Dedicated to deconstructing gender in the classical arts, Mississippi-born Will Byram has begun his MA/MFA in Choreography at Trinity Laban as the Fulbright-Trinity Laban Postgraduate Scholar 2021/22.

Exploring how male fragility and aggression manifest in the body, Will’s degree will culminate in the creation of a movement theatre work with a narrative adapted from a 1999 Human Rights Watch interview on men’s experiences with sexual assault.

Before arriving in London, Will completed his BFA in Dance in 2020 at the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, New York where he choreographed the mainstage production of Purcell’s opera Dido & Aeneas. The first large-scale collaboration between the university’s Conservatories of Music and Dance, the show won second place in the 2020 National Opera Association Competition.

Will’s work has also been performed at Dancers Responding to AIDS, Jazz Choreography Enterprises and most recently, Battery Dance Festival in New York.

Will plans to use his postgraduate training as a foundation to launch a career in higher education that champions access and exposure to the arts in the American South. He also hopes to learn about British etiquette and discover the similarities between his Southern upbringing and culture.

His first project at Trinity Laban will be choreographing opera scenes this December in collaboration with the vocal department.

On joining the Trinity Laban community Will says –

“Trinity Laban has such a distinctive place in the dance history canon. I’m honoured to study at an institution dedicated to innovation and progressing the future of contemporary dance. I’m also excited to learn and absorb all that London’s creative theatre and dance scene has to offer.”

Sara Matthews, Director of Dance, comments –

“Trinity Laban is thrilled to welcome William Byram to the Faculty of Dance as this year’s Fulbright Scholar, continuing a rich tradition of cultural exchange and innovation. The international community Will is joining will help support his development as a change-maker, as he continues to take exciting steps to advance the art form of dance.”

Trinity Laban Principal Anthony Bowne comments –

“Trinity Laban is proud to continue its longstanding partnership with the US-UK Fulbright Commission by being part of this next stage in Will’s artistic journey. He is an exceptionally talented individual doing extraordinary work that advocates for equity and we are excited to see the transformative impact he will no doubt have on the Conservatoire and wider arts industry over the course of his tenure.”

US-UK Fulbright Commission Executive Director Maria Balinska comments –

“Will is a testament to the Fulbright Programme’s commitment to civically engaged artistic excellence. We’re excited to see the outcome of his creative exchanges with the dance community at Trinity Laban and proud to be partnering for a sixth year with the only Conservatoire of Music and Contemporary Dance in the UK.”

The US-UK Fulbright programme is the only international education exchange to go both ways across the Atlantic and whose vision is a world in which there are no obstacles to learning, understanding and collaboration.

Previous Trinity Laban recipients include US Marines veteran and Artistic Director of Exit12 Dance Company (New York) Roman Baca, who was awarded the Fulbright Association’s Selma Jeanne Cohen Dance Lecture Award, and Washington-born pianist Garrett Snedeker who won a Barzun Prize for Youth Engagement to pioneer a music project to engage under-served teenagers in Southeast London.

Find out more about the Fulbright Scholarship, including how to apply for 2022, on our Fees and Finance pages.

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Image: Will Byram

The biennial festival returns to Laban Theatre this September to showcase 26 new independent short films from around the world.

Curated by Reader in Choreography Charles Linehan, the London International Screen Dance Festival champions the inventive and experimental integration of movement, choreography and the moving image on screen.

This year, there will be four hour-long programmes across two nights (23 & 24 Sept), featuring work from 5 continents, including four World Premieres from the USA, South Korea and the UK and 11 UK premieres.

Shortlisted from over 500 submissions, the 26 films include:

• Douglas Rosenberg’s Song of Songs, described as a “deeply personal evocation” of the poetry series from the Old Testament. Shot in black and white with an original cello score, it evokes a cinematic space that is contemplative and austere, turning “ritual to art to performance”.
• John Degois’ Birds, a life affirming 9 minute one-take film shot outdoors in black and white using slow motion. The film attempts to transpose live performance to film and breaks expectations of where the viewer should focus their attention, offering an antidote to the gloom of our covid 19 reality.
• Hadi Moussally’s Bellydance Vogue, which mixes archive VHS footage from his childhood in Lebanon with contemporary footage, in response to celebrating his birthday alone during lockdown.

In collaboration with Screen Dance International, Detroit, the 2021 Festival will also present Second Warning in memory of Marcus White (17 May 1988 – 14 May 2020). Marcus created the film for the 2017 Moving 24 fps, a week-long festival in Detroit for dance-makers and filmmakers that he co-founded and directed with Carlos Funn.

Alongside the screenings, there will also additional Q&A events and talks, and the announcement of the Festival Award for Best Film.

Charles Linehan says:

“London International Screen Dance Festival is a dynamic event celebrating a diverse range of films from the international community. It gives lesser-known artists a platform alongside artists with international profiles, creating a level playing field where quality is prioritised over status, ensuring the audience can enjoy an exciting and surprising mix of experimental films.”

Discover the full programme listings and visit our What’s On pages to book your tickets.

#LISDF2021

Award-winning choreographer, performer and teacher Susan Kempster to develop new work at the iconic contemporary dance venue.

Trinity Laban Lecturer in Dance Susan Kempster will enjoy a week’s research residency at Sadler’s Wells this summer to develop a new intergenerational duet. The project – working title Mother – will see Susan partnering with a recent dance graduate to explore identity and gender.

She explains –

“I kept thinking, ‘I don’t want it to look like a mother and son’. Then I had the idea to reverse the roles, so the young man will wear a dress and be the mother. Reversing the gender roles opens up all kinds of questions we might explore around identity and non-stereotypical relationships.”

Supported by the Foyle Foundation, Sadler’s Wells’ Artist Residencies programme is an investment in independent dance artists, giving them the opportunity to get back into the studio to think and play.

Susan, who has recently secured an Arts Council grant for her research, hopes to perform a version of the work in Italy at the end of August.

Find out more about Dance at Trinity Laban.

TL Summer School teacher Olga Masleinnikova authors chapter in newly published Body and Awareness book.

Edited by Sandra Reeve, Body and Awareness (Triarchy Press) is the third volume in the Ways of Being a Body series, designed as a guide for teachers, students, practitioners and researchers. It includes several contemporary approaches to the study and experience of embodied awareness, which is a transdisciplinary field of contemporary research and practice.

According to the new publication, embodied awareness is central to understanding everything from the creative arts to the psychology of health, from meditation to the psycho-ecology of climate change.

While the research-led chapters reveal a wide variety of interests, they share the common notion of ‘body as flux’ and support the being-becoming-being of each of us as a skilful creative entity.

Interdisciplinary creative, movement director, choreologist, creativity coach and lecturer Olga Masleinnikova is one of 20 contributing experts sharing their perspectives on Body and Awareness.

Using a practical session with actors as a case study, her chapter ‘The Instrumental Body’ explores the possibilities offered by choreology to initiate and expand sensorial awareness.

Olga explains –

“In my chapter, I present a process where an intentional shift into the attitude of Instrumental Body allows movement tools to become an awareness map for the transformation of patterns, for the experience of new inner landscapes and for creative expansion.

“I also introduce the concept of choreological order, which I find very useful for performance and devising work. I particularly resonate with the work and the explanation of Trinity Laban Senior Lecturer in Choreology, Rosemary Brandt. She says ‘the choreological order is what holds our movement together, we don’t have to think about it, we haven’t been taught how to do it, we do it because it feels natural and comfortable’.

“I demonstrate a step-by-step process on how to break the choreological order to shift from naturalistic, to stylised movement, to dance. I find it such a useful tool and I can’t wait to share it with How Movement Work participants in July.”

Olga has previously delivered on Trinity Laban’s Specialist Diploma in Choreological Studies and is the lead tutor for the conservatoire’s How Movement Works summer school, a week-long choreology course for adult practitioners from different backgrounds and disciplines who are interested in exploring movement.

This year, Trinity Laban is running How Movement Works as a five-day digital intensive from 5 to 9 July 2021.

To find out more and apply, visit our Take Part pages.

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Image credit: James Keates