People

Nicky joined ID as Director (interim) in September 2024. She steers the overall creative and strategic vision and leads on curation, partnerships, communications, finance, fundraising, governance, human resources and operations.

Nicky has 30 years’ experience in the dance and performance sector and works in a freelance capacity as a curator, producer and dramaturg. She was previously Head of Dance and Performance at the Southbank Centre programming dance and performance across the entire site. Projects included a close collaboration with the Hayward Gallery resulting in the exhibition MOVE: Choreographing You; a partnership with the London Jazz Festival to present Nigel Charnock and Gwilym Simcock; a public performative exchange between artists on the QEH stage called ‘A Meeting Place’; and partnerships with LIFT, Fierce and Dance Umbrella. Nicky also curated 2 editions of a partnership with the European Commission, DancEUnion, presenting 20+ artists at each festival.  Prior to this role Nicky was Artistic Director at Dance4 and the nottdance Festival. She supported East Midlands based artists, developed national and international research projects, and presented and toured many international artists for the first time in the UK as part of nottdance, including Gisele Vienne, Luis de Abreu, Vera Mantero and Israel Galvan.

Nicky has also worked with Artsadmin, Trinity Laban, Candoco Dance Company, Yolande Snaith and Xan Dye. Nicky trained at Trinity Laban and also has an MA Dramaturgy from Birkbeck and an MA Popular Culture from the Open University. In 2009 she was awarded a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres (Republique Française) for her services to dance. In 2026 Nicky will begin a new chapter as doctoral researcher with the University of Roehampton, in partnership with the LSE.

Nicky is currently Chair of Ben Duke’s Lost Dog and Co-Chair of Chisenhale Dance Space.

Renée is our Programme Coordinator. She coordinates the projects, events and on-going daily work of the organisation, and is often the first point of contact for participants, artists and the general public.

Renée is an interdisciplinary artist, facilitator and producer whose practice is person-centred, socially engaged and driven by a curiosity in movement (of images, of bodies), community and documentary-making. Her practice blends choreography, film and photography and is often DIY, iterative and collaborative in nature.

She graduated from the Postgraduate Diploma in Community Dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2021 and was recipient of The Choreography Prize. Previously, she attended London College of Communication, University of the Arts London undertaking a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design and subsequently BA Hons Film and Television.

Cheniece is our Digital Communications Assistant, supporting our marketing and our digital programme.

Chen is also a multidisciplinary artist with a background in movement and poetry they aim to create multimedia and multisensory experiences that invite viewers/participants to sit, observe and play! Their most recent works explore the idea of ‘Sinking’, a warm luxurious letting go and toning down of the outside world brought about by their lived experience with chronic illness and the need to find time to recoup. So far, they have used movement scores, zines, sound design and embroidery to explore this concept.

Outside of their practice, they are a Movement Documentary Photographer working with artists to capture the beautiful intimate moments within their creative processes and where possible they love to get into the studio (or under the trees) to move, write and be present with others. Most recently they worked and performed with Dr. Adesola Akinleye and DancingStrong Movement Lab for ‘Belonging to the Hop’ installation at the Hayward Gallery (2022) and then in ‘How Shall We Begin Again?’ a performance installation by Jo Fong for NEUROLIVE (2022).

Henrietta joined ID as Co-Director (0.6) in 2018 and stepped down in 2023. She continues with ID as Lead Tutor of MA Creative Practice: Dance Professional, on the two modules which are led and delivered by ID.

Heni is an independent artist, working as a choreographer, performer, researcher and educator in diverse contexts with a collaborative focus. Much of her work has been realised as co-director of collective Dog Kennel Hill Project. They produce work for theatres, screen, galleries and non-traditional sites in the UK and internationally, working with a range of partners such as Dance4 with whom they were associate artists 2010-2014, Dance Umbrella, Modern Art Oxford and Brighton CCA. As well as leading professional classes she was a regular lecturer in dance technique, choreography and performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance (2002-13) and has choreographed for a variety of groups in higher education.

Iris Yi Po Chan (she/her) is a freelance dancer, performer, and producer from Hong Kong. Iris began her journey into the dance sector at ID where she was administrator from 2008-2013, working with co-directors Gill Clarke and Fiona Millward. She has since worked with a wide range of choreographers, dance/visual artists, companies and organisations, traversing roles in producing, management, performing, teaching, and facilitating. As a dancer she has collaborated and performed in works by Jo Fong, Florence Peake, J Neve Harrington, Sung Im Her, Robert Clark, Matthias Sperling, Hetain Patel, Sophie Nüzel, Laura Wilson, and Amina Khayyam amongst others. 

Since 2021, Iris has been artistic stream producer for the interdisciplinary research project NEUROLIVE. She is based between London and Lyon in France.

Kimberley Harvey is a disabled dance artist who works as a performer, choreographer and facilitator in the UK and internationally. As well as working as a freelance performer for others, Kimberley has her own inclusive contemporary dance company, Subtle Kraft Co. The work is centred around relationships in their various and complex forms with connection, communication and curiosity as core elements for their artistic and working practice.

Kimberley has been working with Holland Dance Festival since 2022. She co-curated their DanceAble Symposium 2022 & 2024 alongside Irene van Zeeland, and they will be co-curating the 2026 edition together as well. Kimberley is also Holland Dance Festival’s ‘Expert Collaborator’ for Europe Beyond Access 2.

Michael Kitchin (he/him) is a London based producer and fundraiser, working with artists at the intersections of dance, performance and theatre. 

He has producing relationships with artists Eve Stainton, Lucy McCormick, Thick & Tight, Marikiscrycrycry, Katy Baird and Chisato Minamimura. His freelance producing practice focuses heavily on advocacy, delivery, touring and access. He works closely with artists to realise their projects, navigate their practice and to build sustainable careers. He is interested in work which is queer, experimental, accessible and artist focussed.  

He has produced work at Southbank Centre, Fierce, Take Me Somewhere, ICA, Sadler’s Wells, Block Universe, Tate Modern, Battersea Arts Centre, Horizon Showcase, as well as across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. 

Julia (she/her) is a Japanese British Londoner with a passion for performance and dance. She spent over fifteen years working in a variety of roles in marketing, communications and project management in the culture and arts sector such as: Southbank Centre, Soho Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe and the National Theatre. 
 
She currently works at the Natural History Museum, where she is Innovation Programme Manager leading on the development of new business in the translation of research into commercial and impact opportunities. 

Dr. Adesola Akinleye (she/they) is an artist-scholar whose choreographic work bridges art, technology, and social inquiry. Adesola draws out the connections between movement, identity, and environment, seeing dance as a profound mode of engagement, storytelling, and social action. Adesola is co-artistic director of DancingStrongMovementLab. and an Associate Professor at Texas Woman’s University and a former Fellow at the Center for Art, Science and Technology at MIT, and Theatrum Mundi. 

Grounded in Afro-Indigenous perspectives, Adesola explores dance as an embodied method for witnessing, remembering, and listening. Their work engages the relationship between physical Self and environment as a “living archive,” revealing the intricate relationships between movement, identity, and environment: Place. Central to Adesola’s practice is an urgent commitment to kinship across the web of human and non-human, which reflects principles inherent in many Afro-Indigenous worldviews. 

Adesola’s publications include the monograph Dance, Architecture and Engineering, and Dancing Place: scores of the city, scores of the shore; commissions include site-specific work at The Hayward Gallery, London. Supported by the NEA, Adesola’s XR project, Space+Digital+Dance, uses augmented reality to craft new, communal experiences that deepen the engagement between digital futures and embodied practice. 

Gill Clarke (1954 – 2011) was an independent dance artist and co-director of Independent Dance from 1996-2011. She was a founding member of Siobhan Davies Dance Company and also performed and collaborated with other choreographers including Rosemary Butcher, Rosemary Lee, Janet Smith, Kate Brown and Marina Collard. Gill regarded teaching as an integral part of her artistic practice. She regularly led masterclasses and workshops internationally for students, professionals and companies, and collaborated with filmmaker Becky Edmunds on a multi-screen installation – Stones and Bones. Head of Performance Studies at LABAN from 2000-2006, she founded MA Creative Practice : Dance Professional which ID continues to lead in partnership with Trinity Laban and Siobhan Davies Studios. Gill was an Honorary Visiting Professor at University of Ulster, a joint NESTA fellow and a Trustee of Dance UK. She received a London Dance and Performance Award, the Jane Attenborough Award from One Dance UK and an MBE, which she returned in protest of the UK government’s foreign policy in Iraq.

An obituary for Gill Clarke, written by Rosemary Lee and Siobhan Davies is here

Fiona Millward was co-director ID from 1996–2015 and co-led the organisation alongside Gill Clarke until Gill passed away in 2011. She received a joint NESTA Fellowship in 2001 to support the development of ID strategically. Having worked since 1985 as a dancer, teacher and choreographer, she values immensely the alchemy of collaboration that underpins these various roles. Her desire to bring those experiences into her work with others in various capacities, a deep respect for the resilience and mystery of the body, and a curiosity about how we move through life, she also works as a Certified Rolfer ™ and Rolf Movement ™ Practitioner, Franklin Method ™ Educator, Scaravelli Inspired Yoga Teacher and Somatics Exercise Coach. In 2021 she continues as part of Creative Europe “BET” – Body Experience Time through 45+ dancers and the Acting Our Age collaboration between choreographers Yael Flexer and Galit Liss with performers aged 23-74.

Kirsty Alexander is freelance curator, teacher, and consultant specializing in dance training and in the ongoing development of professional dancers. She co-directed Independent Dance from 2015 – 2018, also leading the core modules of the MA Creative Practice: Dance Professional which ID runs in collaboration with Trinity Laban and Siobhan Davies Studios. She has been involved in educating dancers within the higher education sector for over 25 years, as Head of Undergraduate Studies at Laban from 2000-2004 and as Assistant Director of London Contemporary Dance School from 2005-2010 and an associate editor of the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices until recently. Kirsty is a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique and in 2015 completed a PhD funded by the University of Stirling, School of Education.

Gitta Wigro was co-director of Independent Dance from 2012-2019. She is a freelance dance film programmer and curator, and part of the team behind the MA Screendance at London Contemporary Dance School. ​She has worked in artist and artform development at The Place, Arts Council England, and Independent Dance, as well as in freelance roles. As a dance film specialist, she has worked with many international festivals, including Leeds International Film Festival (UK), COORPI (IT), Festival Quartiers Danses (CA) Dance Umbrella (UK), among many others. She co- ordinates the International Screendance Calendar and other resources to support the dance film field.

Nikki Tomlinson was Co-Director 2020-24, steering the overall strategic vision and leading on partnerships, communications, finance, fundraising, governance, human resources and operations. She contributed to and supported the shaping of the artistic programme, initiating and co-curating International Festival of Learning and programme strands such as Dance It Dance It; artistic approaches to access and inclusive leadership.

With a background in artist development, producing, curating, performance-making and dramaturgy, she has developed interests over the past 25 years in performance, participation, social justice and interdisciplinarity, advocacy for and with artists and widening access in every sense to experimental work.

She continued to work freelance alongside her role with ID, supporting choreographers and visual artists as a producer and dramaturg on projects presented in galleries, theatres and found sites internationally. For 13 years she collaborated with artist Florence Peake, as performer in multiple works and latterly as producer on Florence’s large-scale performances. She currently works as Executive Producer with Graeme Miller.

Previous roles include Lead Artist Advisor/Producer at Artsadmin where she co-curated public artworks, initiated a European network to critically explore the politics and practices of participation, managed bursary/residency programmes and a fellowship scheme with disabled and d/Deaf artists. She curated international Weekender Labs for 10 years led by artists ranging from La Ribot to Vlatka Horvat and The Freedom Theatre Palestine, produced projects across the UK and for the Paralympic Culture Programme 2012 at the Southbank. Prior to Artsadmin she worked with Chisenhale Dance Space and with Hackney Community College as an ESOL Lecturer and Refugee Support Worker.

Nikki’s last choreographic work, a solo titled FOLLY, was presented at BIOS (Athens, 2015) and Toynbee Studios (2018) while as a dramaturg she has worked with Simone Mousset, Mamoru Iriguchi and Umama Hamido.

Henrietta joined ID as Co-Director (0.6) in 2018 and stepped down in 2023. She continues with ID as Lead Tutor of MA Creative Practice: Dance Professional, on the two modules which are led and delivered by ID.

Heni is an independent artist, working as a choreographer, performer, researcher and educator in diverse contexts with a collaborative focus. Much of her work has been realised as co-director of collective Dog Kennel Hill Project. They produce work for theatres, screen, galleries and non-traditional sites in the UK and internationally, working with a range of partners such as Dance4 with whom they were associate artists 2010-2014, Dance Umbrella, Modern Art Oxford and Brighton CCA. As well as leading professional classes she was a regular lecturer in dance technique, choreography and performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance (2002-13) and has choreographed for a variety of groups in higher education.

Nathaniel Parchment joined ID as Co-Director in October 2023. Nathaniel is a London-based dance artist whose interests lie at the intersections of embodied enquiry, social dance cultures, global body-mind practices and performance.

For the past 10 years he worked extensively in India as a performer and teacher, as well as a facilitator of yoga retreats and dance education projects.

More recently Nathaniel undertook MA Creative Practice : Dance Professional programme delivered by Trinity Laban in partnership with Independent Dance and Siobhan Davies Studios and presented performance research at Fest en Fest, the international festival of expanded choreography initiated by H2 DANCE. His ongoing working friendship with collaborator Hugh Stanier has involved helping to manage and facilitate the Movement in Nature Gathering at Dragon Orchard, Herefordshire.