The third and last talk in the Keep Listening Keep Talking series features guest speaker Dr Sharon Watson CEO and Principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, and is hosted by Dr Shantel Ehrenberg, Co-Director of the Centre for Performance Philosophy, University of Surrey.
The format of the final conversation will be introduced on the day and generally follow on from previous conversations. We again aim to consider together, in this final of the three sessions, how to do things differently and areas for ongoing activism. Attendees are encouraged to check out the following material before the event: Sharon Watson interviewed by Lou Cope, ‘Downtime’ podcast and Phoenix Dance Theatre’s Windrush: Movement of the People
This talk is intended for artist academics working in HE contexts.
To book please contact info@independentdance.co.uk
Sharon Watson was appointed CEO and Principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2020. Prior to this she was Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre. Trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, she was one of the first female Principal Dancers invited to join the all-male award winning Phoenix Dance Company, touring with the company from 1989 to 1997 where she choreographed Never Still and Shaded Limits. Having left Phoenix to pursue a number of other ventures including setting up her own company ABCD, Sharon returned in 2009 as the new Artistic Director. Since then Sharon has choreographed Fast Lane, Melt, Never 2 Still, Repetition of Change, TearFall and Windrush: Movement of the People.
During her tenure at Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sharon received a number of awards and accolades: In 2010, she was named as one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s ‘Women to Watch’, a list of 50 influential women working in arts and culture in the UK. She was awarded The Sue Ryder ‘Yorkshire Women of Achievement in Business Award’ and named ‘Yorkshire Woman of the Year’ in 2016. She recently received the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts’ Companionship Award from Sir Paul McCartney and was recognised as one of ‘100 faces of a vibrant economy 2017’ by Grant Thornton. Acknowledged at the 2017 Northern Power Women Awards as part of the very first ‘Top 50 Power List’ and in 2018 Sharon won the First English Woman’s Award for Arts and Culture and was presented with an Honorary Fellowship by Northern School of Contemporary Dance. In July of 2019 Sharon received an Honorary Doctorate from Leeds Beckett University for her contribution to the arts. Sharon’s recognitions are testament to her continued passion and drive to contribute to the local and national creative industries through the medium of dance.
Sharon is a previous trustee of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and current trustee of Leeds Playhouse and Leeds 2023. She is committed to improving diversity within the arts by supporting the creative voices of women and black and ethnic minority artists.