Central School Of Ballet Announces New MA Choreography Participants

Central School of Ballet announces new MA Choreography programme participants: Anjali Mehra-Hughes from New Adventures and Sandrine Monin from Phoenix Dance Theatre. The students joined Central this spring on the MA programme that takes 18 months on average to complete, providing the opportunity for professional choreographers to hone their skills, engage in research and develop their practice at the highest level.

Anjali completed her professional dance training at Central School of Ballet where she also won the Christopher Gable Choreographer Award. She joined New Adventures in 1999 and now combines a career as a choreographer and a performer. Anjali has worked in dance, opera and in film and commercial projects. She was in the original cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams and the recent production of Kiss Me, Kate at Theatre Du Chatelet. With New Adventures her roles have included Irina in The Red Shoes, the Queen and Girlfriend in Swan Lake 2013/14, Glenda in Play Without Words and Sugar in Nutcracker!

Anjali said: "Doing the MA in choreography will give me the chance to explore and analyse my work in depth and spend time pushing my creativity and practice. Returning to Central where I trained to begin the next chapter in my life is very exciting and I am really looking forward to the opportunity to work with the next generation of dancers. I hope to consolidate the skills I learned at Central and combine the 20 years' of professional experience I have gained in the dance industry to find my unique voice as a choreographer."

Sandrine was born in Montluçon, France and trained at the Conservatory National Superior of Music and Dance in Lyon. Sandrine trained and danced across Europe before moving to Leeds in 2012 to join Phoenix Dance Theatre, where she performed works by choreographers such as Itzik Galili, Christopher Bruce, Sharon Watson, Didy Veldman, and Ivgy & Greben. Sandrine's choreography credits include successful pieces at Phoenix, beginning with Calyx for the 2016/17 Season, and her selection in 2017 for One Dance UK's Mentoring Programme and Choreographer's Observership.

Sandrine said: "The MA is going to allow me to investigate my practice, develop my professional competences and pursue my desire to create work that emotionally engages with the audience.

I am looking forward to making this journey with Central School of Ballet and explore my own choreographic voice."

Central launched an MA in choreography in 2011 and rapidly became a recognised way for professional choreographers to develop their skills and advance their careers. One of its first graduates was Christopher Marney, the current Artistic Director of Ballet Central.

Louise Ainley, who has led the postgraduate programme for the past seven years, commented: "Central continues to celebrate valuable links with the dance profession. We are proud to be supporting the career development of talented choreographers who have ambitions to develop their practice at the highest level."

Central's MA programme has ballet as its principal focus and provides a bespoke approach to developing expertise. At its core the MA celebrates the importance of communication in dance and each choreographer is encouraged to explore and refine their individual choreographic voice. The postgraduate degree complements Central's core BA (Hons) Professional Dance and Performance degree, both courses validated by the University of Kent.

Both Sandrine and Anjali are kindly supported by The Leverhulme Trust through their Arts Scholarships initiative. Central is particularly grateful to The Levehulme Trust for supporting emerging choreographers, allowing them to continue to train, to develop as artists, and influence the dance industry with new ideas and skills. For many aspiring choreographers the opportunities offered through Central's MA programme would be impossible without such support.

Director Heidi Hall commented: "We welcome Anjali and Sandrine to Central, the latest cohort to join this unique programme that offers education, training and funding. Both undergraduate and postgraduate MA students will begin using our new premises in the South Bank in Southwark during the academic year 2019/2020. We recently announced that works have started on the bespoke fit-out of the building to provide amenities to rival dance training facilities anywhere in the UK; seven studios, a fully-equipped Studio Theatre, study, state-of the-art health suite and resource centres." Heidi continues: "Our new Paris Gardens home will become a hub for a dynamic dance community, a place where professional choreographers will be stimulated to generate work and refresh their ideas."

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