“Rachel’s class was really clearly articulated through her words and body.”
Participant, International Festival of Contact Improvisation, Freiburg
Rachel works as an educator in a wide range of contexts including with dance undergraduates and MA students, open adult groups, schools and nurseries, parents and children, adults with learning disabilities, International Contact Improvisation festivals and professional dancers.
Flexible and collaborative ways of working allow her to create something that is specific to people and place in a particular moment. Inclusion and respect for the unique qualities each person brings are integral to her way of working and enable her to create high-quality work with a wide variety of groups. She is passionate about the difference movement can make to people’s lives.
She works regularly with Yorkshire Dance, Independent Dance, Improvisation Exchange, Circus Leeds, Interplay Theatre, Pyramid of Arts, Mind the Gap, CoActive Wakefield and Armley People’s Theatre. Rachel has extensive experience of lecturing in Higher Education at BA and MA level including tutoring and assessing students. She has taught at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, University of Chester, York St John University and University of Lincoln. Courses have included Choreography, Performance Making, Facilitating Dance Creation, Experiential Anatomy into Movement, Dance and Disability, Contact Improvisation and Scores for Improvisation Performance.
“Through Rachel’s classes I learnt a whole new way of working, so that the movement came from interaction in each moment rather than trying to copy a shape”
Undergraduate student, Northern School of Contemporary Dance
“The most connected I’ve felt to others and my body for a long time. A magical combination”
Participant, Improvisation Exchange
“Rachel is great to work with. There’s a lot of generosity in the way she works and humility too. Her sensitivity to everyone’s needs is really ace.”
Group leader, Coactive
“These classes make me happy, it’s made a big change in my life”
Student, Mind the Gap
Photo Credits: Sue Millard, Brian Slater and Lynette Willoughby