Lucie Pankhurst

Lucie trained professionally from the age of 10, first at the Arts Educational School and then, aged 15, at the London School of Contemporary Dance. Arts Educational gave her a wonderfully well-rounded base in theatrical arts and subsequently, The Place (LCDS) was a rigorous training that connected her with the world of contemporary dance. Some legends she learned about continue to inspire to this day, such as Pina Bausch, Steve Petronio, Bill T Jones, Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. The Place allowed for such a lot of creativity and choreography was taught by Jane Dudley, who danced in Martha Grahams' company. The Place was an environment of making, rehearsing, experimenting. It was while at the Place that Lucie first tried text and movement, and later in her career was awarded some research and development time at the Place Choreodrome to experiment further. It was from an end-of-year show that she was asked to choreograph her first promo at 17. She graduated a year later and embarked upon a dancers' life for the ensuing 11 years. When time came to stop dancing, Lucie was already starting to work as a choreographer. TV shows, such as a series for Peter Kaye and one of the first make-the-band-famous shows called get Your Act Together (her band won!) and had made her first inroad at the National Theatre, thanks to a recommendation from Anthony Van Laast, for whom she had danced extensively. Throughout her dancing days, she'd also been regularly self-producing and choreographing shows at the Place Theatre and the Lilian Baylis Theatre. These were invariably multi-media in their nature with live music, musicians interacting with other performers, spoken word, film, no animals, but for two pieces she made, her then-10-year-old niece was in the cast... the real life/making work life was often interwoven!! Moving through and working within a wide range of genres has kept her professional life interesting and resulted in a wealth of influence and experience to bring to each new project. She's at home choreographing intimate solos to staging large groups. Setting striking and seductive combinations for more edgy commercial productions, or creating pieces designed to be more thought provoking. "The past few decades have seen the separation of genres in dance and theatre lessening. We're healthiest when we're cross-germinating! It's a constructive and inspiring time for the art form of dance, the industry of showbiz and everything in between!"