ALISON CURTIS-JONES

Alison Curtis-Jones, Artistic Director of Summit Dance Theatre, is an internationally recognised dance artist and leading exponent of Rudolf Laban’s Dance Theatre work (1913-1928). Ali is a specialist in Choreology and teaches on the Dance Faculty at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London.

Ali’s re-creations include Laban’s Nacht (1927), in London 2010, 2011 and 2014 and with Summit Dance Theatre for Laban Event in Ascona, Switzerland, 2013, Green Clowns (Die Grunen Clowns, 1928) with Transitions Dance Company for The Laban International Conference: The Dynamic Body in Space, 2009, with Trinity Laban dancers in 2008 and commissioned to re-create Green Clowns in 2014, to commemorate the centenary of World War One and the Auschwitz Memorial in the UK, 2015.

The Swiss Office of Culture awarded in 2014 the project to re-create two Laban works and Summit Dance Theatre will perform re-creations of Laban’s Ishtar’s Journey into Hades(1913) and Dancing Drumstick(1913) in Monte Verita, in October 2015.
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INGVILD MARSTEIN OLSEN

Ingvild originally from Norway moved to London in 2012 where she recently graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. During her years in London Ingvild has worked with choreographers such as Matthias Sperling, Anna Williams, Fred Grehrig, Gary Lambert and Alison Curtis-Jones. She has also had her own work INTERPLAY performed at the Bonnie Bird Theatre in June 2015. In September Ingvild will be joining Transitions Dance Company and will be working with Theo Clinkard, Dog Kennel Hill Project and Ederson Rodriguez Xavier.

CHARLOTTE POOK

Charlotte graduated from Trinity Laban in 2012 after competing her BA (Hons) as well as her Masters degree, as part of Transitions Dance Company. Since then, Charlotte has worked as a freelance dance artist working with C-12 Dance Theatre, BalletBoyz, Luke Brown, Kerry Nicholls and as the International Choreographer for Biennale de Danse Festival, Seychelles. Charlotte joined Summit Dance Theate in 2013 and is honoured to be performing in Monte Verita again.

ELLEN JEFFREY

Ellen graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London (BA Dance Theatre) and University of the Arts, Helsinki (MA in Live Art and Performance Studies). As a dance artist, Ellen has recently worked for choreographer Vera Tussing and dance scholar Valerie Preston-Dunlop, as well as choreographing and performing her own works in Lapland, Finland and the United Kingdom. Alongside performing with Summit Dance Theatre, Ellen is a student of choreology at Trinity Laban and is looking forward to commencing her PhD studies in site-specific dance practice at Lancaster University in October 2015.

ROBERT KEATES

Robert Trained at Laban Conservatoire of Dance, after graduating Robert went on to train, work and tour with Transitions Dance Company. Robert has worked with Charlie Dixon Dance Company, Tara Scalier, and has just finished working in Florence, Italy, with several companies for performance and setting up a professional training course for 12-20 year olds. Robert is forever delighted to be involved in the work of Summit Dance Theatre on recreations of Rudolf Laban's work and making them accessible for the dance community today.

CLAIRE VICTORIA LAMBERT

Whilst devising and performing with a variety of UK based artists, Claire is looking to expand to international collaborations using her experience in contemporary dance, physical theatre, spoken text and contact improvisation. With particular interest in highly physical characterisation and storytelling, Claire is keen to develop performance as an opportunity to allow expression and social interactions between communities. Claire is one of the founding members of Summit Dance Theatre, having worked on historical re-creations with director Alison Curtis-Jones and studied Choreutics with Rosemary Brandt.

ANDREW RACE

Andrew graduated from TrinityLaban with both a BA (Hons) Contemporary Dance and an MA in Dance Performance (Transitions Dance Company). Andrew is currently a member of Nutshell Dance company and has been fortunate to perform in works choreographed by Neville Campbell, Henrietta Hale, Bawren Tavaziva, Lea Anderson, Stefanie Batten-bland, Kerry Nicholls and more.

JAMES AIDEN KAY

James trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance gaining a first class BA (Hons) degree in Contemporary Dance. During his training he worked with artists including Kerry Nicholls, Lizzi Kew Ross, Gary Lambert and Rika Okamoto. After graduating, James became a member of EDge 2014 at London Contemporary Dance School, touring nationally and internationally. During this time he worked with Dog Kennel Hill Project, Ben Wright, Yael Flexer, Joe Moran, Idan Cohen, Stacy Spence (Trisha Brown Dance Company) and Mariana Tengner Barros. Most recently, James has danced for Hack Ballet and IJAD Dance Company. James is excited to be joining Summit Dance Theatre for ‘Drumstick’ and ‘Journey into Hades’.

FRED GHERIG

Fred is a dance maker, performer and teacher in equal measures based in London and Berlin. He has performed with/for Ballet Preljocaj (F), Carte Blanche (Norway), Alias (Geneva), Tanztheater Global (Berlin), Nomads (CH) or BILL T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Cie in N.Y.C. where he was also a company member of Mathew Bourne’s first Broadway Season with Swanlake (1998/99) and in the U.K. with LCDT, DV8, Michael Clark, Random Dance or Frauke Requard. Since completing an MA in design and directing at Central St Martin Fred’s practice has shifted towards visuaI art and the spoken word. 2012 performed with and for Turner Price winner Martin Creed at the MI of Art, Chicago or alongside Brad Pitt in WWZ for which he was also assistant choreographer. In 2013 he performed in the Tate Tanks in collaboration with artist Carlos Motta and staring in Punch Drunk’s London production ‘the drowned man’ as ‘the producer’ and ‘the doctor’ from ‘Woyzek'. This year Fred has created a video-dance production with emigrants for Theater Strahl, Berlin and trained/coached Juliette Binoche (Jan-April) for ‘Polina’ directed by Valery Mueller in France, as well as movement direct her for her role as ‘Antigone’ at the Barbican, directed by Ivo van Hove.

VERENA SABRINA SCHNEIDER

Verena Schneider trained at London Contemporary Dance School and Trinity Laban. Since graduation she has been working and performing amongst others with Lisa May Thomas (The Touch Diaries), with Thea Stanton (Spun Through Shadows), with Maciej Kuzminski as part of the original cast of Room 40, with Anomic Multimedia Theatre in Chapter 6: Life for the Busan International Performing Arts Festival in South Korea, with Frank Micheletti for the Biennale 2013 in Venice, with Alison Curtis Jones / Summit Dance Theatre (Nacht and Suite 24) and with Hagit Yakira in Air Hunger. Currently she is rehearsing for Summit Dance Theatre's two new recreations Drumsticks and Ishtar and a new creation by Thea Stanton.