Board of Trustees

Alistair Spalding (Chair)
Alistair Spalding is the Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Sadler’s Wells Theatre. He has been responsible for the programming at Sadler’s Wells Theatre since February 2000 and has presented companies such as Netherlands Dance Theatre 1 and 2, the National Ballet of China, Martha Graham Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Michael Clark, Ballett Frankfurt, Pina Bausch, Alvin Ailey and New Adventures. He has also initiated projects such as the Breakin’ Convention Hip Hop Festival as well as inviting Random Dance Company to be the theatre’s resident company.
 
From 1994 to 2000, Alistair Spalding was the Head of Dance and Performance at the South Bank Centre in London where he developed the presentation and commissioning of national and international dance and performance companies. The South Bank Centre won the Time Out Award for best dance production in 1998 for Alain Platel and in 1999 for the New York Ballet Stars project. He was a member of the Arts Council of England Dance Panel between 1995 and 2003 and he is an external advisor on the City University Validation Board for Laban degree courses. 

Rebecca Marshall (Vice Chair)
Rebecca was appointed General Manager of Random Dance in October, 1999 and is delighted to be currently working with them as Executive Producer in their role as Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells.  She moved to London from San Francisco where she had been working since 1995 as a freelance dancer, and arts manager with ODC/San Francisco and LINES Contemporary Ballet. Prior to that Rebecca worked and danced in New England for, among others, Prometheus Dance and Island Moving Company. Rebecca grew up in Africa and Europe, moving to the United States to attend university.  She earned a BA at Connecticut College with a major in economics and a minor in dance.

Jane Hackett MA, ARAD, FRSA (Vice Chair)
Jane was the Director of English National Ballet School from January 2006 till April 2009. Jane trained at the Royal Ballet School and subsequently danced and choreographed for ballet companies in England, Germany, Italy, Austria and Mexico.  After a period of teaching, she led education programmes at Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet and also researched and implemented ‘Chance to Dance’, the Royal Ballet’s training scheme for talented young dancers.  Jane has a strong commitment to increasing access to dance and the dance profession; also to promoting good practice and enhanced working conditions for dancers, whether they be students or professionals.  A belief in life long learning and professional development for dancers has been the impetus for a number of innovative schemes that Jane has developed, such as the Dancers Degree Course at Birmingham Royal Ballet.  She holds an MA in Ballet Studies, has been a member of the Council for Dance Education and Training’s accreditation panel and an adjudicator and advisor for Local Education Authority discretionary awards schemes.  She has received funding to research dance training and selection methods in the US and Cuba.

Julian Flitter FCA (Treasurer)
Julian is a Partner in Goodman Jones LLP, a West End firm of Chartered Accountants based in Fitzroy Square. He has over 20 years of experience dealing with Companies and individuals drawn from a wide range of commercial areas as well as extensive experience dealing with Charities and other not-for-profit organizations.  
Julian’s work has placed particular emphasis in the media, entertainment and creative services sectors. Indeed Julian is a founder Committee member of the Chartered Accountants Institute’s Entertainment and Media Group helping to organise seminars and conferences as well as publishing a newsletter on topics of interest to the industry.
As well as having a keen personal interest in Theatre and Dance, Julian serves as advisor to a number of Dance companies and is company secretary of the Charity Dancing for the Children.

Farooq Chaudhry
Farooq Chaudhry was born in Pakistan. After graduating from the London Contemporary Dance School in 1986 he worked in a variety of dance mediums including contemporary dance, opera, film, pop videos, pop tour, and musical theatre. In 1988 he was awarded an Asian Achievement Award for his work in dance. In the early 1990s he moved to Europe where he worked in Germany, Holland, France and Belgium. He finished his professional dance career with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Company Rosas and returned to London in 1998. The following year he completed an MA in Arts Management from City University. He followed his studies with a traineeship at the London based dance management agency independence, going on to set up his own agency, dansoffice. In December 1999 he teamed up with Akram Khan setting up the Akram Khan Company in August 2000. He continues to work with Akram Khan as his producer. He is currently a Project Champion for Arts Council England’s Cultural Leadership Programme and a member of the DCMS Dance Forum.

Gill Clarke MBE
Gill was a long-standing member of the Dance UK Executive, and latterly vice-chair before standing down three years ago as part of the rotation process. She is an Independent Dance Artist and has been a performer with Siobhan Davies, Rosemary Butcher and Janet Smith, amongst others. Gill leads master classes internationally, is co-director of Independent Dance, sits on the board of several dance companies/organisations, and is currently Head of Performance Studies at Laban.

Philip Maddock
Philip Maddock is currently the Human Resources Director of English National Ballet, having joined the Company in 2004.  Philip has spent 9 years in the HR arena, and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), holding a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from the University of Westminster.  He has almost 20 years of line management experience, much of which was gained from two large American corporations.  Philip is a keen advocate of employee well-being and best practice in people management issues, and also takes a keen interest in current employment legislation.

Kate Prince
Kate works as a freelance choreographer and teacher and is the director and founder of ZooNation UK Dance Troupe. Her work includes theatre, television, music video, commercials, fashion, documentary and live events. She also teaches at Pineapple Studios and the London Studio Centre. Her most recent credits include choreography for the Opening Ceremony - Tour de France 2007 (with Kenrick Sandy), Strictly Dance Fever (BBC), Hey Ki' video for Matt Willis (Mercury Records), Blue Peter for ZooNation (BBC), and Into the Hoods for ZooNation at Sadler's Wells Peacock Theatre, the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff, The Pleasance Grand at the Edinburgh Festival 2007 and the E4 Udderbelly at the Edinburgh Festival 2006. Other shows include: Top of the Pops (BBC), CD:UK (ITV), Smash Hits Pollwinners Party (Channel 4) Wembley Arena, and The Official Olympic Celebration Trafalgar Square. Kate is a graduate of Edinburgh University with an MA in General Arts.

Alex Reynolds
Alex was a dancer with the Cholmondeleys for over 10 years. In her career as both performer and choreographer, Alex has collaborated with some of Europe's most exciting and innovative directors. Over the last ten years her distinctive choreography has featured in film, commercials, music videos, opera, theatre, fashion and live spectacle.

Subathra Subramaniam
Subathra Subramaniam is a freelance dance artist who has been making work with the language of Bharata Natyam for the last 10 years.  She is co artistic director and choreographer of Angika, a dance company set up in 1997 with Mayuri Boonham.  They were resident choreographers at The Place in London until June 2006 and are currently affiliated artists at The Merlin Theatre in Frome, Somerset. Angika is a national and international touring dance company of 5 dancers. It devises original works with an innovative approach to contemporary choreography and is known for its music collaborations.

Subathra began her training in Malaysia and completed it under Prakash Yadagudde at The Bhavan Centre, London. She was a Dancer in Education for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, 1995.  In September 2003, Subathra was a choreographer and performer at the "24 hour performance" in Copenhagen directed by Stuart Lynch of Paradance.

Subathra is also a qualified Science teacher and taught in a large comprehensive school in South London till 2004. 

In May 2003, Subathra was part of The Cape Farewell team of scientists, artists and educationalists which sailed to the Arctic to address issues of global warming. She is currently co director of Cape Farewell Education and organized a youth voyage in September 2007 for 12 young people from the UK, Canada and the USA.  She is currently working on the next youth voyages in the Canadian Arctic and Amazon.

Subathra is also a Seeker for Lift (London International Festival of Theatre).  She is part of an international group of artists who are working with Lift for their upcoming festival in London in June 2008.  Subathra has an MA in Education and continues to carry out extensive dance workshops in schools, colleges and universities.

Page last updated: 14 April 2009