News

Northern School of Contemporary Dance is pleased to announce its Honorary Fellows for 2018: Sharon Watson and Miranda Tufnell.

Each year NSCD acknowledges individuals for their exceptional contribution to the School, Contemporary Dance and the cultural ecology at large with the highest award the School can currently bestow. Last year’s inaugural Honorary Fellowships were awarded to Gary Clarke and Wayne McGregor.

Artistic Director of Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre Sharon Watson, has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship for her ongoing contribution to the School and her contributions to the development of arts and culture in the North. The award was conferred as part of the School’s Graduation performances on Saturday 7th July.

Speaking of Sharon Watson’s award, Janet Smith MBE, Principal of NSCD said:

‘In her role as Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sharon contributes to the development of arts and culture in the North through her leadership, programming and choreography. She has recently also shown inspiring leadership for the city as the Chair of the Leeds City of Culture 2023 Bid steering group, championing the cultural ambition of the city and ensuring dance is part of it.’

She continued: ‘Sharon, who has studied, taught and most recently choreographed at Northern School of Contemporary Dance, has taken initiative to provide opportunities through Phoenix Dance Theatre to enhance the development of students and we proudly recognise her commitment to supporting emerging talent in the School as a partner in the city.’

Accepting the award, Sharon Watson said:

‘I’m delighted to receive this accolade as my connection with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance stretches back over 30 years. The founding Principal Nadine Senior was my teacher at Harehills Middle School and like so many others, I would not be doing what I do today if it wasn’t for the inspiring leadership Nadine gave. Northern School is a wonderful resource right here in Leeds, offering the only conservatoire-level professional contemporary dance training in the North of England, and I am proud to have played a part in it.’

Miranda Tufnell, dance artist, writer and teacher, was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the School this year and will accept her award at a private ceremony at the School at the start of the Autumn term.

For the last thirty-five years Miranda Tufnell has been pursuing a profound interest in the body, environment and the language of movement. Her work has evolved through ongoing collaborations and research in performance and teaching alongside working as a body therapist/movement educator (both independently and within the NHS). She has followed a passion to listen more deeply to the body’s subtleties of movement, and to explore the human need to find a language that is beneath our words.

After studying English at University College, London with Frank Kermode, Tufnell began her dance training at London School of Contemporary Dance. She studied in New York, Cunningham Studio and with Nancy Topf and Simone Fortis. Other significant influences have been Alexander technique, Contact Improvisation, Release, and Tai’ Chi.

Her performance work has been shown in galleries and theatres across the UK and abroad since 1976. Collaborating with artist Chris Crickmay she created the film Dance Without Steps (1978) for the Open University and co-authored two handbooks on sourcing creative work entitled Body Space Image (1990) and A Widening Field (2004). She has taught in many colleges and universities and continues to teach independently, mentor and make performance.

Janet Smith MBE speaking of Miranda Tufnell:

‘NSCD values Miranda Tufnell’s outstanding and longstanding contribution to dance through her movement and improvisation research, collaborative performance work and her dance writing. Her celebrated handbooks, Body Space Image: notes towards improvisation and performance and A Widening Field: journeys in body and imagination, written in collaboration with Chris Crickmay are seminal works that continue to support and inspire students, dance artists, teachers and facilitators. When I Open My Eyes: dance, health and imagination takes dance and creativity into the field of health and health care, offering a doctors a different way of helping people through the provision therapeutic dance.’

[Photo: Sharon Watson and Janet Smith MBE, by Nick Singleton]