Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD) is pleased to announce its inaugural Honorary Fellows for 2017: Wayne McGregor CBE and Gary Clarke.

The prestigious titles, which represent the highest award the School can currently bestow, are awarded to individuals in recognition of their exceptional contribution to the School, Contemporary Dance and the cultural ecology at large.

The awards will be conferred at NSCD’s Graduation on Saturday 8 July 2017, which includes performances from the school’s graduating students and a prize-giving ceremony. This event, celebrating graduate achievement, is also a chance for audiences to hear about, and from, the honourees.

The creation of these awards is a new initiative for NSCD, which currently provides the only conservatoire-level professional dance training in the North of England.

Wayne McGregor CBE is a multi-award-winning British choreographer and director, internationally renowned for his inventive and daring work spanning creative collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. He is Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Company Wayne McGregor, his own company of touring dancers, and is also Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet.

 Award- winning choreographer Gary Clarke graduated from Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2001 and is currently regarded as one of the UK’s leading independent dance artists. His work has toured extensively to critical acclaim both nationally and internationally, and his most recent production, COAL, a visceral work that explores the darker underbelly of the mining industry, has earned him a UK National Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance, and a Critics’ Circle National Dance award for Best Independent Company.

 On hearing of the accolade, Gary Clarke said-

‘I feel very honoured and privileged to be receiving this prestigious award from NSCD and take great pride in being one of the school’s alumni. As an ex-student of the school, my training gave me the solid foundations to build the career I have today and I have a lot to thank the school for. I will continue to support the school and its students in the future and I very much look forward to receiving the award’

Janet Smith MBE, NSCD Principal, said-

‘These awards are an opportunity to recognise, publicly, these inspiring role models, whose outstanding contributions also exemplify the values and ethos of NSCD’