2022/23 choreographers
Gary Clarke
Gary Clarke has received both critical and audience acclaim and has won a multitude of awards including A Critics Circle National Dance Award, A UK Theatre Award and The Herald Angel Award. He is regularly commissioned to make new work for a variety of companies including Opera North, Sky Arts, Akademi, StopGap Dance Company, as well as the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Gary has worked with choreographers Matthew Bourne, Lloyd Newson and Lea Anderson among others. In 2017, Gary was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from The Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Seeta Patel
Born in London, Seeta Patel began training under the guidance of Kiran Ratna in 1990 and has since worked with a range of Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance professionals including Mavin Khoo, Padma Shri Adyar K Lakshman, Pushkala Gopal, Darshan Singh Bhuller and more. Patel has toured with DV8 Physical Theatre, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, David Hughes Dance Company and Mavin Khoo Dance amongst others. She was awarded the Lisa Ullmann Travel Scholarship to study in India (2005) and at the New York Film Academy (2013).
Seeta presented her solo classical London debut, Shringara: Journey of Desire, to a sold out audience at The Clore Upstairs, Royal Opera House (June 2009), and went on to tour the UK in 2010/11. She has subsequently presented solo classical works Dancing My Siva and Something Then, Something Now to sold out audiences at Sadler’s Wells and the Purcell Room (Darbar Festival). Over the past 12 years, Patel has received numerous awards and bursaries for her creative and professional development.
Seeta’s contemporary work is inspired by her Bharatanatyam training, rich in rhythm and musicality, detail and intricacy. Building and dismantling imagery within the ensemble, fleeting narratives appear and disappear to create a journey to an unknown destination.
Luke Brown
Luke Brown is the Artistic Director of Luke Brown Dance. Luke completed a BA Hons in contemporary dance performance at London Studio Centre. Luke has performed with critically acclaimed companies such as; Frantic Assembly and English National Opera as well as; Ben Wright, Junk Ensemble and Lila Dance Company.
In 2018, Luke, supported by Arts Council England created his touring production of ‘For You I Long the Longest’. In 2019 he completed research and development for ‘The Dandelion Child’, which led him to create ‘Walk of the Dandelion’ in 2021, which he is currently developing.
Luke Brown has directed and choreographed works for many companies including The Place, English National Ballet, Candoco Dance Company, Intoto Dance Company, DanceEast & Trinity Laban CAT Schemes, and Auditorium Ballet Professional Danza.
Luke Brown is excited to be collaborating on Map Dance 2023. His distinctive high-energy contact work approach, which incorporates spirals and the flexibility of the spine, will be used to investigate borders and boarders of what unites us. This is fuelled by Luke’s current experimental project, The Circle, an immersive outdoor production set in a community-built ‘secret’ performance venue.
Kay Crook
Kay Crook is a freelance dance artist and Artistic Director of Chhaya Collective, a female-led contemporary dance company, working between UK and India since 2013. Kay choreographed Chhaya’s international touring productions, Falling Light, HYMNOS and KHAOS and commissioned to make work for PERA (North Cyprus), Attakkalari (India), 3Fall (UK), Grace & Growl (UK) and FITIJ (Portugal). Kay is the Founder and Director of Chhaya Youth Dance Company and Wild Workshops for Women, previously Associate Lecturer for Attakkalari and PERA and worked with PDSW, WOW, Kerala National Theatre (India), 101 Outdoor Arts (UK), Barbican Theatre, Tanzart-Kirschau (Germany), LAB-Arts (Portugal), In2it Festival (Norway) and HIFA (Zimbabwe), amongst others.
2021/22 choreographers
Sarah Golding
Sarah trained at Trinity Laban and received a BA and MA in dance performance. She became a dancer with ‘Lîla Dance’ in 2014 where she toured nationally and rurally. She has performed for theatre companies and choreographers including the Royal Court, Bang Bang Bang group, Darcy Wallace, Quang Kien Van, Cathy Waller, Adam Russell. Sarah has most recently performed with the world touring cast of STOMP. Sarah’s choreographic credits include Balletboyz (the intro.) Royal Court, Laban and Mountview. She was also movement director on the West End play ‘Cruise’. Sarah has recently begun her creative partnership with Yukiko Masui (S A Y) who are currently developing their new work ‘the album.’
Sarah will be creating a new work for mapdance rooted in the relationship between music and dance. “I have always had a strong working relationship with all different types of music. Musicality is something for me that is always evolving and something I am always trying to explore to different degrees in each piece of work I create. I am figuring out different ways to translate music into and out of the body”.