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Cuthbertson with others included Hermione (Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale) and Wayne McGregor’s Tetractys. In 2007 she won an Arts and Culture Women of the Future Award. Other awards include silver medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition (2006) and 2004 Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performance (Classical).
Wayne McGregor is Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet. He has created work for: La Scala Theatre Ballet of Milan; Paris Opera Ballet; Nederlands Dans Theatre; San Francisco Ballet; Stuttgart Ballet; New York City Ballet; The Australian Ballet and English National Ballet of London. He was the Movement Director for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Awards include: three Critics’ Circle Awards, two Time Out Awards, two South Bank Show Awards, three Olivier Awards, a prix Benois de la Danse and a Critics’ Prize at the Golden Mask Awards. In 2011 McGregor was awarded a CBE for Services to Dance.
Emma Southworth is the Senior Producer of The Royal Ballet Studio Programme, developing, programming and producing dance for the Linbury Theatre, as well as choreographic and additional projects within The Royal Ballet. She previously project managed at DanceXchange, developing the Birmingham Hippodrome, and in 2007 became Producer for the inaugural International Dance Festival in Birmingham. In 2008 Emma became Deputy Director of Theatre and Artist Development at The Place.
Sharon Watson is the Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre. She trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance. Her choreography includes: Shaded Limits; Never Still; Fast Lane; Melt; Repetition of Change; TearFall (Phoenix); Ghost Peloton (Yorkshire Festival 2014); Honour, (Quays Culture); and artistically directed a large scale performance at RFL Challenge Cup Final, Wembley. In 2010 she was named as one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s Women to Watch.
Jonathan Watkins is a freelance choreographer. Credits include Kes (Sheffield Crucible Theatre), 1984 (Northern Ballet), Silent Vision, Stop Me When I’m Stuck, As One, Diana and Actaeon for Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 (Royal Ballet) and works for Texas Ballet Theatre, Yekaterinburg Ballet and Ballet Manila. Dance on film include Route 67, Sofa and Bunker and as Movement Director on The Machine (M.I.F) Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse) and People (National Theatre).
KSF Artists of Choice is a pioneering funding and mentoring initiative for UK, US and Canada based emerging artists working in theatre, musical theatre, dance or film. Epitomizing KSF’s aim of ‘sending the elevator back down’ it will provide funding, year-round support and mentoring by industry heavyweights.