Why Dance Matters

Jennifer White is a choreographer who occupies a unique sweet spot between RAD ballet, contemporary dance, Kylie and the year’s hottest movie: she is the choreographer of Barbie. Greta Gerwig’s film includes delirious dance sequences led by Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. Those scenes chart the film’s trajectory – in Barbie, dance really does matter. Jennifer has also choreographed films like the eerie Last Night in Soho, and worked with leading names in both pop and contemporary dance. And the young Jennifer did RAD ballet: so is Barbie herself RAD-trained?

Jennifer White is a London-based movement director, performer and choreographer. She graduated from Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. In 2006 she was nominated for the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards for Emerging Artist, and in 2007, was highlighted as a breakthrough artist in The Observer’s Hot List. She has toured internationally with Hofesh Shechter, Russell Maliphant, Ballet Boyz and Kylie Minogue, and has choreographed and performed for Adele and Basement Jaxx. She choreographed for Marvel Comic’s ‘Avengers – Age of Ultron’, where she also coached and was movement double for Elizabeth Olsen, and for Last Night in Soho. She has worked extensively with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. She choreographed Barbie.

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The RAD’s flagship event, the Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition, gives young dancers a chance to learn from top professionals. This year’s coaches include Endalyn T Outlaw – dancer, educator, choreographer and Dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina. Endalyn’s career is incredibly varied – she performed with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and in the original Broadway cast of The Lion King, she’s restaged ballets and developed a philosophy of dance teaching that is focused on helping dancers bring their whole selves to the stage.

Endalyn T Outlaw – dancer, choreographer and educator – is dean of the School of Dance at UNCSA. She was previously director of Dance Theatre of Harlem School in New York – a company she joined in 1984, becoming a principal dancer in 1993 – and director of the Cambridge Summer Art Institute, Massachusetts. She has created an eclectic body of choreographic works and excels at restaging ballets, having worked with luminaries including Arthur Mitchell, Alonzo King, Agnes de Mille and Garth Fagan. She has performed on Broadway and internationally, including in the original casts of The Lion King and Aida.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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‘Living in the movement’ is the motto of Australian Royal Academy of Dance teacher Mitchell Rayner. Enjoying and fully inhabiting your movement is a fantastic goal for anyone in dance. Mitchell came to dance training relatively late but progressed quickly, joining the Australian Ballet. He retired from the company in 2016, and re-trained as a dance teacher with the RAD, taking his philosophy of living in the movement through his practise and onto his own range of clothing. What was his journey from a dancing boy into a too-rare male ballet teacher?

Mitchell Rayner began formal dance lessons in Newcastle, Australia at the age of 13, before taking up full-time dance studies with Tessa Maunder OAM. He joined the Australian Ballet School in 2005, and in 2008 the Australian Ballet. Retiring from the company in 2016 he chose to share his professional experience through teaching and mentoring, and has since taught for Sydney Dance Company, Australian Ballet, RAD, Tanya Pearson Academy, Ballet Without Borders and others. He attained the RAD Professional Dancers’ Postgraduate Teaching Certificate and is a registered RAD teacher.

Find out more about Mitchell on his website.

Or follow Mitchell on Instagram @balletwithmitch

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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Alice Oseman’s work stops hearts – in a good way. They capture the delirious rush of first love, above all in the Heartstopper series – online, in books, and onscreen – which has become a sensation. Heartstopper is also all about young people finding ways to express themselves, creatively and emotionally, becoming the people they want to be – ideas that resonate with the RAD’s own ethos. But also: Alice’s mother is a dance teacher! What has dance given them?

Alice Oseman is an award-winning author, illustrator, and screenwriter. Alice is the creator of LGBTQ+ YA romance comic Heartstopper, and the writer, creator, and executive producer for the Emmy-winning television adaptation for Netflix. Alice is the author of several YA contemporary novels about teenage disasters: Solitaire, Radio Silence, I Was Born For This and Loveless. The books have won, been shortlisted or nominated for awards including the YA Book Prize, Inky Awards, Carnegie Medal and the Goodreads Choice Awards. Alice was named Attitude Person of the Year 2023 and the British Book Awards Illustrator of the Year.

Find out more about Alice on their website.

Follow Alice on social media:

Instagram @AliceOseman

Twitter @AliceOseman

Heartstopper on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81059939

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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Wayne McGregor, one of the world’s leading choreographers, is an ideas man who makes abstract thought into thrillingly visceral dance. His collaborations are prodigious – from his own contemporary dancers to the world’s great ballet companies, and in film, fashion and more. He discusses his latest premiere for the Royal Ballet, his programme for the Venice Biennale and his game changing collaboration with ABBA. So many things matter to him – but why dance in particular?

Wayne McGregor CBE is a multi award-winning British choreographer and director, internationally renowned for trailblazing innovations in performance that have radically redefined dance. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about movement and its creative potentials, his experiments have involved collaborative dialogue with an array of artistic forms, scientific disciplines and technological interventions, producing works that have placed him at the cutting edge of contemporary arts for over 25 years. His work has earned a multitude of awards, and in 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Prix de Lausanne.

Find out more about Wayne McGregor on his website.

Or on his social media:

Instagram @studiowaynemcgregor

Twitter @WayneMcGregor

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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Why Dance Matters often meets people whose interest in dance sits alongside expertise in a completely different field. Merritt Moore’s talents seem especially unlikely: she’s a Harvard-trained physicist who dances with robots. She is also a professional ballerina, performing at the highest level (most recently with Boston Ballet). Can the rigours of the ballet studio meet the intellectual challenges of the lab? During lockdown, Merritt began exploring the world of dancing with robots, and they now perform together across the world. And Merritt also dreams of being the first ballerina in space.

Merritt Moore graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors in physics from Harvard and with a PhD in atomic and laser physics from Oxford. She also pursues a professional ballet career, with the Zurich Ballet, English National Ballet and Norwegian National Ballet, and most recently Boston Ballet. An Adjunct Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi teaching Creative Robotics, she also appeared on the BBC series Astronauts: Do you have what it takes? During the pandemic, she programmed and danced with robots and has been invited to perform at Boston Ballet, Forbes Women's Summit, Harvard AI Opening and more.

Or follow Merritt on social media:

Instagram @merrittmoore

Twitter @merrittmoore

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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The new season of Why Dance Matters opens with one of the great ballet princes – David Hallberg, star dancer and now artistic director of Australian Ballet. The epitome of classical elegance, in his memoir, A Body of Work, he writes feelingly about being a boy who dances, and a dancer who yearns for perfection, even when at the height of a career as a principal at both American Ballet Theatre and at the Bolshoi Ballet. Now, he has pivoted from dancer to director, leading Australian Ballet to London as it celebrates its 60th birthday.

David Hallberg was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet, a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet and resident guest artist with the Australian Ballet. Author of the acclaimed memoir, A Body of Work: Dancing to the Edge and Back, he made history in 2011 as the first American to join the Bolshoi Ballet under the title premier dancer. He danced every major full-length classical ballet, along with works by leading modern choreographers. In 2021, he became Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet.

You can find David Hallberg on:

Instagram @officialdavidhallberg

Twitter @DavidHallberg

The Australian Ballet performs in London on 2-6 August 2023.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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In an exciting bonus episode of Why Dance Matters, we meet the choreographer Dame Arlene Phillips as she receives a special honour at the Olivier Awards, marking a career packed with achievement. A dance legend, Arlene made her name with her racy dance troupe Hot Gossip in the 1970s, before becoming a major player in musical theatre, starting with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express. As she approaches her 80th birthday she’s working with undimmed energy, most recently on a rapturously received immersive production of Guys and Dolls. She’s clearly not stopping for anyone.

Dame Arlene Phillips is a show business legend, honoured with a Special Award at the Olivier Awards ceremony in April. Arlene is known for shows including Starlight Express, Grease and Saturday Night Fever, and currently Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. She has also choreographed high profile music videos for Whitney Houston, Elton John and Queen and films including Annie, Ridley Scott’s Legend and Monty Python, and was an expert judge on TV shows Strictly Come Dancing and So You Think You Can Dance.

Learn more about Dame Arlene Phillips on her website.

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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Giles Terera is no ordinary actor. He won an Olivier Award as Aaron Burr in the UK premiere of the all-conquering musical Hamilton, writing a book about his creative journey. Last year, he played two very different roles at the National Theatre: as Shakespeare’s tragic hero Othello, and as a designer in 1930s Harlem in Blues for an Alabama Sky. He also writes songs and his play, The Meaning of Zong, will soon open at the Barbican in London. Giles is a virtuoso with language – so how do dance and movement shape his art?

Giles Terera MBE is an award-winning actor, musician and writer, working consistently at venues including the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe. He is best known for originating the role of Aaron Burr in the London production of the award-winning musical Hamilton, winning the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He recently appeared in Blues for an Alabama Sky and as Othello at the National Theatre. His book Hamilton and Me records his journey through the musical and his play The Meaning of Zong is at the Barbican, London in April.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Francesca Harper, Artistic Director of Ailey II, is back where it all began. She trained at the Alvin Ailey School, where her mother, Denise Jefferson, was director for 26 years. She has also choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and now leads Ailey II, which fosters new generations of shining talent and will visit the UK later this year. Francesca has enjoyed an astonishingly varied journey through classical and contemporary dance – notably as a principal dancer with William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt – not to mention in music and theatre. What has sustained her, and what does she hope to pass on to her young dancers?

Francesca Harper is Artistic Director of Ailey II, the celebrated second company to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She began her career with Dance Theater of Harlem and was a Principal with William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. She performed with designers Issey Miyake and Gianni Versace, and on Broadway in Fosse, All Shook Up, and The Color Purple. A writer and recording artist, she has choreographed for companies including Ailey, Ailey II, Dance Theater of Harlem and The Francesca Harper Project. She was ballet consultant for the film Black Swan and movement director for Nick Cave’s The Let Go.

Learn more about Ailey II’s Dance Consortium tour of the UK.

Find out more about the work of the RAD

Follow the RAD on social media and join the conversation with host David Jays:

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RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.

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