Applications to be part of VERVE 26 are now open. Create brand new work with internationally renowned choreographers and their collaborators. Tour across the UK, grow your artistry with VERVE Curriculum Lead Matteo Marfoglia, work with various guest artists, develop teaching skills and participate in exchanges with peers.
Next year (2025/26) the company will present work by:
ALETHIA ANTONIA
ANDREA COSTANZO MARTINI
OONA DOHERTY
Our search for a diverse company of dancers from all backgrounds begins now.
Course Info Apply NowAlethia Antonia (They/Her) is a British Caribbean, West Yorkshire-based independent choreographer, performer, teacher and researcher. Alethia’s practice incorporates various movement practices/music/singing, and academic frames to explore artistic & socio-political questions related to identity. Their practice also explores accessibility, decolonisation and the use of dance as a place to reimagine and heal.
Alethia’s choreographic work has been presented at The Place, DanceEast, Lilian Baylis, UTA Artist Space LA and Centre Pompidou in Paris. Their outdoor performances have included National Theatre Riverstage and London Gallery Weekend as well as appearing in Phoenix Dance Theatre and Sadler’s Wells Digital Programmes.
Their research is supported by institutions such as Akram Khan Company, FABRIC, NSCD, and Yorkshire Dance. They are a Work Place Artist at The Place and a part-time PhD student at DMU with a Midlands4Cities scholarship.
Watch Alethia's ShowreelBorn and raised in Italy, Andrea Costanzo Martini began his dance training at Danzicherie in Cuneo, Teatro Nuovo in Turin, and the Heinz Bost Stiftung Ballet Academy. He has performed with renowned companies such as Aalto-Theater, Cullberg Ballet, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company, and danced with both the Batsheva Ensemble and Batsheva Dance Company.
As a choreographer, Andrea’s work has been presented internationally at major festivals and venues, including Curtain Up Festival, The Place, and Zurich Tanzhaus Aerowaves20. He has created commissioned works for companies such as Balletto di Roma, BTT, and Pollak Dance Theater. Recent projects include Wild Thoughts for NDCWales, Life in Lycra for the Grand Opera Avignon, and Animal In for the Bora Art Project in Seoul.
Andrea has received numerous awards, including First Prize for Performance and Choreography at the International Tanz Solo Competition in Stuttgart, and two partner prizes at the RIDCC in Rotterdam, 2024. He is also a dedicated teacher of Gaga and improvisation, working with companies like Batsheva, Cullberg Ballet, and the Royal Swedish Ballet. He is an associate artist of the VAN Cultural Association (Italy) and a member of the Israeli Choreographers Association.
Watch Andrea's Choreographic ReelOona Doherty, a London-born dancer and choreographer, moved to Belfast at age 10. She honed her craft at London School of Contemporary Dance and LABAN. Since 2010, she has performed with renowned companies such as TRASH, Abattoir Fermé, and Enda Walsh & Landmark Productions.
Doherty’s groundbreaking solo work, Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus, garnered critical acclaim, winning the Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival Best Performer Award and the Total Theatre Dance Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her subsequent collaborations with David Holmes, including Hard to be Soft – A Belfast Prayer and Lady Magma: The Birth of a Cult, pushed boundaries and earned recognition, with Hard to be Soft being named the No. 1 British dance performance of 2019 by The Guardian.
In 2021, Doherty launched her own company OD Works Association, and her recent works, such as Navy Blue and The Wall, continue to captivate audiences and critics alike. Her impressive career has been marked by prestigious awards, including the Venice Biennale Silver Lion in 2021, and residencies at esteemed institutions like Maison de la Danse de Lyon and Sadler’s Wells.
Watch Oona's Previous Work
