Dance Umbrella 2024: Artist Encounters with Lea Anderson

Artist Encounters is a professional development talk with a guest artist, focusing on cultivating practical skills, sharing knowledge and asking questions that resonate.

This year, Artist Encounters will be led by choreographer Lea Anderson, who is celebrating the 40th anniversary of her company The Cholmondeleys with the publication of two new books focusing on her work. Using these as a jumping off point, Lea, alongside author Mary Kate Connolly, will offer a window into a unique choreographic world.

In addition to revealing Lea’s unusual modes of collaboration with some of the UK’s leading creatives, they will explore the ways in which her works live on today via their rich archive of costumes and performance ephemera. From the earliest Cholmondeleys days of dancing in Doc Martens on beer-strewn gig platforms, to the rigour of sleek chorus lines for the theatre stage, and the precision of performed gallery exhibitions, Lea Anderson and her dancers have forged a unique path.

Glimpses of a vast notebook collection, short films, archival images and costume objects will allow for an intimate look at her way of working, and the legacy of her companies.

Studio Theatre, Laban Building SE8

Tickets : Free, booking required (limited places) only available direct via Dance Umbrella

Livestreamed and available via the Dance Umbrella Digital Pass Artist Encounters: Lea Anderson

For those joining in person at Trinity Laban, Artist Encounters will be followed by a drinks reception with live performance and film screenings to launch the publication of two new books on Lea Anderson’s companies The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs.