People Dancing

www.falmouth.ac.uk/staff/dr-sue-smith

Anand Bhatt is a dance enthusiast and producer from Leicester. With an interest in all things Michael Jackson and Bollywood, he stumbled upon contemporary dance in 2007 when he was dancing in a Kathak show along with dancer Aakash Odedra. As Aakash and Anand found their creative talks and dreams aligned, the clearer it also became that Anand was not in fact a dancer. He started to help out Aakash with his shows, and ended up as his producer.

Instantly falling in love with contemporary dance but not having seen much of it, Anand has remained focussed on gathering experience and skills by intensively supporting Aakash. The first project ‘Rising’ featured commissions by Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Russell Maliphant. Aakash has since gone on to be one of the most globally toured contemporary dancers living in Britain over the past five years. Commercially Anand ran a studio space in Leicester, and the resident Bollywood dance school Desi Masti was a force for South Asian dance in the Midlands. In 2014, Anand closed Desi Masti (as Aakash’s work was getting too busy) and signed a franchise with Aakash’s Alma Mater – ‘Shiamak’ the world leader in Bollywood Dance. Anand was also artistic director of MJ Timeless, a summer residency show at Blackpool ‘s Globe Theatre which featured an international award winning cast and the show was ravely reviewed.

In 2014 Anand was accepted on the Step Change programme and took on a placement at London Festival ‘Dance Umbrella’ where his enquiries included 1) how can I upscale my work from small scale to larger scale and 2) Can I stay in the Leicester area, and still be considered world class, and thereby changing the perception of the place. Anand achieved this ‘upscaling’ challenge when Dance Umbrella assigned Anand to work with Marcos Morau’s La Veronal at Sadler’s Wells and the subsequent year working with Aditi Mangaldas Company touring to The Barbican, Warwick Arts Centre, The Lowry and Curve. His idea of placemaking saw him heavily focus on ‘Diwali’ - the Festival of lights - as an opportunity for building quality and he is advocating for this festival to become a world-class festival. Anand’s other interests include the possibility of getting more audience members from all communities and how his learning in South Asian arts can be applied more broadly to mainstream projects.

Anand formed Aakash Odedra Company with Aakash in 2011, and in 2016 formed their new structure Leicester Dance Theatre Limited which brought together their various strands of activity under one structure. In 2018 this new structure was awarded NPO status by Arts Council England and is the highest new entry for any dance company in the country.

Dance City, the North East’s leading development organisation for dance, appointed Anand as its new Chief Executive and Artistic Director in July 2020.

Anand Bhatt. Photographer: Glen D’Mello

Dr Gillie Kleiman is an artist. Her work measures its distance from dance and choreography, manifesting in performances, texts, pedagogical activities and other events, including a long practice of community dance. Gillie's activities take place in the fields of dance and live art and sometimes in related disciplines, including in venues and festivals such as Sadler's Wells, SPILL Festival, Fierce Festival, Dance Umbrella, Nottdance, and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art amongst many others.

Gillie holds a BA in Dance and Culture, an MA in Performance and Creative Research and a PhD in Dance Studies; the latter focused on the post-work potentials of choreography with non-professional performers through practices of performance-making and curation. She received danceWEB scholarships in 2008 and 2013, received an Artsadmin Artist’s Bursary in 2012-3, and was part of Sadler’s Wells’ first Summer University cohort in 2011-2014. She is currently an associate artist at Dance4 and a Lecturer in Dance at Leeds Beckett University.

Gillie lives and works in Newcastle upon Tyne.

www.gilliekleiman.com

Dr Gillie Kleiman. Photographer: David Wilson Clarke.

Carolyn Lappin has been Executive Director at YDance (Scottish Youth Dance) since 2002. YDance is the national dance organisation for children and young people in Scotland, working across the country in three operational areas – Dance Participation, Education and Talent Development.

She graduated with a degree in Politics and Economics from Glasgow University in 1982, and began working in the arts in marketing and box office at the Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow. From 1984 until 2001 she was General Manager with the Scottish Youth Theatre also managing the Old Athenaeum Theatre in Glasgow for SYT. 

Carolyn has experience in touring theatre and dance, having been Administrator for Winged Horse Touring Productions, IPB Productions and Spontaneous Combustions, and she was Chair of the Independent Theatre Council in Scotland from 1996 – 1998 and a member of the UK ITC Board of Directors. She is currently Chair of Surge, a company which develops street arts, physical theatre and circus in Scotland.

Louise Marshall has been professionally involved in the world of participatory and community dance for over 25 years. Building on her own experience of community projects in Liverpool, she went on to work as a free-lance dance artist in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, delivering projects that included in specialist hospitals, adult education centres, schools, care homes and village halls.

Since 2001 Louise has led on dance engagement at Eden Court in Inverness. As well as regular classes within the venue, she has developed and delivered Highland-wide projects for all ages and abilities.

Consequently, she has been able to Charleston at Dunvegan, Salsa in Fort William, flashmob at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival and bring hundreds of people together to perform on the Empire Stage as part of The Big Dance Show.

Current projects include Dance for Parkinsons; a multi-generational and inclusive Community Dance Company; developing young talent with the Eden Court Young Dance Company and SQA Higher Dance qualification; creating performance work with local immigrant communities.

Louise is currently in her final year of a MEd in Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  

Dr Ruth Pethybridge is a choreographer, facilitator and researcher. She has delivered dance in diverse settings with all ages: from babies to the elderly and everything in between. Her socially engaged practice emphasises creativity in choreographic processes, finding ways to form people's unique choices and ways of moving into choreographic work and blurring the lines between social gathering and performance. She joined Falmouth University as a lecturer in 2013 and completed her practice based PhD on concepts of community in cross-generational dance in 2017.

Ruth regularly works as a choreographer, dramaturg and researcher on choreographic projects, most recently with renowned choreography Rosemary Lee on a movement installation on Par beach, Cornwall commissioned by CAST. Previous projects have included working with Charlie Morrissey and Anjali Dance Company, as well as for Pegasus Theatre, and in roles such as education coordinator for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company.

In 2008 Ruth facilitated the first Age Inclusive National College for Community Dance course for People Dancing and authored the corresponding handbook. In 2016 People Dancing also published the teaching resource Any Age, Any Body, Any Dance co-authored by Ruth with Cecilia Macfarlane for national distribution. Ruth's research interests center on the politics of participation, dance and culture, social dancing and embodiment.

Dylan Quinn has worked as a professional dance artist for over 17 years. He created Dylan Quinn Dance Theatre (DQDT) in 2009 to further develop his choreographic work. Dylan trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, England.

Upon completing a BA Performing Arts Dance Degree Dylan went on to work with a number of different companies for productions in London festivals Resolutions and Spring Loaded.

Dylan worked for several years with Ludus Dance Company and it was during this time that he further developed his interested in creating work that says something about the world within which we live.

In 2001 Dylan relocated to Spain to undertake an MA in Peace and development Studies at the Universtad Di Cataollina. Upon returning to Northern Ireland Dylan worked as a lecturer on a Peace and Community Development course in Sligo and became Artist in Residence with Fermanagh District Council.

In 2009 Dylan and Dance Manager Hannah Curr established DQDT and since then DQDT has established an extensive programme of community and education work across Fermanagh and beyond.

Dylan Quinn, TOST. Photographer: Luca Truffarelli.

Iona Waite began attending dance classes at her local community centre at the age of 9; a year later she joined ACE Youth and has been an integral member of ACE dance and music ever since.

Following a foundation course at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, she went on to achieve a BA Hons at the University of Wolverhampton. In 2011 Iona was successfully awarded with a grant from the BBC Performing Arts Fund to become a Dance Fellow (apprentice) with ACE Dance and Music, on completion of her fellowship Iona was offered a full-time position as Education Officer.

Iona leads on all aspects of education and outreach for the company, delivers ACE’s thriving weekly class programme for children aged 2 – 11 as well as teaching and managing the rehearsal and tour schedule of ACE Youth.

Iona is an integral member of ACE’s professional dance company and has been instrumental in the creation of their innovative work. She has trained with a number of prestigious companies including Josette Baiz- France, Alvin Ailey-New York, Zfin Malta Dance Ensemble and Flatfoot Dance Company-South Africa.

Iona Waite. Photographer: Brian Slater.

Catherine Young started dancing at the age of 11 and then went on to gain a BA (Hons) Contemporary Dance Degree from De Montfort University, Leicester. She has worked as a Community Dance Artist and Choreographer for the past 16 years.

Community Dance is Catherine's greatest passion and nothing fascinates or pleases her more than witnessing people of all ages and abilities expressing themselves through movement. She firmly believes that anyone can dance and loves that the profession offers the opportunities for people to discover this.

As Artistic Director of Dawns i Bawb (DiB), the community dance organisation for North West Wales she writes in her Animated article Response-Relationship-Engagement-Dance about how it is unique being part of one of the very few dance organisations in Wales working primarily through the Welsh language.