Principal of the London Contemporary Dance School, Veronica Lewis, Trinity Laban Principal Anthony Bowne, and Janet Smith, Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance, celebrate the achievements of their innovative and inspirational alumni.
“We are so proud of our many talented alumni who are carving out successful careers around the world – not just as performers and dance artists, but as choreographers, artistic directors, administrators and educators in the arts.
It is disappointing that three prominent UK choreographers feel that UK dance schools are failing students especially as graduates from London Contemporary Dance School, Trinity Laban and NSCD have danced with all their companies. Our aim is to produce dance-artists who can have successful careers in dance and who thrive upon the creativity, dynamism and opportunities our Institutions offer. We know, from data collected across our Institutions, that almost 80% of our leavers in 2012-13 were working in dance or further study six months after graduation.
We do agree that there aren’t enough opportunities for children in the education system to engage with high quality dance that could inspire and prepare them to pursue further professional training. The national provision is patchy and relies on the vison and determination of individual teachers and head teachers. We all provide high level training through our Centres for Advanced Training in pre-vocational dance, and will continue to work with the profession to increase access to this training right across the UK.
It is important to note that the supportive learning environment we provide our students goes beyond simply ‘training’ – we equip our students with the skills they need to survive in an ever more competitive international market place, and help build the capabilities they need to be successful once they graduate.”
