Trinity Laban, Lewisham Education Arts Network and Peoplescape Theatre have been successful in a bid of support from Round 6 of the Paul Hamlyn Teacher Development Fund. The project Moving Stories: embedding dance and drama in SEND teacher practice was one of eight UK-wide projects chosen for support.

We will be working over two years with six Lewisham-based schools: Watergate, Brent Knoll, Drumbeat, New Woodlands and the Resource Bases at Tidemill and Athelney Primary. Artists from theatre and dance will collaborate with teachers to develop a unified learning journey for everyone, with the goal to improve communication skills of young people facing high levels of disadvantage.

Communication skills are the key to unlocking young peoples’ ability to thrive as active, engaged and connected members of their communities, and combining dance and drama will ensure the activities are fully inclusive for children with a wide range of complex needs. Teachers and artists will learn from each other and spread good practice to colleagues, ensuring young people with special needs have access to a rich and exciting arts curriculum which supports their life skills.

More about Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Paul Hamlyn Foundation was established by Paul Hamlyn in 1987. Upon his death in 2001, he left most of his estate to the Foundation, creating one of the largest independent grant-making foundations in the UK.

Their mission is to help people overcome disadvantage and lack of opportunity, so that they can realise their potential and enjoy fulfilling and creative lives.

They have a particular interest in supporting young people and a strong belief in the importance of the arts.

In our June Alumni Round Up, TL graduates have occupied their month with a range of different activities from performances to podcast episode releases and much more.

To start off, we want to acknowledge that Trinity Laban was mentioned as one of the four arts schools that “nurture artistic growth in unconstrained environments”. Have a read of the article by Study International here. 

 

Music

Over this past month, TL music alumni have been busy with performances at festivals, concerts, as well as gaining new positions in different orchestras. 

Joe Armon-Jones played multiple gigs over the weekend at Glastonbury 2023. This included performing with Maxwell Owin, Ezra Collective and Speakers Corner Quartet.

Ezra Collective’s captivating performance on the West Holts Stage “transported the audience into sheer euphoria” (Clash Magazine) as they lured the crowd in with contagiously catchy rhythms. You can watch the full performance on BBC iPlayer here.

Also performing at Glastonbury 2023 was TL 2022 Innovation Award winner Phoebe Noble from 13 Months Theatre Ltd. They performed Grumble Cat, their children’s puppet production at the Kidzfield.  

Ayanna Witter-Johnson performed with the legendary Peter Gabriel during his concert at the O2 Arena. It had been almost 10 years since Peter’s last live performance.  

Birmingham-based saxophonist, Xhosa Cole and his band, brought his unique music to the Glasgow Jazz Festival on 15 June. Xhosa released his debut album, K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us last summer paying homage to music from African American improvisers and composers. 

Philharmonia Orchestra has announced the appointment of composer, producer, TV presenter and sarod player Soumik Datta who will be joining the orchestra for its 2023-24 season as their artist in residence. Now in its third year, the residency programme facilitates collaboration between the orchestra and an artist from a non-classical tradition, exploring the fusion of art forms. 

Orchestra Ciudad de Granada recently announced its 2023-24 season at which former BBC New Generation Artist James Newby will be performing Handel’s Messiah alongside Hilary Summers, Thomas Walker and Berit Norbakken in November 2023, conducted by Daniel Reuss. 

WhatsOnStage announced the full cast and creative team for the newly expanded version of Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! with Inga Davis-Rutter as the musical supervisor. The “murder mystery podcast thriller comedy” returns this summer to Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester. 

TL Voice alum, Heather Main who was previously an opera singer who had sung at the Barbican and had a circus background as part of John Cage’s Musicircus, is now a successful horse trainer with ambitions of Royal Ascot success. 

 

Dance

TL dance alumni have been active in choreographing new dance works, performances at various venues, along with releases of new podcast episodes and online courses. 

Dr. Gemma Harman released a new episode, Studio as site: voicing bodies through research in dance pedagogy with past TL dance lecturer, Dr. Jamieson Dryburgh. Dr. Dryburgh is currently the Director of Higher Education at Central School of Ballet and is a dance artist, researcher, leader, and pedagogue with over twenty years of experience in the UK conservatoire setting. 

On 17 June, Emma Skyum Poulsen’s choreography of SUJAMIT was premiered as the opening performance at the DanceWest Fest Emerging Artist Commission in the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Watch the performance of SUJAMIT here.  

Emergence, the postgraduate dance company of Joss Arnott Dance and the University of Salford, recently completed their 2023 tour. TL dance alumni who were part of this year’s Emergence company include: Maea Morgan, Lily Armah, Kato Thomas, and Lucy Halfpenny. 

The article Preview of the Dance Seasons at Jacob’s Pillow and PS21 mentions Oona Doherty as one of the international artists who will be making her debut as the first headlining artist from Northern Ireland performing at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival 2023 in the U.S. this summer. Book your tickets to the premiere of Navy Blue here. 

Dr. Imogen Aujla, dance science alum and guest lecturer at TL, created two new online courses for freelance dancers on the topics of resilience and self-confidence. Thanks to One Dance UK, you can access these courses free-of-charge by heading over to Dance in Mind’s website here. 

As part of Cork Midsummer Festival, Cork-based dance artist and choreographer Helga Deasy who is also Cork city’s artist-in-residence at Dance Cork Firkin Crane presented her final work, Built on Bridges. Helga’s work which explored building bridges between artists and the local community through themes of identity and belonging, migration, home, safety and belonging, received a five-star review in The Irish Times. 

Transitions Dance Company alum, Osian Meilir, presented Qwerin, a piece on Welsh folk-dancing and queer nightlife on 30 June at Greenwich Park as part of Greenwich Dance Summer In The Park 2023. 

James Pett choreographed a number of contemporary dance pieces for Bangkok City Ballet for the Bangkok City Ballet Dance Gala 2023 held on 15 June. Here’s a striking photo from Drifting Into I. 

On 30 June, two recent contemporary dance graduates Adriana Garcia and Leah Wallace performed All You Need is Love in collaboration with the Youth Collective at the British Museum. 

 

Coming up

IADMS 33rd Annual Conference: Columbus, Ohio 2023 

This year, the IADMS 33rd Annual Conference will be held at Ohio, USA. This four-day conference will provide a multitude of opportunities to network and learn from professionals from around the world in the field of dance medicine and science. You will get the chance to learn about the latest advances in the field through a series of lectures, panel discussions, case studies, Q&A and practical sessions from world-renowned professionals.  

Conference registration is now open with early bird rates closing on 31 July. Register here. 

 

Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival  

Afrobeat infused Kokoroko (Cassie Kinoshi, Sheila Maurice-Grey) will be performing at Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival in Birmingham, 7 -9 July. 

 

Cheltenham Music Festival 

James Newby will be one of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists performing for the Cheltenham Music Festival, 8 – 15 July. 

 

Australia’s 2023 Dance (Lens) Festival 

Internationally-renowned guest curator, Gitta Wigro, will be curating Australia’s 2023 Dance (Lens) Festival between 13 – 31 July. The Festival will showcase local Australian screen dance works. As part of Gitta’s “influential screen dance work session,” she invites the audience to “observe what you hear” in her curatorial themed work, Sound Into Sight. 

 

JAZZ RE:FEST 2023 

Featuring an extraordinary number of TL alumni, pioneering grassroots jazz organisation Jazzre:freshed are partnering with the iconic Roundhouse for the 10th edition of its one-day festival JAZZ RE:FEST. TL alumni performing at JAZZ RE:FEST include Chelsea Carmichael, Mutale Chashi, Arthur O’Hara and Wayne Francis (Ahnansé), along with TL students Joshua Short and Jacob Gryn.   

When: Sat 29 July, midday

Where: Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London 

Trinity Laban student Valerija Iljinaite recently made her Carnegie Hall debut as a winner of the Laureate Gala by Progressive Musicians. 

Valerija is a Lithuanian spinto lyric soprano currently studying at TL with Joan Rodgers CBE and Janet Haney, and is also a Morag Noble scholar. In September 2023 Valerija will be continuing her studies at the Royal Academy of Music with a full scholarship. She is also a young artist at Manhattan Opera Studio and the winner of many international competitions and festivals in Europe and USA. Valerija has performed with various orchestras including Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, ‘Trimitas’ Orchestra, Panevezy’s Musical Theatre Symphony Orchestra, Kaunas Big Band, Belarus State Academic Symphony Orchestra and Polish National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2019 Valerija was awarded a bachelor’s degree in theatre studies from Vilnius College and London College of Music; she has also studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City and played in the operetta Gondoliers production directed by David Henson. In May 2021, Valerija has developed roles of Susanna and Emma in Mussorgsky’s opera Khovanschina at Bolshoi Theatre working with the creative team – Simon McBurney OBE, Gerard McBurney and Leah Hausman.

In 2022 Valerija was announced the winner of Roy Pleasance Competition 21-22 by Alec Crow, she was also announced as a Musical Odyssey 2022 Benslow Prize Winner. She attended Masterclasses and studied with Yvonne Howard, David Cowan, Geraldine Cassidy, Beatrice Penzi, Carmen Santoro, Sergei Leiferkus, Manolis Papasifakis, Ubaldo Fabbri, Dr. Pantelis Polychronidis, Lynton Atkinson, Alison Wells, Nomeda Kazlaus, Kristian Benedikt, Asmik Grigorian, Joy Robinson and others. As a recognized artist of Lithuania, she was invited to a special inauguration concert of the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda in 2019.

Progressive Musicians

Progressive Musicians is dedicated to helping musicians of all ages achieve their goals and advance artistically.

Their team is constantly working to develop new outlets that provide musicians opportunities to learn, improve, and celebrate milestones. Currently they are hosting online competitions that provide each contestant with the expert feedback from professional musicians, and prizes ranging from their world-wide online showcases, to performing opportunities in some of the most prestigious performance venues around the world.

MA Creative Practice student Nathaniel Parchment has been appointed as the new Co-Director of Independent Dance.

Nathaniel Parchment is a London-based dance artist whose interests lie at the intersections of somatics, social dance cultures, global body-mind practices and performance. For the past 10 years he has worked extensively in India as a performer and teacher, as well as a facilitator of yoga retreats and dance education projects. More recently Nathaniel undertook the MA Creative Practice programme at Trinity Laban, which he will be graduating from this year, and has since presented his performance research at Fest en Fest, the international festival of expanded choreography initiated and curated by H2 DANCE. His experience includes co-direction of the Movement in Nature Gathering at Dragon Orchard, Herefordshire, with founder and long term friend and colleague Hugh Stanier. After a gradual transition with Independent Dance’s team this summer, Nathaniel will start formally in the role on 2 October.

Photo credit: Alessandro Sigismondi

We are delighted to announce the appointment of three new Governors to the Trinity Laban Board; Roger Wilson, Nicola Dandridge and Max Puller. All three bring an invaluable range of professional and personal experience to the position and we look forward to working with them.

Roger Wilson

Roger Wilson is Co-Founder of Black Lives in Music, an initiative dedicated to addressing better representation throughout the music industry. He began working with us in 2020 to develop our inclusivity policies and improve the experience of students of African and Caribbean heritages.

His experience is on both sides of the stage as musician, educator, tour manager and administrator. As a conservatoire trained musician, Roger has worked extensively in the commercial, jazz and classical sector with a wide range of artists. As an instrumental teacher and lecturer, Roger has worked throughout the UK music education sector at all levels. In recent years his work has focused on the professional development of aspiring young musicians.

 

Nicola Dandridge

Nicola is professor of practice in higher education policy at the University of Bristol. Until 2022, she was Chief Executive of the Office for Students, the regulator for higher education. Before that she led Universities UK, the representative body for the UK’s universities, and first joined the higher education sector in 2006 as chief executive of the Equality Challenge Unit, established to promote equality and diversity for staff and students in the higher education sector.

Nicola originally qualified as a solicitor in both England and Scotland, specialising in industrial relations and equality law.

She is a trustee of Cara, the Council for At Risk Academics, and a member of the board of the University of Glasgow. She was made a Dame in 2023 for services to higher education.

 

Max Puller

Max is an experienced and innovative change management and corporate communications leader. He is currently Business Transformation Director at BCW Change, the organisational change and employee experience specialists at global communications agency, BCW. In this role, he works with clients to deliver successful, sustainable business change – from mergers and acquisitions and restructures to technology transformation and culture change.

Previous roles include Head of Colleague Communications and Engagement at Tesco Bank, Employee and Change Communications Director at Sodexo, and Chief Communications Officer at the UK Ministry of Defence.

Max studied Music at the University of Durham and has a Masters in Internal Communication Management and a Postgraduate Certificate in Strategic Communication. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Public Relations (FCIPR) and the Institute of Internal Communication (FIIC).

Max is a Non-Executive Director of the South East Coast Ambulance (SECAmb) NHS Foundation Trust, which he joined in February 2023. Prior to these appointments, Max spent five years as Non-Executive Director of the Salvation Army in the UK and Ireland.