[Updated June 2021] We are excited to introduce the choreographers working with our final-year BA (Hons) students on brand new commissions this summer term.
José Agudo, Amaury Lebrun and Vicki Igbokwe will be creating three fresh works for FUTURE NOW, a celebration of the achievements of our graduating cohort. The results will be performed to an invited audience of family, friends and guests from Wed 30 June - Sat 3 July, and streamed online on Friday 9 July.
Andalusian choreographer José Agudo is known for taking traditional dance forms and translating them into contemporary contexts. Trained in Kathak and Bharatanatym and with roots in Flamenco, Agudo has developed a unique style that fuses the classical and the modern, straddling East and West.
Agudo has worked throughout Europe performing with Charleroi/Danses, Ballet de Marseille, T.R.A.S.H., Shobana Jeyasingh Dance and Akram Khan Company. As a rehearsal director and assistant choreographer José has worked on several creations for Akram Khan Company, including DESH, iTMOi, TOROBAKA, Until the Lions, Chotto Desh, and the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony. His creations for his own touring company include Paradiso, Silk Road and Carmen.
Past commissions include GLANSVIT for Norrdans; SAM for Area Jeune Ballet; KI for Phoenix Dance Theatre and English National Ballet School; Selah and Carmen for ZfinMalta Dance Ensemble; PARADISO for Akademi; and TEN and A Thousand Shepherds for ACE Dance and Music.
Vicki Igbokwe first worked as a dancer, choreographer and Youth Artistic Director for Impact Dance, under the direction of Hakeem Onibudo. She became Creative Projects Manager for East London Dance, worked as a Sponsored Dance Athlete and Master Trainer for Nike, and gained a Master’s degree in Cultural Leadership before founding her company Uchenna Dance.
Vicki’s successful application to the Association of Dance of the African Diaspora’s Trailblazers Scheme allowed her to transition from management to full-time creative artist for Uchenna.
As an independent choreographer, teacher, lecturer and curator Vicki has worked with a wide range of institutions and artists including Kingston University, WAC Arts, Rafael Bonachela, Luca Silvestrini, Sadler’s Wells, The South Bank Centre, and Tanzhaus Nrw Dusseldorf. She has also worked as Mass Movement coordinator for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (London 2012 and Sochi 2014).
Amaury Lebrun is a lecturer in performance at NSCD. Amaury began his studies at Ballet du Nord, Lille before moving to New York to continue his training at the School of American Ballet, where he worked closely with Jerome Robbins.
Amaury has worked with various companies including Ballet du Rhin (Strasbourg), Deutsche Staatsoper (Berlin) and Ballet de l’Opéra de Nice. In 2000, he joined Compañía Nacional de Danza as a principal dancer under director Nacho Duato, performing works by prestigious choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe and Wim Vandekeybus.
As a choreographer and director, Amaury has created multi-award-winning works for companies such as Compañía Nacional de Danza, Centro Coreografico Gallego, Ballet de la Generalitat, VM Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre and Northern Ballet. His piece Left Unseen (2018), first created for NSCD and then with Phoenix, has been widely acclaimed by critics.
