biography
Jane works as a choreographer and performer creating, collaborating and facilitating in different contexts across the UK. She has a special interest working with non-trained performers and work that creates intimate portraits of people in community and bespoke contexts.
She trained in dramatic arts at Bretton Hall University in the early 90’s. Since 1997 she has created performance projects to tour including: Life Forces (in collaboration with Phil Smith), Singer, Desert, Come on Sun (shortlisted for The Place Prize) and films: ANDOUT, Hard Told (South East Dance), The Pleasure of Gliding (PDSW) and REST YOUR HEAD (Dance in Devon).
She was a founder member of Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance (94-97) before dancing freelance for choreographers including: Charles Linehan, Wendy Houstoun, Colin Poole, balletLorent and Deborah Hay. She performed in STRETCH, an interactive sound installation screen made of hundreds of strands of shirring elastic (Sophia Clist 2017) and in Theatre Alibi’s Table Mates (2018) performing 96 shows 12,000 children across Devon and beyond.
She collaborates widely: Last Act of Rebellion and Street Dance (Lone Twin), SUSAN and DARREN, Old People, Children and Animals, Entitled, Wallflower and SUMMER. AUTUMN. WINTER. SPRING (a large scale quartet about the human life cycle) (Quarantine), FALLING (Theatre Alibi), Mr Kolpert (Royal Court), Song of Songs (Weeding Cane), Breathing Irregular (The Gate), LIFE GUARD (Adrian Howells, NTS Scotland) set in a water-filled swimming pool, Selfie and This City’s Centre (Blind Ditch) working with live video streams from people’s homes and We’ll Meet in Moscow (Natalie McGrath) in response to Russia’s banning of Gay Pride for 100 years.
Commissions include: A dance at home; three performance events hosted in people’s homes (Dance4 and the Commission Collective), From Source to Spring; a national libraries project commemorating WW1, Here with You; a performance with 120 young people (Daisi), Lone Dances; three contrasting solos for young men (South East Dance) and Time to Be, working with young people and their carers in Exeter.
Research projects include: research with the Room Acoustics team at Ircam, Paris, working with interactive sound spatialisation technology periodically between 2003 and 2008, Dinos Dancing...with Dr Astrid Schrader (University of Exeter) working with research into marine microbes, and MIPV with geographer Dr Jennifer Lea (University of Exeter) working with people and their experiences of homelessness.
Jane led the Dance4 staff team through a creative participatory project between 2016 and 2017 to support Dance4’s relocation to the new IC4C centre. The project culminated in the context of the Talking, Thinking, Dancing symposium at Dance4.
Jane’s practice is broad and ongoing: a dance project with 60 children in Topsham Primary School, mentoring the directors of Common Wealth Theatre, collaborating with researchers from the Wellcome Centre (Exeter University) around ‘Loneliness community and belonging’ and staff training at Guys Hospital with the Pain Management Team.
Her current touring work Night Flying is made in collaboration with David Williams.
Jane is an associate artist at Exeter Phoenix and a Kaleider resident.
