Heidi Hall

Heidi Hall had a dance performance career before moving into senior leadership roles in the arts and education sectors. She was appointed as Director of Central School of Ballet in 2016. In 2018 she was recognised with the Rising Chief Executive Award by the annual Third Sector Awards who noted her part in transforming Central into a world-leading professional dance organisation and spearheading the campaign to raise £9m to fund the specific fit-out required for Central’s bespoke new building in the South Bank area in Southwark. Heidi, who lives in Cambridgeshire with her family, will remain involved with Central as a Governor alongside her new role at the Stephen Perse Foundation in Cambridge as their first Charitable Foundation Director . Heidi is also a Trustee of Ballet Black and Governor of the Eden Court Theatre.

Grace Chan

Grace is currently Chief Operating Officer at English National Ballet and played a key role in delivering their new building at London City Island.  She is a chartered accountant and has spent her professional life moving between the profession, and the charity and performing arts sector.  She spent 10 years at Deloitte as an advisor to growing companies, and has held permanent posts at the Royal Opera House, National Theatre, and London Theatre Company.  Prior to joining English National Ballet, she was Finance Director at NESTA.  She was also, until recently, a trustee of the Bush Theatre for nine years.

Edward Watson MBE

Edward Watson MBE was born in London and trained at the Royal Ballet School. He joined the Royal Ballet Company in 1994, and was promoted to Principal in 2005. His repertory includes major works by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan and he has created roles in works by Wayne McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Kim Brandstrup, Siobhan Davies, Alistair Marriott, Cathy Marston, David Dawson, Arthur Pita, Javier De Frutos and Ashley Page, among others. Awards include an Olivier Award for his performance in Pita’s The Metamorphosis (2012) and Critical Circle awards in 2001 and 2008. In 2015 he was awarded a Benois de la Danse for his performance in Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale and an MBE for services to dance.

Liz Lerman

International Advisor and Mentor

Liz Lerman is a choreographer, performer, writer, educator and speaker, and the recipient of honors including a 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant” and a 2017 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award.

Key to her artistry is opening her process to various publics, resulting in research and outcomes that are participatory, urgent, and usable. She founded Dance Exchange in 1976 and led it until 2011.

Her recent work Healing Wars toured the US. Liz teaches Critical Response Process, creative research, the intersection of art and science, and the building of narrative within dance at institutions such as Harvard, Yale School of Drama, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Her third book is Hiking the Horizontal: Field Notes from a Choreographer.

As of 2016 she is an Institute Professor at Arizona State University.

Professor Helena Gaunt

Helena Gaunt is a musician, author and thought-leader on professional education and practice in the performing arts. She is Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) and a Professor, having previously been Vice Principal and Director of Innovation at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. She sits on the Council of the Royal Philharmonic Society, and has a leading role for the European Association of Conservatoire’s major project Strengthening Music in Society.

Having joined RWCMD in 2018, Helena is relishing the opportunities and challenges of serving a national conservatoire, and the imperatives for bold vision which these bring. Whilst at the Guildhall she initiated and directed the international Reflective Conservatoire Conference, chaired the Innovative Conservatoire (ICON) partnership, and set up the Guildhall Creative Entrepreneurs scheme in collaboration with Michelle Wright, CEO of Cause4, incubating over 40 new businesses in the performing arts.

Helena was a professional oboist for many years, and founding member of the Britten Sinfonia. Alongside this she developed research expertise, with major publications including Musicians in the Making: Pathways to Creative Performance (2017)co-edited with Professor John Rink and Professor Aaron Williamon, and Collaborative Learning in Higher Music Education (2013)co-edited with Professor Heidi Westerlund. She is a National Teaching Fellow (2009) and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is also a member of the Livery of the Worshipful Company of Skinners, and a Governor of Tonbridge School. She lives in Cardiff and has five children, including two sets of twins.

Kenrick Sandy MBE

Kenrick Sandy MBE is Co-Founder/Artistic Director of Blue Entertainment (Associate Artists at The Barbican Centre) and one of the top Choreographers and Artist in the UK Urban, Commercial & Hip Hop Theatre Scene.

His credits include London 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony: ‘Thanks Tim’ segment, Sochi 2014 Paralympic Closing Ceremony, Tour De France Opening Ceremony in London, Street Dance 3D Movie, AllStars Movie, So You Think You Can Dance 2011 Hip Hop pieces and Laurence Olivier Award Winning Production
‘Pied Piper’.

He has choreographed for Artists such as Plan B, Rita Ora, Stooshe, Alexandra Burke and Dizzee Rascal. Other credits include Passion Of Girl’s Aloud with Cheryl Cole, Judge of CBBC’s Alesha’s Street Dance Stars and most recently Hip Hop Judge of BBC Young Dancer’s Grand Final.

As well as a Choreographer, Kenrick has danced for various Artists such as Fergie of ‘Black Eyed Peas’, Victoria Beckham, Duffy, Sophie Ellis-Bexter, The Saturdays, Simon Webb from ‘Blue’, Leona Lewis, Misteeq, Sugababes, George Michael and Ladies First.

Theresa Beattie

Theresa is a consultant working with dance companies and organisations in the UK and internationally – current clients include Aakash Odedra Company, Aerowaves,  ResCen Middlesex University and ŻfinMalta National Dance Company. Her work includes organisational development, recruitment and producing. Theresa is the evaluator for a number of UK and international choreographic development project.

Maggie Semple OBE

Maggie is described as gently formidable – a voice of reason. She is a thought- leader on agile frameworks, cultural change, diversity, inclusion & ethics with a particular emphasis on leadership development and governance. She is regularly asked to chair international conferences, facilitate private meetings and negotiate difficult deals.

Formerly an academic, Maggie began advising governments in the 1990s. She has been a member of several high-profile UK Government and European Union task groups and has represented the UK in Greece and Hong Kong. Maggie was Director of Education and Training  at the Arts Council of England in 1992-1997. From 1997-2001 Maggie was Director of the Learning Experience at the Millennium Dome and from 2001-2008, a Civil Service Commissioner responsible for upholding the values of appointment on merit.

Maggie established The Experience Corps Ltd (TEC), a global consultancy firm in 2001. TEC provides strategic advice on facilitating agile approaches, business ethics, leadership, cultural change, organisational effectiveness, board development, women’s development and exploration of new markets. TEC has a team of global associates with clients in the financial, technological, oil and gas, and pharmaceutical sectors. 

In 2010, Maggie founded the Semple brand comprising a luxury bespoke womenswear business that has a design and production atelier in Covent Garden, London, an online magazine with over 8m viewers and an events programme.

Maggie serves on a range of Boards. She is a NED of Jamaica National UK Ltd, NED University of Cambridge, member of the Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel, Trustee of the South Bank Arts Centre.  She was formerly a Non-Executive Director of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) where she chaired the Audit and Risk Committee.

Maggie is a Fellow of the City & Guilds Institute, one of 500 Fellowships awarded since 1878, is cited in International Who’s Who and was awarded an OBE in 2001.

Hannes Langolf

Hannes is a dancer and choreographer based in London. Throughout his career, he has worked and collaborated with artist and companies like William Forsythe, Angelin Preljocaj, Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan, Fabulous Beast and Punchdrunk to name a few. In 2007 he joined DV8 Physical Theatre to be part of the original cast of the critically acclaimed stage productions “To Be Straight With You” (2007-2009, nominated for an Olivier Award) and “Can We Talk About This?” (2010-2012). In 2014, Hannes was appointed DV8’s Creative Associate and played the title character in their production “JOHN”. He is currently Creative Associate and Tour Director for the re-creation of DV8’s Enter Achilles (produced by Rambert and Sadler’s Wells).

Hannes’s own artistic work comprises two full-length productions: “DANDELION” (with Ermira Goro for The Onassis Cultural Center in Athens), and “UNRUHE” (for and with the Susanne Linke Dance Company) and he created works for The London Eye Company, Munich Dance Festival, London Contemporary Dance School, VERVE and others.
He is a sought after teacher and workshop leader working internationally across dance, physical theatre and vocal/text work and is committed to exchanging ideas and supporting new talent.
 
Hannes is part of a selected collective of 50 international artists from 29 different countries that had the unique opportunity to spend a 10-week intensive period with David Zambrano in Costa Rica in 2010. He has integrated the philosophies of “Flying-Low” and “Passing Through” in his own artistic work and teachings.
 
Hannes is also a certified Yoga teacher and has completed his Teacher Training under the guidance of Cat Alip-Douglas and Phil Douglas at the renowned Sangyé Yoga School in London.
In 2015, Hannes was nominated as one of the 100 most influential and innovative people working across Britain’s creative industries by The Hospital Club London.