Richard Wherlock
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Richard was born in Bristol, UK. After studying at London’s prestigious
Ballet Rambert School, he joined
their company as a dancer.
Wherlock was Ballet Director at
Hagen Theatre in Germany from
1991 to 1996, then
spending three seasons as
director of the Lucerne Ballet
before moving to Komische Oper
Berlin as artistic director and
choreographer of BerlinBallett.
He has been director and head
choreographer of Ballett Basel
since the 2001/2002 season, and
artistic director of the
renowned festival
“basel tanzt“ since 2004.
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He worked as choreographer with the
companies Tanzforum Köln, Ballet de la
Normandie, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam,
English Dance Theatre, Finnish Dance
Theatre Helsinki, Ballett Staatstheater
Braunschweig, Zürcher Ballett Juniors,
Romanian National Ballet, Innsbrucker
Ballett at Tiroler Landestheater, The
Icelandic Ballet, Ballet National de
Nancy et de Lorraine, Ballet National de
Marseille, Ballet de l'Opéra de Nice,
aalto ballett theater essen, “Europa
Danse“ (Unesco), Ballett der Deutschen
Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, Singapore
Dance Theatre, Ballett der Vereinigten
Bühnen Graz, Introdans in Arnheim/Holland,
Ballett des Badischen Staatstheaters
Karlsruhe and Ballet Contemporaneo del
Teatro San Martin/Argentina. Wherlock also created a full-length ballet for Les Etoiles de
l’Opéra National de Paris.
His film and TV work includes the
choreography for Claude Lelouch’s cinema
production
“Hasards ou Coïncidences“,
presented in 1998 at the Venice Biennale
and at the Montréal and Chicago
festivals. In 2000, Wherlock received
the Prix Italia for the award-winning
dance film “Passengers“, produced by the
Swiss broadcasting company DRS, RM
Associates and 3sat. His most recent
film success, “One bullet left“ – also
produced by Swiss broadcasting company
DRS – was awarded the Golden Rose
of Montreux in 2003.
In 1999 Richard Wherlock was nominated
for the international dance award “Benois
de la Danse“.
Derek
Williams
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Derek Williams was a founder
member and former principal of
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH).
He was also a member of the
National Dance Theatre Company
of Jamaica . He trained at the
Martha Graham School of
Contemporary Dance and the
Harkness House for Ballet Arts
in New York City . He created
several roles and appeared in
much of DTH's Balanchine
repertoire for which he won
international acclaim... For his
role in Agon, the Times wrote
'(Williams)...dances with more
convincing a style than anyone
else outside Balanchine's own
New York City Ballet'. In 1972
Derek danced in the
newly-created Concerto for Jazz
Band and Orchestra by Arthur
Mitchell and George Balanchine.
In 1974 he performed in the
Royal Variety Command
Performance at the London
Palladium for HRH Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother and
in Norway for King Olaf V.
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In the
same year he danced in the DTH Studios
for HRH the Princess Margaret and the
Earl of Snowdon during their USA visit.
He had outstanding success with his
first Broadway appearance in Your Arm's
Too Short To Box With God. He is highly
respected on an international level as a
choreographer and teacher of
contemporary jazz and classical ballet.
In autumn
1988 Derek became Artistic Director of
his own company in Grenoble, France. He has also created works for
Rosella Hightower's Jeune Ballet
International, Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT),
Ballet Central, Northern School of
Contemporary Dance (NSCD), London Studio
Centre, the Arts Educational London
Schools and for Union Dance Company, of
which he was also Associate Artistic
Director. He was appointed a lecturer at
NSCD. In 1996 he was co-choreographer of
the Festival Valtice and performed his
own choreography for the opera Vampyr in
the Czech Republic. He also created and performed
his solo in the Folkwang Fest der Künste
in 1999 in Germany.
As a
guest teacher he has worked for DTH, New
York Theatre Ballet, Birmingham Royal
Ballet, NBT, Rambert Dance Company,
Phoenix Dance Company, Centre National
de Danse Contemporaine d'Angers, Lyon
Opera Ballet, the National Ballet of
Prague, the Macedonian National Theatre
and in 2000 Ballet Nacional de Caracas.
Currently he is a Professor of Dance at
the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany . From this base he has
guested with Susanne Linke and the
Bremer Tanz Theater, the Schiller
Theater NRW, Stätischen Bühnen Münster,
the Palucca Schule and the Prinzregenten
Theater München.
Sharon
Watson
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Trained at the London
Contemporary Dance School ,
Sharon danced with Spiral and
Extemporary dance companies
before joining Phoenix Dance
where she worked as a dancer
from 1989 to 1997. While there
she worked with choreographers
such as Darshan Singh Bhuller,
Michael Clark and Donald Byrd,
and was also heavily involved in
Phoenix 's education work.
Sharon choreographed Never Still
and Shaded Limits for Phoenix
Dance as well as creating new
work for the Northern School of
Contemporary Dance, National
Youth Dance Company and Union
Dance. In 1996 she choreographed
a piece specially commissioned
for the opening ceremony of the
Royal Armouries in Leeds.
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Her own
company ABCD was formed in 1998 and
distinguished itself by focusing largely
on working with live music. The company
has toured both nationally and
internationally in recent years.
Sharon
has returned to Phoenix Dance Theatre where she is
currently Rehearsal and Tour Director.
Qu
Ping
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Born 1962 in Cheng Du, People's
Republic of China, Ping studied
dance at Beijing's Dance Academy
and at the Juilliard School of
Music in New York . In 1989 he
worked as a trainee for William
Forsythe at Ballet Frankfurt.
Upon completing his Masters
degree in choreography from the
Beijing Academy, Ping returned
to work as Forsythe's personal
assistant. Qu Ping has worked in
Auckland , New Zealand , as solo
dancer and choreographer at the
City Theatre, Giessen , at the
National Theatre in Dessau , and
as dancer at the
Metropol-Theater in Berlin . In
1994 he became Artistic Director
and Chief Choreographer at the
Ulmer Theatre. |
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His
choreography Snake Solo won the modern
dance prize at the Paris Choreographic
Competition in 1994. Qu Ping has
arranged numerous tours to China with
some of Europe's largest companies.
