CV
AWARDS and QUALIFICATIONS
Developing Your Creative Practice award, Art Council of England 2023-24, for the 'Emerging Older Writer' mentored by Rachel Seiffert.
Mayor of Lewisham Award, 2020 for valuable contribution within the borough’s community response to COVID-19.
Lord Mayor’s Show, 2005, selected in open competition.
Year of the Artist, Arts Council, 2000.
A.R.A.D. - Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance, 1989 – current.
A.I.S.T.D. - Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance, Advanced Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Character (all Honours), 1988-89.
Full Equity.
Fully Qualified Teacher of Dance with Advanced RAD, 1989.
Young Vic Genesis Young Director scheme, 2000 –2017.
TRAINING
Goldsmiths College, University of London, MA Creative and Life Writing part-time (2020-2022). Distinction.
Goldsmiths College, University of London, BA Hons English & Theatre Arts (Graduated 1998). 2:1.
Mannheim\Heidelberg Akademie des Tanzes, Germany - Guest Scholar Classical Ballet (1987-1989)
Doreen Bird College, Kent: college shows at Churchill Theatre, Bromley (1985-1987)
Royal Academy of Dancing, London (1980-1985)
Queensland Ballet School, Australia (1975-1980)
MY WORK
PERFORMER/DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER in Live Art, Film, Dance Theatre includes:
Through the Looking Glass, 2021
Director, choreographer and writer.
A short dance film based on the impact of lockdown with the Broadway Blazers. 10 older women. Made with dancer and film-maker Omari Carter (The Motion Dance Collective). Composer: Sam Barnett.
Filmed at performers’ homes and the Broadway Theatre, Catford (last show before it closed).
Funding: Arts Council and Lewisham Council. Received Mayor of Lewisham Award, 2021
Show Coach 2020
Writer & choreographer.
A full-length play written with the performers. A group of older people take a day trip to see a musical. Based on performer’s own stories using show tune. Created and performed at the Broadway Theatre, Catford with 10 older woman, age 55-84 years. Funded by Lewisham Council.
Letters to Home, 2018
Writer and director.
Short play with projection and ten older women as part of Lewisham's 'Festival of Remembrance' as a civic celebration with 800 people in the audience including the Mayor of Lewisham and all Lewisham's councillors. The script was written from and included letters from soldiers in WW1 to their mothers.
Venue: Broadway Theatre, Catford, 10th November 2018
Stroke, 2017
Solo dancer, director and choreographer.
A short film made for the Stroke Association, shown at the Canonbie Gallery, London, July 17. Made with dancer and film-maker Omari Carter (STOMP!) with The Motion Dance Collective.
Labyrinth, 2014
Co-produced with Greenwich Theatre, 3 older people performance companies invited to share their work to a sold out audience. Q&A panel about creating performance by/with older people on stage following the performances.
<https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11867325.success-of-older-peoples-show-at-greenwich-theatre-could-become-regular-fixture/>
Shed, 2014
Director/choreographer/deviser
Performance Lab company.
Venues: Sadler’s Wells Elixir Festival; Greenwich Theatre in Joint Action and various London venues.
Dance theatre work based on ‘absent’ husbands. 10 women aged 68-96 years. Developed over a year and included a durational project, Mem Morrison’s Watershed, presented in a shed on the Embankment at the Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love, July 2014.
Funding: Arts Council
Where Bluebirds Fly, 2014
Writer, choregorapher and director
15 older women from the Supertroupers with dance, song and text.
Venue: Greenwich Theatre
Young Mayor Citizens, 2013
Intergenerational project working with 10 young people aged 16-21 years with older people from the Supertroupers. This project explored comparing experiences and perceptions of each other in the differing age groups, in daily life such as using public transport and shopping.
Venue: Workshopped over 3 months and performed at the Town Hall, Lewisham.
Funded by Lewisham.
Scammers Beware, 2013 -14
Writer and director.
Community project with the Metropolitan Police based on their book, Little Book of Scams. A show made up of a series of scenes touring local community venues, performed by 10 older women.
Funded by Lewisham and Metropolitan Police.
Flashmob, Dance Film Short, 2013:
Director and choreographer.
Intergenerational fundraiser film for Montage Theatre Arts. 12 young people dancing with 15 older dancers in Deptford Market peforming to public.
Camera/Lighting by David Sutton.
Tales of Ambition, 2012
Writer and choreographer.
16 women, aged 65 - 82, written based on the performers' dreams for their older age, with song, dance and text.
Venues: Chisenhale Dance Space; Blackheath Spiegeltent (Olympic opening event).
Funded by Big Dance.
Chicago, 2010
Writer and choreographer.
7 older women dancing in twenties costumes dancing numbers from the musical 'Chicago' with script written from improvisations around themes of the show.
Performed as part of Big Dance, Covent Garden, 2010 and at the Brockley Jack Theatre.
Funded by Big Dance.
Re:Generation, 2010
Director and choreographer of older people's dances
New intergenerational play using script, song and dance, written by Evan Placey. 100 children aged 5 -16 working with 10 older people exploring arrival and living as foreigners in Britain.
Funded by the Arts Council.
Lord Mayor’s Show, 2005
Choreographer, performer and director.
Processional dance with 90 children, staff and volunteers. (City of London).
Funded by Mercer’s Trust.
Dancing in Time 2004,
12 older women sit at their own table dressing up over the show. Telling tales of their past, for their futures, dancing central to all.
Venue: Albany Theatre
Funded by Lewisham
Bess, 2002
Writer and director.
Site-specific play based on Bess Houdini.
Venue: Greenwich Theatre foyer.
Songs from Home, 2001
Director/choreographer.
Multi-ethnic and disabled (wheelchair) non-performers.
Venue: Albany Theatre.
Young Vic Young Directors Workshop, 2001
Director
Selected by David Lan, 1 week physical theatre workshop on Caryl Churchill's Vinegar Tom.
Venue: Young Vic stage.
Figments, 2000-2001:
Digital Artist, director and performer
Made with David Barnett, digital artist. Six month residency in Stour Valley, Kent to produce visual art work in a CD-ROM, staging scenes produced exploring urbanity in nature. Edited images of the woods infiltrated by urban landscapes (escalators, theatre, walkways) with staged actors set in the scenes.
Commissioned by Stour Valley Arts for ACE Year of the Artist. Residency with Brighton University. Documented in the book ‘King’s Wood: A Context’, Sandra Drew (ed.), Stour Valley Arts, 2005.
Forest Flicks: Live Art piece performed with projection on the entrance and using doors of the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. As part of the Residency with Brighton University.
Sorry, which me did you mean?, 2000
Director and choreographer.
Opening commission for Resolution 2000! 2 large screens, Projected image on one, live camera on other, 3 dancers performing with video images to live drumming.
Venue: The Place Theatre, London.
Funded by The Place.
The Struggle for Utopia, 2000
Solo performer, digital artist and choreographer.
Live Art work performed on the roof of a car. Images and film projected on to the performer, house and car.
Commissioned Live Digital Art project as part of Lighthouse Artist Residency, Brighton.
Commissioned as YEAR OF THE ARTIST 2000.
Funded by the Arts Council.
Second Nature, 1999
Writer, director and choreographer.
Site-specific show with 15 women at the Rivoli Ballroom, aged 18 – 85 years.
Funded by Arts Council Millennium and Awards for All National Lottery.
Lightlines,1998-99
Director, solo dancer and choreographer.
In collaboration with digital artist, David Barnett. Projected image and film with live dance and live projected drawing by David Barnett. Using Jeremy Bentham's Panoptican theory to explore the role of a woman searching her identity while being watched.
Venues: Regional and NationalTour: Wandsworth Arts Festival - BAC Main House; New Works Festival '99, Phoenix Arts Centre, Leicester; Chichester Festival Fringe, Studio Theatre; FIELD 22, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton; Chisenhale Dance Space, London; The Lewisham Theatre Studio, London; Volcano Film Festival, The Ovalhouse Theatre, London.
Schneider and Shuster, 1995
Producer/ director for staged play-reading of Joshua Sobol’s unpublished play, with permission from the author. Diorama Theatre.
LECTURER/TEACHER includes:
2005-2022 Older People’s performance companies - teaching weekly classes and devised shows:
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Broadway Blazers, Broadway Theatre, Catford, 2019-2022, funded by Lewisham.
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Performance Lab, Greenwich Theatre, 2013-2015, weekly classes and summer school.
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Elder People’s Support Project, Supertroupers, six shows 2010 - 2015
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Senior’s Drama Group, Stansted Lodge: Gossip, centennial show, 2013. Ghosts, Catford Festival, Broadway Theatre, 2014;
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Capital Age Festival annually, Southbank Centre, 2010-2015
Festivals and Events with older people include:
Capital Age Festival (Southbank Centre),
Lewisham Pensioners' Day (Broadway Theatre), 2012-2014
Joint Action and Labyrinth (Produced by Montage Theatre Arts with Greenwich Theatre at Greenwich Theatre) 2015
Wow Festival, 2013 (Southbank Centre),
Big Dance (Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden) 2013-2015
Sagacity 2015
OTHER TEACHING:
2005-2010 Annual Guest lecturer at Greenwich University, School of Mathematics and Computer Sciences: ‘Digital Performance’.
2009 Digital Arts Residency: Guest lecturer at Penn State University, USA. Drama Department: ‘Digital Performance’ – one week.
2000: 'Art on the Net' Conference Speaker and exhibition of work at University of Brighton Gallery.
1999 Lighthouse / University of Brighton, Artist in Residence in Rural Secondary School, Swadeland Secondary
1995-1998 Stagecoach School for the Performing Arts (Jazz dance, musical theatre)
1997 Royal Shakespeare Company, , Movement Assistant - company warm-ups.
Various dance schools in London, Germany and Italy.
MONTAGE THEATRE ARTS,
Founder and Artistic Director
Founded in 1998 with access to high quality arts teaching and practice for all, 1998 - 2015.
Montage Children's programme:
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Saturday programme, 3-16 years in groups, in ballet, dance and drama, singing as required over the years; youth drama group.
Montage Older People’s companies:
Role: Director, teacher
2 older people's companies, ages 55 – 96 years, including Performance Lab with Greenwich Theatre - weekly teaching and devising shows and events throughout the year, a full-length play directed and created annually and performed at Brockley Jack Theatre.
Holiday workshops (1 day to 1 week):
Role: Director, dance and drama teacher:
3 week-long musical workshops in the summer to 75 children in 3 groups in dance, singing and drama – many, many musicals covered! Early starters (3-5 years) workshop each week. All workshops ended in a full presentation to 200 parents each term.
Volunteer programme:
Trained up to 50 young people per year, aged 16 - 30, assisting in classes and at shows and events.
Shows:
Role:Director and choreographer:
Annual large scale musical theatre shows of up to 400 children (Aged 3 – 16 years) at Broadway Theatre, Catford and Albany Theatre Deptford, many project funded by Arts Council. Selected for the Lord Mayor’s Show, 2005. Annually: Lewisham People's Day, 2010-2015
TV and theatre:
Role: Choreographer and director:
Comic Relief featured on BBC South East presented by Dom Joly; Burlesque feature with Immodesty Blaise on the Paul O’Grady Show Channel 4; Big Dance (Trafalgar Square); National Theatre Youth Programme Connections programme – 6 years; Southbank Centre community performances.
Vocational progression:
Students went on to The Brit School, Italia Conti, West End shows Matilda, The Secret Garden and many gaining drama scholarships to local private and grammar schools.
Fundraiser/marketing and communications:
I was the sole fundraiser and created all artistic and text promotional material for the company. I raised over £500,000 from trusts and foundations including Wates Foundation (2 X 3-year funding grants of 45k each), and many project grants from the Arts Council and Lewisham.
ARTS CONSULTANT (2012-2019)
Lewisham Music Hub (lead advisor) (2012-2015)
Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre (2017)
University of Greenwich School of Humanities & Social Sciences Advisory Board (2010-2012)
LEAN (Lewisham Education Arts Network) 2006-2015
Lewisham Council Youth Arts Strategy for Every Child Matters policy 2004,
National Theatre Education Department, consultant for youth education leading to 'Connections' national programme
OTHER FUNDRAISING:
100 Club Youth Jazz Festival 2018, Concept/Director and Fund-raiser for 100 Club: Five youth jazz organisations over 5 weeks in summer: Royal Academy of Music, NYJO, Leeds, Engine Orchestra – 50 young jazz musicians, (Arts Council funded, £10,000)
ACTING credits includes:
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THE TANGO ROOM, Part: The Daughter, Dir. Josette Bushell-Mingo, Aspect Theatre Productions, Ovalhouse Theatre and Loughborough Hotel, 1998
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LOVE, LUST, DESIRE and LONGING, Part: The Goatess, Dir. Josette Bushell-Mingo, Aspect Theatre Productions, Camden Roundhouse, London, 1998
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VIDEO INSTALLATION, Part: Dancer, Dir. Simon Biggs - Digital Artist, Choreograopher: Sue Hawkings, Three Mills Island,1997
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QUIET, Part: Rose Talbot, Dir. Phillip Hoffman, Writer: Louise Warren, Forbidden Theatre Company, Main Theatre, BAC, regional tour and Diorama, 1997
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GODSPELL, Part: Peggy, Dir. Mark Cartner, Jackson’s Lane, 1994
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THE MARRIAGE, Part: Molly, The Bride, Dir. Lucy Pitman-Wallace, Three Legged Theatre Company, Hen and Chickens, London, 1994
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THE KING AND I, Part: Chorus, wife, Richard Cheshire, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, 1993
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CINDERELLA, Parts: Chorus, Cinderella understudy to Jodie Wilson, starring Des O'Connor, Eric Sykes, Peggy Mount, Dir. Roger Redfarn, M.D.Colin Keyes, Paul Elliott productions, Theatre Royal, Plymouth and Birmingham Hippodrome, 1991/92
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ALADDIN, Part: Chorus, Dir. Iain Lauchlan, M.D. Trevor Allan, Belgrade, Coventry, 1989
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OTELLO, Part: Childrens’ Chorus, Dir. Jonathan Miller, conductor Mark Elder, English National Opera, London Coliseum, 1980
TELEVISION credits include:
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BBC 1, MONSTER CAFÉ, Dir: Alison Stewart: 10 Episodes, various characters, 1992
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BBC 1, GRANGE HILL & MAID MARIAN Dir: David Bell, various parts
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From West End to Broadway, Solo singer, Winter Gardens, Eastbourne, 1992
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Session singer on backing tracks for Danny La Rue 1993.
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Various advertisements, 1989 - 1992
CLASSICAL BALLET 1986-89 includes:
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Bielefeld Staatstheater, Germany - DER NUSSKNACKER, The Snow Queen (Guest soloist), 1989
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Koblenz Staatstheater, Germany - SCHWARZER PETER; (Corps), 1988
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Mannheim Seebuhne, Germany and City Hall, Cardiff (twin town) - DIE PUPPENFEE, Part: The Fairy Doll (Principal Ballerina), 1988
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Schwetzinger Kunsthalle, Germany - MESSIAH, (Soloist), 1988
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London - London City Ballet, Fairfield Halls, Croydon, 1985 – COPPELIA, played ‘the doll’, 1987
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Italy - Vacanza de Dansa, Trieste: Performer and Teacher of Russian Character Dance with Mikhail Berkut, 1987
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Local and international tours with Mannheim\Heidelberg Akademie des Tanzes, 1987 - 1989
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Finalist,1986: Cosmopolitan Dance Award, Sadlers Wells, age 15.
PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOPS:
Young Vic Workshop: Tim Supple (September 1999)
Theatre de Complicite: Clive Mendus Workshop (one week 1998); One week with Simon McBurney International Theatre Week (1993)
Actors Centre, London: Ian Rickson (Royal Court Theatre), Richard Shannon LBC Radio Studios, Andrew Holmes (Empty Space Theatre), Stephen Whittaker - Anthony Minghella Film Workshop, Jonathan Petherbridge (London Bubble Theatre),
Sylvia Simms, Mary Hammond, Nina Finburgh, Clare Venables.