Olive Hardy

Olive Hardy is a choreographer and performer based in London. She makes visceral, embodied and emotive performance. Her approach is collaborative and process driven, where she focuses on a collective agency between the meetings of the people she works with.

Through improvisation, she finds the practice and structure for the dancers to work inside, embracing the movement language innate to the individuals performing the work. They form together and gain clarity together, allowing for an exchange of generous ideas.

Her training began at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and she graduated from London Contemporary Dance School in 2019. She has worked with artists and choreographers such as Samir Kennedy, Leila McMillan, Will Pegna, Seke Chimutengwende, Izaak Brandt, Wilkie Branson and Hongxi Lee.

Vidya Patel

Vidya Patel is a Birmingham based movement artist, choreographer, performer and collaborator. Training in Kathak from a young age, Vidya takes influences from various languages and experiences of working with a diverse range of artists within dance, music and visual arts. Her work focuses on autobiographical narratives drawing on themes of identity, belonging and empowerment.

In 2015, Vidya represented the South Asian Category in the Grand Finals of the inaugural BBC Young Dancer 2015 at Sadler’s Wells and has since performed and presented work nationally and internationally with several companies, artists and collaborators including Richard Alston Dance Company, Gary Clarke, Hetain Patel, Thick & Tight, Connor Scott, Shammi Pithia, Sujata Banerjee Dance Company amongst others. Vidya’s choreographic commissioned work has been on the stages of Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells, Trinity Laban and across the UK.

Experiences of connecting with people through her work has been integral to informing Vidya’s curiosity-based practise which is embedded in collaboration, care whilst continuously striving to challenge herself through new experiences. Whilst a Young Associate at Sadler’s Wells, she has initiated the formation of Sadler’s Wells South Asian Advisory Panel, and continues to advocate for wider representation within the arts.

John-William Watson

John-William Watson is a dance theatre maker from Leeds. They are a Northern Connections Artist 2021/22, the co-founder of Another Collective and alumni of The Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.

Drawing influence from Surrealism, Watson’s work abstracts and plays with every-day, utilitarian and pedestrian movement. With a focus on the tragi-comedic, their work explores narratives that deal with the relationship between existentialism, the comedy of the mundane, nostalgia and time.

As an artist that emerged from the pandemic their work has been hued significantly by a surrealist ethos – that existential themes can lie beside the everyday and the mundane not only beautifully and humorously but purposefully. As a result, their work aims to tell the stories around us in the way they are actually presented to us daily, often without sense, or reason.

Magnus Westwell

Magnus Westwell is a Scottish Artist who works with choreography and music composition.

Magnus’ creations can be raw, romantic and haunting, often looking at the extremes of ecstasy and emptiness. Their work has been performed across the UK and Europe in theatre, club, gallery and festival contexts, and featured online via Nowness, FACT and MTV.

Magnus has choreographed and directed movement for Marcelino Sambé and Dua Lipa, as well as collaborating with artists including Agnes? and Machine Woman. They have recently performed live sets at Cafe OTO and FOLD, manipulating live violin samples and experimenting with how orchestral textures can exist within electronic music.

Magnus co-produces and curates Lazarus, a club night which platforms queer artists and DJs in late-night events across London.