LEADING CHOREOGRAPHERS RAISE CONCERNS
OVER UK CONTEMPORARY DANCE TRAINING
Britain’s leading dance companies, Akram Khan Company (AKC) , DV8 Physical
Theatre and Hofesh Shechter Company (HSC) have raised concerns over the
standards of training in UK contemporary dance schools. All three companies are
having to employ dancers from overseas because they cannot find British trained,
contemporary dancers of sufficient calibre.
There are three main contemporary dance schools in Britain: London Contemporary
Dance School, Trinity Laban, and Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Artistic
Directors Khan, Shechter and Newson have decided to go public with their criticism
of these institutions, as they are increasingly dismayed by the declining standards
they witness when holding UK auditions. They are unconvinced that the schools are
able to provide training that reflects the demands and needs of the professional
dance sector.
“As leading contemporary dance companies, we would hope to employ graduates from
these institutions, which are all in receipt of public subsidy as well as student tuition
fees. Unfortunately the students, more often than not, lack rigour, technique and
performance skills. I have spoken to ten other British Dance companies who share this
view.”
- Lloyd Newson, Artistic Director, DV8 Physical Theatre
'My dance training has been and still is like an old friend, who guides me, who I debate
with and who helps me through many obstacles, in my life and in art. I am concerned,
that somewhere, somehow, the training the young dancers go through in the UK are
not supporting them in the rigour, technique, and discipline that I am looking for in a
dancer. Instead, the 'training' of the UK dancers today, have become the very obstacles
that the training was meant to overcome.'
- Akram Khan, Artistic Director Akram Khan Company
“Working in the UK I get to know and care about the under-graduates of our major
training institutions who attend our workshops and company classes. It’s
disheartening when it comes to auditions to see these UK students with potential and
enthusiasm consistently outclassed by fitter, stronger and more versatile counterparts
from Europe, Asia and the USA. We must find a way to level the playing field and work
together as a sector to address the widening gap between our requirements as
employers and the skills with which UK graduates emerge which starts with a complete
lack of high quality, professional contemporary dance training for school age children
in the UK and continues into a passive approach to addressing this already
existing disadvantage head on at undergraduate level.”
- Hofesh Shechter, Artistic Director, Hofesh Shechter Company
"Are the schools really serving their students and the wider dance industry? I certainly
believe their teaching methods have fallen behind the needs of the market.”
- Farooq Chaudhry, Producer, Akram Khan Company
Khan, Shechter and Newson wanted to find out how many of the school leavers of
recent years actually found work in the sector. While not all dance students might
envisage a career as performers, the three choreographers felt that this was still the
main measure to judge the schools against. Destination of Leavers figures provided
by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), highlight the low number of UK
contemporary dance graduates finding paid employment as dancers or
choreographers; for the three main contemporary dance schools this figures lies
between 31 and 35%. In comparison, the Juilliard School in New York has a 90%
employment rate.
Since 2000, Akram Khan’s company have employed 51 dancers; only 4 were UK
trained. In contrast 57% of the dancers they employ have graduated from P.A.R.T.S,
(Brussels). Khan, Shechter and Newson are adamant that action is required if we
hope to reverse this trend.
For information please contact Clióna Roberts on 020 7704 6224/07754
756504 or e-mail [email protected]