Culture Now: Siobhan Davies & Ramsay Burt

Choreographer Siobhan Davies in a lunchtime discussion with Professor of Dance History, Ramsay Burt.

Siobhan Davies, CBE, is one of UK’s most renowned choreographers, having created over 60 works to critical acclaim and winning numerous awards including Digital Dance Award, South Bank Show Award and twice an Olivier Award. She began dancing while a student at Hammersmith School of Art and Building and soon joined London Contemporary Dance Theatre, before founding the pioneering company Second Stride with Richard Alston and Ian Spink in 1982.

Founding Siobhan Davies Dance in 1988, she consistently works closely with collaborating dance artists to ensure that their own artistic enquiry is part of the creative process and applies choreography across a range of artistic disciplines. Since 2002 Davies creates work for non-theatre spaces and has recently performed in Victoria Miro Gallery, ICA, Whitworth Gallery, Ikon Gallery, Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, Turner Contemporary and Arnolfini.

In 2006, the RIBA award-winning Siobhan Davies Studios opened, realising Davies’ long-standing goal of establishing a permanent base for her organisation and for independent dance artists. The Studios are now a vibrant contemporary arts space in central London, exploring the role of choreography in contemporary culture through collaborations in dance, film, visual art and craft in exhibitions, performances, participation projects and new commissions from leading contemporary artists.