WELCOME

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My main interest is in the movement and choreographic styles of ballet to encourage an interest in its expressive qualities.  I would like   ballet students, teachers and audiences to become knowledgeable about earlier choreography. Rather than focusing on dance technique, I intend to draw them into the expressive elements of the dance, to understand its rationale and the reasons for experiencing it as art as opposed to physical exercises.

To this end, I have written on Frederick Ashton’s ballets focusing on the style, performance and choreography in his work. This acts as a model through which the work of other choreographers can be viewed and explored.  But I have also written on the ballet competition (particularly the Prix de Lausanne) and on teaching ballet as an expressive medium. Currently I am exploring fiction as a historical resource, particularly in the case of Anna Pavlova.  I am also teaching in Elmhurst School with Victor Dura Vila, looking in depth at ballets like Ashton’s Dante Sonata (1940) Giselle as a Gothic work and The Green Table.  Our work has been enthusiastically received by the students and we plan to develop it further.  Our aim is to give students agency and an ability to explore the works themselves.

 

My own background has always been in dance before migrating into academia.

I danced with the Royal Ballet company from 1963 to 1971, having studied first in Dublin with Patricia Ryan and then at the Royal Ballet School.  My teachers there were Pamela May and Ninette de Valois.  During my years with the company, I danced in choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Jules Perrot, Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Michel Fokine, Leonid Massine, Kenneth MacMillan, Bronislava Nijinska and Antony Tudor. So my range and understanding of style on a practical level was extensive. 

I left the company partly due to injury and partly because I found the culture of infantilising dancers gave me little agency to determine my future. 

 

I then took an Open University degree in humanities, studying in-depth the 19th century novel, 20th century poetry and drama and it was my study of the latter that led me to inquire about finding ways in which dance could be analysed in a similar way to drama. 

As a result, I studied for an MA in Dance Studies at Surrey University which led me to undertake a PhD on the subject of Frederick Ashton’s Dance Movement Style again at the University of Surrey on the Roehampton site, under Drs Stephanie Jordan, Helen Thomas and Giannandrea Poesio. 

During this time I was also head of dance studies at the Royal Ballet School, teaching A Level and GCSE Dance.  While teaching there, I was invited onto the Board of the A Level Dance Panel and became an examiner of Paper I, the practical paper. 

Having completed my PHD in 2000, I was asked by Professor Stephanie Jordan to work with her on making a film dealing with style.  This examined the differences between Ashton’s use of Stravinsky’s music and his other works.  She handled the music elements, and I, the choreography. 

I joined Roehampton University as a Senior lecturer in 2003, becoming a Reader in 2012.  There, I taught on the BA and MA courses and tutored PhD students, most of whom have now gained their PhDs.  In 2020, I left the university, becoming an Honorary Fellow and am still in that position and I still support PhD students. 

 

The first edition of my book: Ashton’s Ballets: Style, Performance, Choreography was published in 2012 by Dance Books and a 2nd edition (with a new chapter added) was published by Oxford University Press in 2024.  I have also co-edited a book of essays with Larraine Nicholas, Rethinking Dance History: Issues and Methodologies, published in 2017.

In 2023, I recorded a dance film: Dancing de Valois.  Together with Anita Young and students from the Royal Ballet School, we explored de Valois’ syllabus and highlighted the changes in ballet style and values that have occurred over the last 50 years.  This of course, affected Ashton’s choreography.  It was supported by the Linbury Trust and is available on:
https://youtu.be/BEq8vA8RUQM?si=ZcPH2vGRxpYkZAjl

 

 Over the years, I have published in Peer reviewed journals:  Dance Research, Research in Dance Education  and Dance Chronicle.  These articles are listed under research. 

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