Trained at the Ballet Rambert School in London, Niall joined Scottish Ballet in 1981, where he worked with choreographers including Peter Darrell, Christopher Bruce and Michael Clark and performed in works by Bournonville, Cranko, Kylian, Prokovsky and Muldoon. He created and performed many solo roles during his years with the company and performed at festivals in the USA and Australia as well as in Turkey, Italy, Spain and Cyprus.

When a recurring injury curtailed his ballet career, Niall changed track and performed in a number of internationally-acclaimed commercial shows including the Moulin Rouge, Paris, and elsewhere including Monte Carlo and South Korea. In 1993 he established the John Field Memorial Ballet Seminar which quickly gained an international reputation for its rigour and for the high quality of teaching it offered. Niall is a highly respected ballet master, having worked with Phoenix Dance Theatre, Scottish Ballet and Northern Ballet Theatre. He has taught for the Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst (Birmingham) and the Royal Academy of Dance, as well as at summer schools in the UK and abroad, and for five years under Nadine Senior was Senior Lecturer in Ballet at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. He is a Panel Assessor for the Council for Dance Education & Training (CDET) and a highly sought after dance consultant.

Having co-created New English Contemporary Ballet, his direction has quickly established the company’s reputation as a major contributor to the developing UK dance scene and is leading the way for audiences bringing significant UK premieres by Richard Wherlock, George Balanchine, Davide Bombana and Patrick Delcroix.

Born in Thionville, France, Benoit studied at the École de Danse Opéra de Paris, directed by Claude Bessy. He continued his training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Danse de Paris.

Benoit joined the Junior Ballet de Paris where he performed works such as Apollo (Balanchine), Mythologie Plastique (Ashley Page), Light Fandango (Robert North) and Jewish Songs (Douglas Becker). In 1998 he joined Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal where performed a range of works by Balanchine, Forsythe, Duato, Niels Christie and Weldman among others.

In 2001 he joined Ballett Basel under direction of Richard Wherlock where his roles have included Peer Gynt (wedding pas de deux), Roméo and Juliet (Paris), Les Noces (Father), Sidewinding (solo). In 2003 he had Light into Shade, a pas de deux, created on him for the Brisbane International Dance Festival, Queensland, Australia, which was subsequently performed at galas within Germany and Switzerland. Other choreographers’ works performed during this period also included Kylian (Sechs Tanze, Forgotten Land) and Forsythe (Vile Parody of Address). Benoit acted as Rehearsal Director for Wherlock’s work whilst NECB was preparing for its first tour in 2006 and comes to the company now directly from Ballett Basel.

Born in Würzburg, Germany to Polish parents, Claudia began her dancing career as a student in Coburg before moving to the Music Conservatory at Cologne. She completed her studies at the Conservatory for Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt from which she graduated in 2002. Her professional career first took her back to Coburg where she worked at the Landes Theater dancing in Le Sacre du Printemps and in Petruschka in the role of the Ballerina. This was followed by a period at the Landes Theater in Salzburg, Austria where she danced solo roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carmen and Othello. At the Tiroler Festspiele in 2006 and 2007 she performed in a production of Parsifal directed by Gustav Kuhn. Most recently she has performed the role of the Student in Ionesco’s The Lesson and the Fox in Stravinsky’s Le Renard under the direction of Milli van Lit.

Claudia joined NECB in Autumn 2007.

Linda began her dance studies in Waterloo before receiving a grant to study with Piotr Nardelli and Andrzei Ziemski in Brussels. At eighteen she moved to the renowned Rosella Hightower School where she studied with Monique Loudière, Monet Robier, Peter Lewton and Christophe Duveaux and joined the Cannes Jeune Ballet, dancing in works by Balanchine, Kylian, Nureyev and Bournonville amongst others.

On her return to Brussels, Linda engaged in further study with Daniel Job before joining the Benedicto Cieza Company to dance in his Pictures from Jamboree. Most recently she has performed with the Brussels Ballet under David Sonnenbluck in Diva and Alice in Wonderland. This will be her second season with NECB.

Australian by birth, Alex began her training at the Ransley Ballet and Dance Academy on the Gold Coast, before taking up a place at the New Zealand School of Dance in 2001.

After graduating, she accepted a contract with Singapore Dance Theatre under the direction of Goh Soo Khim where she has worked for the past four years dancing in a wide range of productions including Cinderella (Spring), Paquita (Pas de Trois), The Nutcracker (Clara), Raymonda, Swan Lake (Cygnet). She performed as a Principal in Mauricio Wainrot’s Seasons of Buenos Aires (2007). Alex joins NECB for its 2008 tour.

Pascaline was born in Toulouse where she first studied at the Regional Conservatoire. She went on to further study in Paris at the École de Danse de L’Opéra, with Corine Guiraud, at the École Nationale Superiure in Marseille at the National Conservatoire in Paris.

In 2004 she joined the Junior Ballet of the Superior National Conservatoire de Paris, then in 2005 the Europa Danse de Albert Cartier. She has performed with the Ballet de Capitole de Toulouse, Ballet de Nancy, IT Dansa, Ballet Biarritz and Ballet de Limoges and with the Coreographic Company François Maudit. Before joining New English Contemporary Ballet this season she appeared in a production of L’Après Midi d’un Faun in Chartres with Wilfried Romoli of the Paris Opéra.

Born in Genova, Eddie studied ballet with Prisca Picano, principal at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples and Graham technique at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, New York. He completed his training in Barcelona with Ion Beitia (Joffrey Ballet) and Joan Boix (Roland Petit)

His professional career has encompassed a period with the Elisa Monte Dance Company, New York with Teatro Franco Parenti and a contract with the Sisina Augusta Company in Verona. He has also appeared at the Pergine Spettacolo Aperto (Trento) in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

He has also performed in Ballet Romand’s productions of Peter Pan and Cinderella in Vevey, Switzerland. Before joining New English Contemporary Ballet, Eddie danced with Company Segnale.it in Vicenza during their summer project. This is Eddie’s second season with NECB.

Jamie trained at the McMahon School of Ballet, The Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and at the Royal Ballet School. He subsequently performed with various companies in the UK. In 1995 he was the winner of the prestigious Ursula Moreton Choreographic Award with his piece Me, Myself and I Alone which went on to be performed at the Cochrane Theatre, London. His choreographic output is extensive and his works have been performed both in this country and in the USA.

Jamie inaugurated New English Contemporary Ballet’s education department in February 2006 and subsequently set up its highly-acclaimed youth company, Nottingham Youth Dance. He choreographed last season’s Nutcracker which brought together the dancers of NECB, Nottingham Youth Dance and the students of its Associate programme. This season he has made .com together for New English Contemporary Ballet.

Jodie received her early training at the Marilyn Baker School of Dancing before moving, in 1997, to the Arts Educational School, Tring. She has received intermittent coaching from Niall McMahon since 1993.

Her first professional engagement was as an apprentice with Phoenix Dance Theatre (2004-05 season) where she took part in the Robert Cohen 80th Birthday celebrations at Sadler’s Wells and at The Place, London. Jodie then joined the Phoenix Education team before moving to New English Contemporary Ballet in February 2006. She has been instrumental in setting up and developing the NECB Associates programme and has choreographed several works for Nottingham Youth Dance.

Paul’s dance and ballet credits include Swan Lake (Wiesbaden Ballet), Sleeping Beauty (Hanover Ballet), Don Quixote (Northern Ballet Theatre) and works for Ballet Rambert, Tanz-Forum Cologne and the Ballet National de Nancy. Drama credits include East is East (Royal Court), A Tainted Dawn (Edinburgh Festival), A Servant of Two Masters (Nottingham Playhouse) and Kabale und Liebe (Stadttheater Ingolstadt, Germany). He has also lit numerous opera productions, including Don Giovanni (Music Theatre London), the British premieres of Griselides (Guildhall) and I Have Seen Someone (Riverside Studios), and the world premiere of Beauty (Theater Hagen, Germany). As a Lighting Supervisor with the English National Opera he lit revivals of many productions, including Ariodante (ENO, WNO, Houston Grand Opera and Vlaamse Opera), Tristan and Isolde (ENO), Hansel and Gretel (ENO, Teatro la Fenice, Venice), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Netherlands Opera) and The Mikado (ENO, New York City Opera and Teatro la Fenice).

Robyn has worked on a number of live performances, both as a stage manager, and as part of the stage management team. Her main interests lie in dance and site specific theatre. Robyn discovered her passion for stage management and dance whilst training at Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Recent credits include, amongst other projects and festivals, Stage Manager for the award-winning Edinburgh Fringe show, The Container, Somewhere, Anywhere, Nowhere, an outdoor site-specific piece by Restless Nights commissioned by Latitude Festival, and Move It Dance London. Robyn first worked with NECB through the autumn season 2007

Andy has worked as a theatre lighting designer for a number of years. He began his career in lighting whilst studying lighting design at Central School of Speech And Drama, London. His work includes designing for plays, musical theatre and contemporary dance

He made his West End debut designing the musical Unzipped in the Arts Theatre. He previously worked with Paul Taylor at the Royal Academy Of Music on Scenes. Other design credits include: Sanctity of Hair at the ICA and numerous dance pieces in The Festival of Emergent Arts. Andy first worked with NECB through its autumn 2007 season.