Choreography and Technic

RUSSELL MALIPHANT CHOREOGRAPHER

Choreographer Russell Maliphant's language is one of form and dynamics – fluid, elegant and
resonant. Acclaimed as one of Britain's finest and most celebrated dance artists he is winner of two Olivier Awards, two South Bank Show awards, a Critics' Circle National Dance Award, and two Time out Live Awards. Maliphant's distinctive choreography has grown out of the disparate
influences of his career ballet, contemporary dance, contact improvisation, yoga, capoeira and tai chi; his training at the Royal Ballet School and early career with Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet was followed by a rich career in independent dance, working with companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre, Michael Clark & Company, Laurie Booth Company and Rosemary Butcher. He founded his own company in 1996. To date Maliphant has created well over 20 dance works, for his own company and other renowned international companies and ensembles including Lyon Opera Ballet, George Piper Dances and Batsheva Dance Company. In 2003, Maliphant created Broken Fall with Sylvie Guillem and George Piper Dances with music by Barry Adamson. Broken Fall premiered at the Royal Opera House, London in December 2003 and marked the beginning of a collaborative relationship with Sylvie Guillem, a collaboration which has seen further fruit with the creation of the award winning duet Push, created by Maliphant for Guillem and himself. Maliphant’s most recent work is his collaboration with acclaimed visual artist and film maker Isaac Julien, Cast no Shadow, a spell binding evening of dance and film.

PAUL ROBERTS CHOREOGRAPHER

Paul has established himself as one of Britain’s top choreographers working in the entertainment industry today. His unique and instantly recognisable style has taken him to both sides of the Atlantic, working with a broad variety of artists.

In 2000 after completing many projects with artists such as All Saints, Billie Piper, Robbie Williams & Enrique Iglesias, Paul was invited to Madison Square Gardens, New York City, to choreograph and stage the VH1 Diva’s show “A Tribute to Diana Ross” with supporting guests Destiny’s Child and Mariah Carey. Paul continued his work with ‘Miss Ross’ by taking his company of dancers over to America where they performed on her world tour ‘Back to Love’ in 2001. Other UK and international tours followed with artists such as Gloria Estefan & Atomic Kitten. Paul also went on to showproduce as well as choreograph Blue’s multi award winning ‘Guilty Tour’ Within the TV genre Paul’s work has been equally prolific. In 2002 Paul was asked to be a guest mentor on the TV show ‘Pop Idol’, which led to his appointment as guest choreographer on ITV’s ‘Pop Rivals’. Working on the show allowed Paul to design a strong visual and eye catching choreography for the eventual winners, Girls Aloud. From that show Paul’s work on ‘Sound of the Underground’ provided the instant pop credibility both the music and the girls deserved.

Following the success of the ‘Idols’, Paul worked closely on the BBC idents, choreographing and staging both dancers and nondancers in the various themes seen immediately before BBC1programmes. ‘BPM Productions’ was founded in October of 2001, with Paul as a director and partner. It is now London’s most prolific commercial dance agency, representing over 250 dancers.

Paul has recently been awarded a lifetime achievement award by the industry at ‘Carnival – The Choreographer’s Ball’ for recognition of his innovative and creative work in dance.

FREDDIE OPOKUADDAIE CHOREOGRAPHER

Freddie is a choreographer, performer, teacher and Artistic Director of Jagged Antics. Born in East London, partly raised in Ghana, his career path in Dance started through youth projects with East London Dance and The Place. He graduated from London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS) in 2002. While at LCDS he received a scholarship to study at California Institute for the Arts.

He choreographed his first major work, The Makin’s of U, as part of Random Dance’s AWOL in 2004. Since then his work has been performed at The Place’s Robin Howard Theatre, Stratford Circus, Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, Southbank Centre and Swindon Dance amongst others. In 2006, OpokuAddaie worked on Kim Brandstrup’s research and development project, Dancelines and was commissioned to make We Flew as part of the Summer Collection 07 at the Royal Opera House for ROH2. Freddie was the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Robin Howard Choreographic Commission and presented an evening of his works in the spring, including Silence Speaks Volumes a finalist of the Place Prize 2006 and 1st prize at the VI Certamen International de Coreografia Burgos New York in Spain 2007. As a result of the overwhelming critical acclaim of the work, Jagged Antics subsequently toured throughout Spain, including performing at a gala in the Centro Cultural De La Villa, Madrid.

As a creator, performer, student and teacher Opoku Addaie has worked with Wayne McGregor/Random Dance, Jonzi D, Saburo Teshiigawara/Karas, Elsa Wooliaston, Almeida Theatre, East London Dance, Mark Murphy/ VTol, Rashpal Singh Bansal, Pan Intercultural Arts, Thomas Small, Saju Hari, CandoCo Dance Company, Clod Ensemble, Project Phakama and RichMix amongst others. Freddie is currently Associate Artist at The Royal Opera House 2

MICHAEL HULLS – LIGHTING DESIGNER

Michael trained in dance and theatre at Dartington College of Arts and in 1992 was awarded a bursary by the Arts Council to attend dance lighting workshops with Jennifer Tipton in New York and Paris. Since then he has worked exclusively within dance and developed a close collaboration with the choreographer Russell Maliphant. Their collaborations have won international critical acclaim for developing a language born out of the interaction of light and movement.

In 2002 their piece, Sheer, won a Time Out Award for Outstanding Collaboration. In 2003 performances of the pieces One part II, Two Times Three, and Choice won the South Bank Show Dance Award and in 2006 Push danced by Russell and Sylvie Guillem won four major awards including the Olivier Award for best new dance production and the South Bank Show Dance Award. Michael and Russell also collaborated in 2003 on Broken Fall, commissioned by George Piper Dances as a trio for Michael Nunn, William Trevitt and Sylvie Guillem. Broken Fall won the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production. Michael first worked with George Piper Dances when Russell restaged Critical Mass for Nunn and Trevitt and again with Russell on the commissioned duet Torsion. Michael has also worked with the company on Christopher Wheeldon’s Mesmerics which was nominated for an Olivier Award. Michael has also worked with Jonathan Burrows lighting many pieces, such as The Stop Quartet, Hands, Things I Don’t Know, Singing for his own company and Walking/Music for Ballett Frankfurt. Michael has also worked with Akram Khan and with Meg Stuart on her works for Deutsche Oper Ballett and for Mikhail Baryshnikov. In 2003 Michael was awarded a Wingate Scholarship for research into lighting design and in 2004 was made an Associate Artist at The Place Theatre. In 2006 Michael was nominated for the Time Out Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Michael recently completed Eonnagata, the highly acclaimed collaboration between Robert Le Page, Russell Maliphant and Sylvie Guillem and the equally lauded InI, featuring Akram Khan and Juliette Binoche.