We are pleased to announce the recipients of this year's VERVE Research Commissions 2024/25 Blue Makwana, Antonin Rioche and Maiya Leeke.
VERVE Research Commissions are a paid opportunity for artists from any movement background to research their practice, without a prescribed outcome. Each artist will have bespoke research time with VERVE’s highly skilled dancers, plus feedback and mentoring from NSCD staff.
Speaking of the selection process, VERVE Artistic Director and Curriculum Lead Matteo Marfoglia said:
"This year we received over 70 applications from a global mix of artists working across a range of practices and approaches to contemporary movement and beyond. The calibre was extremely high, including both emerging and more established artists and awarding just two commissions made for a very difficult decision process. Three artists stood out equally for their high quality and distinctive ideas with three very different perspectives, approaches and artistic backgrounds.
This is why I decided to award the commissions to Blue, Maiya and Antonin, three emerging artists in the UK and European dance scene. The three of them demonstrated an in-depth and sophisticated experience in their approach and they will be able to offer three distinctive reach offers to our VERVE 24-25 programme. Still on a journey discovering their craft, aren’t we all, these artists came across with certainty and clarity in their vision and beliefs of what contemporary dance could be and how we can challenge that in multiple directions. I look forward to welcoming them to the studio over the coming months, where I am sure they will no doubt enrich the experience of VERVE company dancers, as well as deepen their own artistry."
Read on to learn more about each of this year's artists.
Blue is a London-based dancer, choreographer and teacher. She is currently aiming to create work which exhibits the highly technical and versatile skill sets many dance performance artists possess.
Greatly influenced by her training and experience with Contemporary Dance techniques, Ballet, Jazz, Commercial and Musical Theatre, BLUE aims to utilise her versatility to incorporate elements of fusion in her work, which is continuously evolving.
Blue is currently a Sadler’s Wells Young Associate Choreographer, as part of the 2023/2024 cohort.
Alongside performing, Blue also teaches Contemporary technique, Commercial, Jazz technique and Musical Theatre at Higher Education vocational institutions including Bird College, London Contemporary Dance School, Emil Dale Academy and Trinity Laban (Musical Theatre Department).
Antonin is a director, choreographer, and visual artist based in Paris whose work blends realism with surrealism whilst creating immersive experiences that resonate on multiple sensory and emotional levels.
Born in Angers in 1994, Antonin studied at Ballet Junior of Geneva where he performed works by Roy Assaf, Marina Mascarell, Alexander Ekman, Hofesh Shechter, and Barak Marshall. Continuing his career as a freelance dancer, he collaborated with renowned artists and companies including Olivier Dubois, Sasha Waltz & Guests, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Theo Clinkard, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Nederlands Dans Theater.
His debut solo piece Ohboy! created during the Eastman Summer Intensive 2017, marked a significant career milestone and the short film adaptation received several awards at international film, fashion, and dance festivals. Since 2018, he has been a house choreographer at Korzo Theater in The Hague, creating works such as The Others, Finally a Sign of Life, Huidhonger, Glitter and Ohgirl!
Currently, he is preparing his new work, ‘We Are Doing Great’ a co-production supported and hosted by Korzo, Mart Foundation, CCN Créteil, and Orsolina28 which will premiere this Fall.
Maiya is a Northern-born choreographer from Lancashire and is currently a Sadler’s Wells Young Associate 2023/24.
Her practice is rooted in her musicianship as a Classical Flautist and Jazz Saxophonist combined with her enquiry into the translation and communication of movement.
The interweaving exchange between musicality, function of her wheelchair, and artistic elegance of her body interests Maiya as she researches what her physical language of movement can be. Her curiosity lies in how this resonates with other dancers, both disabled and non-disabled, enquiring deeper into the true essence of what the movement really is.
Maiya is a Sadler’s Wells Young Associate 2023/24, was a finalist in BBC Young Dancer 2022, and has an MA from Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
Currently, she is a company dancer with Candoco Dance Company, Cathy Waller Company and CoDa Dance Company, obtained an MA in Contemporary Dance Performance (Professional Placement Scheme) here at NSCD, a Creative Support Artist for the National Youth Dance Company (where she is also an alumna), and has appeared in Barbie the Movie; Eurovision; and BBC Proms dancing with Paraorchestra.
