Two dance companies founded by NSCD alumni recently took home prizes at the annual One Dance UK awards. Company Chameleon were awarded the Greater Manchester Award in recognition of their impact on dance ecology and development in the Greater Manchester area. ACE Dance and Music won the award for Inspirational Work in Education for their outstanding outreach work with teachers, artists and young people.
Company Chameleon was founded in 2007 by NSCD alumni Anthony Missen and Kevin Edward Turner.
Upon winning the award, Kevin Edward Turner said: "It's amazing to be given recognition for all the wonderful work the Chameleon team does. When Anthony and I set up the company in Manchester 12 years ago, it felt like dance was at a low ebb. Over the years the dance ecology has developed in a myriad of ways and I'm proud that we've contributed to this growth."
Anthony Missen commented: "From the outset, we aspired to have an impact on dance regionally, and over the years we've worked towards this through our performances, advocacy work and growing workshop programme. A thriving dance community is now developing here, which looking back, we've helped grow. For this I'm really proud."
Company Chameleon makes inspiring dance theatre pieces and tours them nationally and internationally, staging over 50 indoor and outdoor performances each year and leading dance classes or workshops alongside every performance. As such, the company has introduced thousands of young people to dance across the world.
At the end of November, Company Chameleon will tour their new production The Shadow, a dark psychological dance thriller exploring unconscious desire. The cast features current NSCD postgraduate apprentices Lisa Sofia Ziemann and Reece Marshall.
In summer 2020, the company will be creating new work with NSCD third-year students as part of Future Now, our annual graduation performance.
Gail Parmel graduated from NSCD and founded ACE Dance and Music in 1996. Combining energetic contemporary movement with African Caribbean dance forms, ACE Dance and Music is one of the most exciting, eclectic and resilient dance companies in the UK. ACE's bespoke outreach and education programmes, in-house studio classes and Youth company have helped the organisation to nurture the next generation of dance talent in Birmingham and further afield.
ACE Dance and Music will be coming to NSCD's Riley Theatre in March 2020 to perform SKIN Reimagined. The rich double bill by international choreographers Vincent Mantose and Akiko Kitamura draws inspiration from ancestral rituals to explore what lies beneath the skin.
