RUSSELL MALIPHANT DANCE COMPANY
PRESENTS
THE CREATIVE INTENSIVE
Movement, Light & Sound: A Week with Russell Maliphant OBE, PhD
A Five-Day Choreographic Intensive | Limited Places
07 - 11 September 2026
Applications now open
Russell Maliphant Dance Company is proud to announce the inaugural edition of The Creative Intensive - a landmark five-day programme led by internationally acclaimed choreographer, Olivier Award winner and OBE Russell Maliphant & long term company collaborator Dana Fouras. For the first time, RMDC opens the doors to its unique creative methodology, offering dancers, choreographers and interdisciplinary artists an immersive encounter with 30 years of pioneering practice at the intersection of movement, light and sound.
About the Programme
The Creative Intensive is a five-day residential or non-residential programme designed for artists seeking to deepen their understanding of how light, sound and movement can operate as interdependent dramaturgical and aesthetic tools - not as afterthoughts, but as creative partners informing the process in an interwoven tapestry
Participants will work directly with Russell & Dana on methods and strategies for incorporating light and music as equal partners in the creative process, allowing for points of contact and connection, divergence & harmony, leading and following. Drawing on RMDC's interdisciplinary practice - honed across major international stages including Sadler's Wells, the Royal Opera House, and venues across Europe, Japan and the Americas - the programme equips participants with both the conceptual frameworks and practical skills to develop work with new strategies, methods and heightened artistic awareness.
Programme Highlights
Direct mentorship from Russell Maliphant OBE, PhD - Olivier Award winner, Associate Artist at Sadler's Wells, and PhD researcher in anatomy and somatic practice
Masterclasses with specialist collaborator Dana Fouras on music and atmosphere for performance
Exploration of how light can shape perception, how sound can sculpt space, and how movement integrates with both (mentor TBA)
Studio-based creation sessions: participants explore & develop new work using the knowledge gained
Access of RMDC's 30-year body of interdisciplinary choreographic research
Small cohort - maximum 15 participants - ensuring individual attention and depth
Suitable for professional dancers, choreographers, theatre directors, and performance artists
“Light, as well as movement, can be choreographic – both capable of fluidly or dynamically moving an audiences attention through space & time. They can act in partnership, with shared considerations that work together to create sites of conflict and connection, divergence and harmony - the body situated at the interface shapes space & creates mood through which meaning is engendered. When that relationship is considered deeply, the process of choreography changes.”
“Sound doesn’t accompany movement — it provokes it. A shift in sonic atmosphere can completely reframe the intention of a phrase, the emotional weight of a gesture, the way a body is perceived in space. In this intensive, we want participants to feel that transformation directly.”
About Russell Maliphant
Russell Maliphant is widely regarded as one of Britain’s leading choreographers. Trained at the Royal Ballet School, he has created over 50 works and collaborated with artists of international stature including Sylvie Guillem, Robert Lepage, Dana Fouras, Isaac Julian, Panagiotis Tomaras & lighting designer Michael Hulls, whose long-term partnership with Maliphant has redefined the relationship between movement and light in contemporary performance.
Russell’s accolades include an Olivier Award, 2 South Bank Show Awards, 4 Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards, and an OBE for services to dance. In 2020 he gained a PhD from Canterbury Christ Church University for academic research into anatomy and somatic practice within choreography. He is Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells and has set works on the English National Ballet, Munich’s Bayerische Staats Ballet, BalletBoyz, Lyon Opera Ballet, The Batsheva Ensemble, and Ballet de Lorraine among many others. Russell Maliphant Dance Company was established in 1996.
About Dana Fouras
Dana Fouras is a composer, performer and one of the most distinctive creative voices in contemporary dance. Trained as a classical dancer in Australia and at The Royal Ballet School - where she won Adeline Genée Silver medals in 1984 and 1985 and a Prix de Lausanne medal in 1986 - she joined The Royal Ballet Company in 1988, creating the role of Lead Girl in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Soirée Musicale and dancing leading roles in MacMillan’s Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake and My Brother My Sisters. In 1994 she left the Royal Ballet to pursue a career in independent dance.
Her creative collaboration with Russell Maliphant began in 1998 and has since produced some of RMDC’s most celebrated work: the duet Sheer (Time Out Live Award, 2002); the solo Two - performed worldwide for over 20 years by artists including Sylvie Guillem, Carlos Acosta and Roberto Bollé - and most recently The Space Between, co-developed with video artist Panagiotis Tomaras.
As a composer, Dana designed the sound for RMDC’s full-length production Silent Lines (co-produced by Sadler’s Wells), for three consecutive maliphantworks seasons at the Coronet Theatre - the 2017 production winning the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Dance Production - and for the National Youth Dance Company’s 2020 production. She has received two Critics’ Circle National Dance Award nominations for Best Female Dancer and in 2023 was invited to coach principals of Paris Opéra Ballet for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon.
Her approach to composition is rooted in the creative process itself: sound as a dramaturgical force, built in relationship to the body rather than imposed upon it - precisely what participants of The Creative Intensive will experience first-hand.
Applications & Further Information
To request an application form please contact:
Email: info@russellmaliphantdancecompany.com
Website: www.russellmaliphantdancecompany.com
Early-bird pricing is available for the first 4 bookings.
Concession and bursary places are available — please enquire directly with your application.
Press Contact
For press enquiries & interview requests with Russell Maliphant, or high-resolution images, please contact:
Elena Popova