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Alexander Whitley

Founder of Alexander Whitley Dance Company

Profile

I trained at the Royal Ballet School and danced professionally with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Rambert, Michael Clark, Sydney Dance Company and Company Wayne McGregor.

In 2014 I established Alexander Whitley Dance Company (AWDC) through which I have made commissioned work for the Royal Opera House and Sadler’s Wells. I was an Affiliate Choreographer of the Royal Ballet Studio Programme from 2012-2014, and currently a New Wave Associate artist at Sadler’s Wells, an associate artist at Rambert and associate artist at DanceEast. I am also a member of New Movement Collective, a group of choreographers and dance artists who seek to redefine the boundaries of contemporary dance through multidisciplinary collaboration in unconventional performance spaces.

Outside of dance I have completed a BA Hons in Politics, Philosophy and Economics through the Open University and also have a particular interest in science and technology. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to investigate aspects of my practice in more depth and forge connections with other areas of thinking through the research fellowship at QMU

Work

My work for AWDC since 2014 has included The Measures Taken, a collaboration with digital arts studio Marshmallow Laser Feast incorporating real-time interactive visuals with the choreography, The Grit in the Oyster, a Sadler’s Wells commission for their celebrated programme Thomas Ades: See the Music, Hear the Dance, and Pattern Recognition, a collaboration with Memo Atken (formerly of Marshmallow Laser Feast) continuing the investigation into motion-responsive technology.

Projects with New Movement Collective have included the critically acclaimed Nest (2013) and recently Collapse, a collaboration with architectural laser scanning studio ScanLab and cellist/composer Oliver Coates.

Commissioned work for other companies in recent years includes All That Is Solid Melts Into Air for the Royal Ballet, Kin. For Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Murmuring for Balletboyz, Frames for Rambert and Beheld for Candoco Dance Company.

I am currently working on a new piece for AWDC exploring solar physics in partnership with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the UK’s largest space science centre. It will premiere at Sadler’s Wells in June 2017.

Key Links

Website: www.alexanderwhitley.com
Facebook: @alexanderwhitleydance
Twitter: @alexwhitley
Instagram: @whitleydance

Research

Performance

Live Performance

  • Collapse – July 2016, New Movement Collective
  • Pattern Recognition - April 2016, AWDC
  • Undergoing – March 2016, EDge
  • Beheld – October 2015, Candoco Dance Company
  • Frames – March 2015, Rambert
  • The Grit in the Oyster – November 2014, AWDC for Sadler’s Wells’ Thomas Adés: See the Music, Hear the Dance
  • The Murmuring – September 2014, Balletboyz
  • Concordance – July 2014, Royal Ballet School
  • All That Is Solid Melts Into Air – May 2014, Royal Ballet
  • The Measures Taken – May 2014, AWDC
  • Kin. – April 2014, Birmingham Royal Ballet
  • Vantage (film), February 2014, Channel 4 Random Acts
  • Pushing Boundaries – September 2013, Installation for Lisbon Architecture Trienale
  • Nest – July 2013, New Movement Collective (co-creation)
  • Tooth and Nail – July 2013, English National Ballet School
  • The Measures Taken (excerpt) – June 2013 Jerwood Dance House, Sadler’s Wells Theatre
  • Vectors – June 2013, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre
  • All That Is Solid Melts Into Air (excerpt) – May 2013, Royal Ballet Draft Works
  • The Imperfect Circle – March 2013, Northern School of Contemporary Dance
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