INDEPENDENT DANCE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Artist With ID ) in Banishing Dance at the Wellcome Collection ( 2018 )

Cheniece is our Digital Communications Assistant, supporting our marketing and our digital programme.

CJ Mitchell is a freelance producer, working in the performing arts. He manages Haranczak/Navarre Performance Projects; the residency programme at South House, a studio space in Faversham, Kent; and the False Walls music label. Previously, CJ was Co-Director at the Live Art Development Agency, London; Executive Director of the Links Hall performance space in Chicago; Managing Director of Performing Arts Chicago; Administrative Director of the Master of Arts in Arts Administration programme at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago; Company Manager of Goat Island Performance Group; and General Manager of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow. CJ is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, and holds a Masters in Cultural Studies and a Bachelor of Accountancy, both from the University of Glasgow.

Born of English and Chilean descent, dance artist and choreographer Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome's practice involves dancing/voicing as divination and political gesture, presenting in institutions, outdoors, alternative spaces and clubs. She is interested in creating work which shifts perspectives, crafting spaces of potential, where dancing/ movement, sound/ music and attending to our environments can stimulate sensations and kinaesthetic responses in the body, allowing ourselves to tune to innate gut and bodily intelligence while in multiple attentive states.

Fiona Millward was co-director ID from 1996-2015 and co-led the organisation alongside Gill Clarke until Gill passed away in 2011. She received a joint NESTA Fellowship in 2001 to support the development of ID strategically. Having worked since 1985 as a dancer, teacher and choreographer, she values immensely the alchemy of collaboration that underpins these various roles. Her desire to bring those experiences into her work with others in various capacities, a deep respect for the resilience and mystery of the body, and a curiosity about how we move through life, she also works as a Certified Rolfer ™ and Rolf Movement ™ Practitioner, Franklin Method ™ Educator, Scaravelli Inspired Yoga Teacher and Somatics Exercise Coach. In 2021 she continues as part of Creative Europe "BET" - Body Experience Time through 45+ dancers and the Acting Our Age collaboration between choreographers Yael Flexer and Galit Liss with performers aged 23-74.

Gill Clarke (1954 - 2011) was an independent dance artist and co-director of Independent Dance from 1996-2011. She was a founding member of Siobhan Davies Dance Company and also performed and collaborated with other choreographers including Rosemary Butcher, Rosemary Lee, Janet Smith, Kate Brown and Marina Collard. Gill regarded teaching as an integral part of her artistic practice. She regularly led masterclasses and workshops internationally for students, professionals and companies, and collaborated with filmmaker Becky Edmunds on a multi-screen installation - Stones and Bones. Head of Performance Studies at LABAN from 2000-2006, she founded MA Creative Practice : Dance Professional which ID continues to lead in partnership with Trinity Laban and Siobhan Davies Studios. Gill was an Honorary Visiting Professor at University of Ulster, a joint NESTA fellow and a Trustee of Dance UK. She received a London Dance and Performance Award, the Jane Attenborough Award from One Dance UK and an MBE, which she returned in protest of the UK government's foreign policy in Iraq. An obituary for Gill Clarke, written by Rosemary Lee and Siobhan Davies is here

Gitta Wigro was co-director of Independent Dance from 2012-2019. She is a freelance dance film programmer and curator, and part of the team behind the MA Screendance at London Contemporary Dance School. ​She has worked in artist and artform development at The Place, Arts Council England, and Independent Dance, as well as in freelance roles. As a dance film specialist, she has worked with many international festivals, including Leeds International Film Festival (UK), COORPI (IT), Festival Quartiers Danses (CA) Dance Umbrella (UK), among many others. She co- ordinates the International Screendance Calendar and other resources to support the dance film field.

Job Titles:

• Independent Artist
• Lead

Lead Tutor: MA Creative Practice: Dance Professional Heni is an independent artist, working as a choreographer, performer, researcher and educator in diverse contexts with a collaborative focus. Much of her work has been realised as co-director of collective Dog Kennel Hill Project. They produce work for theatres, screen, galleries and non-traditional sites in the UK and internationally, working with a range of partners such as Dance4 with whom they were associate artists 2010-2014, Dance Umbrella, Modern Art Oxford and Brighton CCA. As well as leading professional classes she was a regular lecturer in dance technique, choreography and performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance (2002-13) and has choreographed for a variety of groups in higher education.

Iris Yi Po Chan is a freelance dancer, performer, and producer from Hong Kong. Moving to London in 2008, Iris' journey into the dance sector began at ID where she was administrator from 2008-2013. She has since been working with a range of choreographers, artists, and organisations, traversing administration, producing, performing, teaching, and facilitating. Iris performs in contemporary dance and visual art contexts, recently working with Jo Fong, Sung Im Her, Janine Harrington, Hetain Patel, and Florence Peake. As a freelance producer and manager, Iris has worked with companies such as Candoco Dance Company and Luca Silvestrini's Protein. She is currently producing with Matthias Sperling and the interdisciplinary research project NEUROLIVE, and also Frame Rush, a screendance festival at The Place in London.

Job Titles:

• Freelance Dance Artist

Kimberley Harvey is a freelance dance artist, choreographer and teacher. She is also Director of Candoco's Youth Dance Company. As a professional dancer, Kimberley works predominantly in contemporary dance but also physical theatre with companies such as ThisEgg and Moxie Brawl. She has her own inclusive contemporary dance company, Subtle Kraft Co. The work is centred around relationships in their various and complex forms with connection, communication and curiosity as core elements for their artistic and working practice. Kimberley is also a Trustee with Maresa von Stockert Limited and South East Dance.

Kirsty Alexander is freelance curator, teacher, and consultant specializing in dance training and in the ongoing development of professional dancers. She co-directed Independent Dance from 2015 - 2018, also leading the core modules of the MA Creative Practice: Dance Professional which ID runs in collaboration with Trinity Laban and Siobhan Davies Studios. She has been involved in educating dancers within the higher education sector for over 25 years, as Head of Undergraduate Studies at Laban from 2000-2004 and as Assistant Director of London Contemporary Dance School from 2005-2010 and an associate editor of the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices until recently. Kirsty is a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique and in 2015 completed a PhD funded by the University of Stirling, School of Education.

Job Titles:

• Artist, Researcher

Mita Pujara is an artist, researcher and educator who has a background in applied theatre, movement and performance. She has been working in the field of socially-engaged arts for over two decades. As an artist and performer she toured internationally from 1997-2008 on productions for the British Council (Kenya, Bangladesh, China, India and Palestine), the National Theatre and Pan Intercultural Arts. She delivered education and community projects for The Place, Akādemi and the British Museum. As Associate Director of Pan Intercultural Arts, she founded and ran two refugee arts programmes which still run today. Mita moved into research and evaluation after completing her Masters in Arts, Creativity, Education and Culture (Distinction) from the the University of Cambridge. Since 2011, she has been evaluating the effectiveness of arts and cultural programmes with underrepresented communities such as asylum seekers, refugees, female survivors of tracking and young people with an experience of care. She blends creative, participatory evaluation approaches with traditional research methods to create meaningful, inclusive and bespoke evaluations. She is a guest lecturer in Arts-based Reflective Practice on several MA courses at Rose Bruford College. Other key areas of research interests include ant-racism, diversity & representation in the arts, intersectionality, feminist ethics of care and embodied practice. Mita currently lives in Leicester and in her spare time supports local creatives of colour as a board member of Aakash Odedra Dance Theatre and the Centre for Classical Indian Dance.

Job Titles:

• Co - Director
• ID As Co - Director

Nathaniel Parchment joined ID as Co-Director in October 2023. Nathaniel is a London-based dance artist whose interests lie at the intersections of embodied enquiry, social dance cultures, global body-mind practices and performance. For the past 10 years he 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 MA Creative Practice : Dance Professional programme delivered by Trinity Laban in partnership with Independent Dance and Siobhan Davies Studios and presented performance research at Fest en Fest, the international festival of expanded choreography initiated by H2 DANCE. His ongoing working friendship with collaborator Hugh Stanier has involved helping to manage and facilitate the Movement in Nature Gathering at Dragon Orchard, Herefordshire.

Job Titles:

• Co - Chair
• Co - Chair of Our Board

Nicky Childs is co-Chair of our Board. She is Senior Producer with Artsadmin, where she has been an integral part of the organisation's development over the past 35 years. Nicky has produced a huge range of artists' projects across dance, performance, theatre and visual art internationally. Varying in scale and context these have ranged from touring and one-off commissions to site-specific, participatory and socially-engaged projects working in collaboration with theatres, galleries, festivals, schools and other educational institutions. Nicky has also coordinated festivals, produced artists' publications and partnered on multiple European networks & initiatives.

Job Titles:

• Co - Director
• ID As Co - Director

Nikki Tomlinson joined ID as Co-Director in 2020. She steers the overall strategic vision, and leads on partnerships, communications, finance, fundraising, governance, human resources and operations. She contributes to and supports the shaping of the artistic programme. With a background in artist development, producing, curating, performance-making and dramaturgy, she has developed interests over the past 25 years in performance, participation, social justice and interdisciplinarity, advocacy for and with artists and widening access in every sense to experimental work. She continues to work freelance alongside her role with ID, supporting choreographers and visual artists as a producer and dramaturg on projects presented in galleries, theatres and found sites internationally. For 12 years she collaborated with the artist Florence Peake, as performer in multiple works and latterly as producer on Florence's large-scale performances. She currently works as Executive Producer with Graeme Miller. Previous roles include Lead Artist Advisor/Producer at Artsadmin where she developed experience in artist development, mentoring, producing, curating, fundraising and partnership-building. During this time she co-curated three years of public artworks for the Town Hall Hotel, London and initiated a European network to critically explore the politics and practices of participation. She managed bursary and residency programmes and a fellowship scheme with disabled and d/Deaf artists and curated Weekender Labs for 10 years, with international artists ranging from Franko B and La Ribot to The Freedom Theatre Palestine. She produced projects across the UK and for the Paralympic Culture Programme 2012 at the Southbank. She dances - sometimes! Her last choreographic work, a solo titled FOLLY, was presented at BIOS (Athens, 2015) and Toynbee Studios (2018) while as a dramaturg she has worked with Simone Mousset, Mamoru Iriguchi and Umama Hamido.

Job Titles:

• Programme Coordinator
• Artist

Renée is our Programme Coordinator. She coordinates the projects, events and on-going daily work of the organisation, and is often the first point of contact for participants, artists and the general public. Renée is an interdisciplinary artist, facilitator and producer whose practice is person-centred, socially engaged and driven by a curiosity in movement (of images, of bodies), community and documentation. In 2022 she took part in How Shall We Begin Again, a performance installation initiated by Jo Fong. She graduated from the Postgraduate Diploma in Community Dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2021 and was recipient of The Choreography Prize. Previously, she attended London College of Communication, University of the Arts London undertaking a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design and subsequently BA Hons Film and Television.

Job Titles:

• Co - Chair
• Co - Chair of Our Board

Sara Reed is co-Chair of our Board. She is an independent academic, practitioner, researcher, writer & project manager and an Associate Editor for Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Journal - Training Grounds. She is also on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices and Dance, Movement and Spiritualities. Sara is Trustee for Wriggle Dance Theatre for children and families. She is a qualified Feldenkrais Practitioner and trained with Scott Clark and Elizabeth Beringer in London. Sara supervises PhD students in the areas of dance, embodied (somatic) practices, pedagogy and arts and health and has published widely on embodied practice and dance.