Trinity Laban

The Choreographers

Read about this year's choreographers below:

 

MARTIN NACHBAR

Martin Nachbar (Berlin) works as a dancer, performer and choreographer. He studied Dance and Choreography at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in Amsterdam and trained in New York City and at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. Martin then went on to work with the Ballets C. de la B. in Ghent from 1996 to 1998. In 1999, Martin co-founded Gruppe B.D.C. along with Thomas Plischke and Alice Chauchat and collaborated with artists such as Martine Pisani, composer Benjamin Schweitzer, dramaturge Jeroen Peters and visual artist Paul Hendrikse. Martin occasionally writes for various European dance and theatre magazines such as etcetera (Brussels), Dance Theatre Journal (London) and ballettanz (Berlin). In 2006, he received the Choreography Award Ludwigshafen.

Martin returns to work with Transitions in 2012 following his highly successful work 'The Other/s' from the 2011 programme. In this full company piece of dance theatre, Martin created an intimate and expectant atmosphere in which surprise and pathos delighted audiences. The haunting accordion score had been especially written for the piece by emerging composer Lucy Smith.

HUBERT ESSAKOW

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Hubert attended the National School of The Arts in Johannesburg and trained with Dianne Cheesman.

He was a member of Cape Town City Ballet before joining The Royal Ballet as a first artist in 1993. Promoted to a Soloist in 1998 he performed many roles in works by leading choreographers such as Ashton, Macmillan, Balanchine, Tharp, Ek, Page, Wheeldon, Davies and Tuckett. On leaving The Royal Ballet in 2003 to pursue a freelance career he appeared with K-Ballet and George Piper Dances in London appearing in works by Wheeldon, Bourne, Khan and Forsythe.

He joined Rambert Dance Company in 2005 and created parts in new works by Christopher Bruce, Aletta Collins, Doug Varone, Gary Stewart and Mark Baldwin. He choreographed his first piece What Rainbow? for Resolution! at The Place, which was performed by Rambert Dance Company in Montepuliciano, Italy. He has subsequently created work on Education and Community projects with English National Ballet Education and Sadlers Wells Education , which have been performed at Royal Albert Hall and The Peacock Theatre. He created his second piece for Resolution at The Place in February 2011 and is an Artistic Associate of The Print Room Theatre in Bayswater.

His first time choreographing on the company, Hubert's work is characterised by an idiosyncratic and articulate pure dance vocabulary, underpinned by his classical training and an incisive musicality. Human strengths and foibles feature, as well as an interest in capturing a spirit of freedom and individuality. 

SHANG CHI SUN

Taiwan born dancer and choreographer Shang Chi Sun was educated as a ballet and contemporary dancer at the National Academy of Arts in Taipei and graduated from Ernst Busch University (Berlin) with a Master of Arts in choreography. He has worked with various dance companies such as Sasha Waltz & Guests, Nurnburg Dance Theatre, Cloudgate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Balletto Teatro Di Turino and Cie. Toula Limnaios.

With his company, Shang Chi Move (founded in 2001), he has created several works including Walk Faster (2007), dialogue II (2009), and 4.48/Ohne Titel (2010), which have been presented in Europe and Asia.  In 2011 he will create two new works: Genus, in collaboration with Cloudgate Dance Theatre 2 (Taiwan), and Je.Sans.Paroles at Le Manege in Maubeuge (France).  Awards include the Bavarian Theatre and Literature Prize from the IHK-Kulturstifung in 2005, 'First Choreography Prize' at the 12^th international Solo Tanz Festival Stuttgart, and LMF Dance Found from Taiwan in 2009 and 2010.

This will be Shang Chi Sun's debut commission for Transitions Dance Company. His work often focuses on the inexplicable yet deeply felt aspects of human nature. The depth of emotional expression, whether joy or sorrow, trauma or liberation is wonderfully connected to the German Dance Theatre tradition. His work is detailed, rhythmic, physically complex and technically demanding. Musically he allows for an apparently simple yet clearly rigorous choreographic response.

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