Studio Wayne McGregor

Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Winnie Asawakanjanakit trained at the Joffrey Ballet School and the Ailey School on a full scholarship. She has performed in Memoria with The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company, and has worked with Tabula Rasa Dance Theater and Boston Dance Theater. She has been featured in campaigns and commercials by Vogue, Marc Jacobs, and Samsung. Winnie has also performed in events for Walt Disney, Macy’s and Sony. In 2021, she performed works by Crystal Pite and Wayne McGregor at the Biennale College Danza. Winnie joined Company Wayne McGregor in 2022. 

Cognitive psychologist Dr Philip Barnard researches choreographic cognition in collaboration with Company Wayne McGregor and documents how choreographic ideas evolve over the course of Wayne McGregor's creation processes. He first worked with Wayne and the company dancers on AtaXia in 2004, and has since been involved in the development of the Choreographic Thinking Tools, used for the first time in the creation of FAR in 2010, and contributed to the Thinking with the Body exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, London in 2013. He also provides scientific input for the development of the Mind and Movement resource. 

Originally from New Zealand, Rebecca Bassett-Graham trained as a contemporary major at the New Zealand School of Dance. After graduating in 2011, she joined New Zealand Dance Company as an inaugural intern before moving to Townsville, Australia to work with DanceNorth. Rebecca freelanced between New Zealand and Australia working with various choreographers including Ross McCormack and Sarah Foster-Sproull. She moved to London in 2013 and continued to work as a freelance dancer across the UK and Europe. Rebecca has been a member of Company Wayne McGregor since 2017.

Fatima Begum is responsible for managing Studio Wayne McGregor's operational and future finances, ensuring effective and robust financial systems and procedures are in place.

Luca Braccia is part of our Studio Team, responsible for maintaining the upkeep of the studio at Here East, London, and overseeing the smooth running of all activity in the space. Luca is a London based dance artist and academic directing BARBERDANCE / lucabraccia&Co. Currently, he is a course leader at the University of Suffolk/DanceEast, and has previously worked for Trinity Laban, The Place, Dance City and Accademia Nazionale di Danza. Luca hosts and curates the first-ever Passing Through Jam series in London at Studio Wayne McGregor.

After graduating from London Contemporary Dance School, Jordan James Bridge toured internationally with Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Tavaziva Dance & Michael Clark Company before joining Company Wayne McGregor in 2017. Jordan is also a multi award winning dance film maker and established choreographer/movement director working for stage, fashion and screen. His collaborations include Bloomberg, Paul Bert for London Fashion Week, and Asttina Mandella. Jordan has also taught extensively worldwide and delivers masterclasses and workshops in contemporary dance for private schools, institutions and companies.

Born in Glasgow, Neil Fleming Brown danced for Company Wayne McGregor from 2006 to 2010. He is now a Studio Wayne McGregor Artist, acting as rehearsal director for the company, a member of the Learning and Engagement team, and a restager of Wayne McGregor's works by dance schools and companies around the world. He has restaged Polar Sequences for Trinity Laban students in London; Chroma for Polish National Ballet and Dutch National Ballet; Infra for The Australian Ballet and Finnish National Ballet; and Obsidian Tear for Ballet National de Bordeaux.

Jessie Calway manages Studio Wayne McGregor’s licensing activity (both professional and non-professional) and associated projects, in liaison with the Director of Licensing and Legacy and the Associate Director.

Valeria Carrassa manages the work of Company Wayne McGregor and associated projects, in liaison with the Executive Director and the Associate Director.

Catarina Carvalho is a London based dance artist. Born in Lisbon, Catarina trained at École Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower in France. Catarina’s career began at Ballet de L’Ópera National du Rhin. In 2008, she joined Company Wayne McGregor, touring in various company productions around the world for 10 years. During this time Catarina was also a Rehearsal Assistant for the company and collaborated with Wayne McGregor on several projects. Catarina continues to work with Studio Wayne McGregor as a Stager, and often teaches workshops and masterclasses as part of the Learning and Engagement programme.

Laïla Diallo is a dancer and choreographer, presenting work primarily in live performance in the UK and internationally. She is a recipient of a Rayne Fellowship for Choreographers and was Associate Artist at ROH2. Laila danced with Company Wayne McGregor through the late 1990s to the early 2000s, and has and continues to assist Wayne McGregor in the choreographic process of various dance, opera and theatre works, including Cleansed, Dido and Aeneas, Kirikou et Karaba and Sweet Charity.

Since her arrival from the US in 2007, Stephanie Dittmer has worked across art forms as a philanthropy and cultural partnerships expert. After a decade with the Donmar Warehouse, she recently joined the Institute of Imagination as Campaign Director. In addition to serving on the Board of Studio Wayne McGregor, she is also a trustee of LGBTQ+ charity, AKT.

Sarah Dowling is a choreographer, movement director and performer. She was an Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House and during this time was mentored by Wayne McGregor on several of her choreographic commissions. Since then, Sarah has worked with Studio Wayne McGregor on Big Dance and delivering Mind and Movement workshops to the Centre for Advanced Training at Trinity Laban, London. She also worked alongside McGregor on choreographing movement for the Warner Bros. film, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and for the ground breaking ABBA Voyage concert.

Philippa Dunn works across Studio Wayne McGregor to support the organisation's strategic planning and development.

Amanda Eyles has worked as a Rehearsal Director, Ballet Mistress, Stager and Benesh choreologist for more than 30 years, both in the UK and internationally, and worked with a wide range of choreographers and directors on new creations and re-staging of existing productions. She has held full-time positions with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Scottish Ballet and now works freelance, teaching and staging the work of many different choreographers from Richard Alston to Frederick Ashton. She enjoys a close association with Wayne McGregor; notating and assisting on his creations with The Royal Ballet and staging his work internationally. 

Liam Freeman studied classical ballet for a number of years and is currently the Senior Features Editor of Vogue Global Network. He has contributed to AnOther Magazine, Financial Times, i-D, The New York Times, The Sunday Times, Vice and W Magazine, among others. Liam’s writing has been shortlisted for a British Society of Magazine Editors award and he is a recipient of the Artists’ International Development Fund.

Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Chia-Yu Hsu has trained at Taipei National University of Arts, The Rock School for Dance Education and Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. While at Rambert, Chia-Yu performed with the Taiwan Ballet Company as a guest dancer. After graduating, Chia-Yu joined the Alexander Whitley Dance Company. Throughout her professional career, Chia-Yu has worked with artists and choreographers including Corey Baker, Jose Agudo, Justin Allen, Justin Peck, Leigh Warren, Telmo Moreira, Yuanting Chuang, and Xiaoxiong Zhang. Chia-Yu joined Company Wayne McGregor in February 2023. 

Odette Hughes re-stages Wayne McGregor's works on companies around the world, and assists him on a range of theatre, opera and film projects including as Assistant Choreographer on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005. She joined Company Wayne McGregor in 1997 as a dancer and was subsequently Rehearsal Director for the company many years before becoming Associate Director, managing the company's everyday artistic supervision, overseeing performances, directing rehearsals, and delivering many community and outreach projects.

Pete Kenyon is a solicitor and a partner at Cripps LLP. For over 17 years he has worked with technology companies and internet businesses, helping them to protect their intellectual property and commercialise their products. Pete's passion for Wayne McGregor's work coupled with his knowledge of the commercial world bring an additional perspective to the board.

Based in London, Suhair Khan is a technology executive and consultant. In over a decade at Google, Suhair has been a leader on numerous global initiatives in early stage product design, arts & culture and sustainability. Most recently she led on EMEA-focused business strategy and ops. Prior to that she led Google Arts & Culture global initiatives. She is the founder of the Open/Ended Design platform and is currently a visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins in London. She is a graduate of Cornell and Harvard University.

James Leachis a social anthropologist engaged by the creative processes of Studio Wayne McGregor. He first worked with Wayne McGregor and the company dancers in 2004 on the work AtaXia. James also contributes an informed perspective on the organisation of Studio Wayne McGregor, its hive of individuals and collaborative partners.

Nicki de Leon has been a Physiotherapist for over 25 years specialising in musculoskeletal injuries and runs her own private Physiotherapy clinic in Barnet, North London. Since 2004, she has provided injury prevention screenings, physiotherapy and rehabilitation for Company Wayne McGregor dancers. Nicki fully appreciates and understands the physical requirements of Wayne’s work and uses this when individualising her physio management of each dancer. As well as her work with the company, Nicki has also been the Lead Physiotherapist for 2 major dance movies (Cats and Matilda).

Born in Taiwan Taichung, Chien-Shun Liao studied Dance at Taipei National University of the Arts. He has performed in Gala by Jérôme Bel and worked with Danish choreographer Simone Wierød and Tim Panduro. In 2017 he worked with Need company for the Taipei International Festival for the Arts. Chien-Shun moved to London and joined Company Wayne McGregor in 2019.

Born in Bermuda, Jasiah Marshall started dancing at the age of 16. He has trained and studied at The Conservatory of Dance & Music in Toronto, Canada; as a scholarship student at The Ailey School, New York exploring the Horton and Graham techniques; and at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Since graduating from Rambert School, Jasiah has danced with the Fabula Collective Company and worked with several choreographers including Mthuthuzeli November, Cree Barnett Williams and Christopher Marney. Jasiah joined Company Wayne McGregor in 2023.

Rebecca Marshall provides the strategic lead for all Studio Wayne McGregor activity.

Louis McMiller is a dancer and model, who performed with Company Wayne McGregor from 2010 to 2018 after graduating from The Royal Ballet School. He is represented by W Model Management and has been featured in editorials and commercials including Charlotte Tilbury, NOWNESS, ‘What Lies Beneath’ by Rick Guest and album artwork for FKA Twigs. His work also includes campaigns for Schwarzkopf, Inkey List and Uniqlo. He is a Ride Instructor at Psycle London, bringing his extensive background in dance to the indoor cycling studio. Louis continues his collaboration with Studio Wayne McGregor as a restager. 

Born in Derby, Eileih Muir trained at London Studio Centre before completing a Masters at The London Contemporary Dance School. After graduating she became an apprentice with NDCWales before joining the Richard Alston Dance Company. Eileih has since worked as a freelance artist with Joss Arnott, Itzik Galili and Shobana Jeyasingh as well as guesting with companies in the UK and Europe. Alongside her work as a dancer, Eileih co-founded multidisciplinary company Flavour&Some and works alongside her partner, choreographing and directing immersive experiences. Eileih joined Company Wayne McGregor in 2019.

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Mthuthuzeli November is an award-winning choreographer and dancer. Since 2015, Mthuthuzeli has been a member of Ballet Black, dancing with and creating four works for the company including INTERRUPTED, WASHA, INGOMA and The Waiting Game. He has also created works for Northern Ballet, Cape Dance Company, The Grange Festival, the English National Ballet Emerging Dancer competition, and a work for rapper Stormzy which was performed as part of his set at Glastonbury in 2019.

Jaimie Persson is an Organisational Psychologist and Coach and was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of the Shoreditch Trust in January 2019. She has previously managed projects for the Trust related to Health, Wellbeing and Community Engagement, including the Trust’s Community Champions and Bump Buddies projects. In addition to her role at the Trust, Jaimie is Co-Founder of ACT3 Psychology, and an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Psychological Wellbeing and Neuroscience at City, University of London. Jaimie has lived in East London for 16 years and is proud to be part of Shoreditch Trust’s inspiring work in Hackney and neighbouring boroughs.

Salomé Pressac is a professional dancer who trained at Rambert School and has danced with Rambert 2 and Rambert Dance Company. She has performed work by choreographers including Benoit Swan Pouffer, Sharon Eyal and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and has danced for artists such as Dua Lipa, Fred Again, and Idris Elba. Salomé has also been in many TV and fashion campaigns and shows such as BBC’s New Year show 2021, Burberry A/W and Stella McCartney 2020, and has performed in and contributed to movement direction and choreography for independent films. Salomé joined Company Wayne McGregor in 2023.

Alice Risdon works with the Director of Development and across the team to support Studio Wayne McGregor’s partnerships, individual giving, and public appeals.

Chelsea Reeves is responsible for managing the Studio Wayne McGregor archive, organising the collection, processing acquisitions and preserving the physical and digital materials.

Tamera-Shae Scantlebury is Studio Wayne McGregor’s Administrator, working in liaison with the Finance Manager and the Director of Finance and Administration.

Born in Calabria, Italy, Salvatore De Simone trained in Rome at the National Academy of Dance before graduating at Teatro Carcano School in Milano. Following his graduation, he worked with companies and projects across Italy, and later moved to Germany to work for a State Theatre as well as freelancing in Berlin. Salvatore joined the Biennale Danza College in Venice dancing works from Wayne McGregor and Crystal Pite’s repertoire. In November 2021 he joined Company Wayne McGregor.

Catherine Smith is involved in every area of design for Studio Wayne McGregor including new productions and overseeing the set design and costumes for re-stagings.

Kathryn Stephens manages the day-to-day running of the studios at Here East, London, including studio hires, events and visiting artists.

Jenny Tattersall danced with The Royal Ballet from 1993 to 2002. She then became a freelance contemporary dancer for six years before becoming rehearsal director with the Bern Ballet until 2015. Jenny has assisted many leading choreographers over the years, and now mainly works with Wayne McGregor and Cathy Marston. Of Wayne's works, Jenny has restaged Carbon Life (The Royal Ballet), Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet), Infra (The Royal Danish Ballet) and Borderlands (Bayerisches Staatsballett) and assisted him during the creation ofAfteRite (American Ballet Theatre) and MADDADDAM (National Ballet of Canada).

Antoine Vereecken is Director of Licensing and Legacy, overseeing Wayne McGregor's ballet work nationally and internationally. He also assists Wayne on special projects and collaborates on major education initiatives with the Learning and Engagement team. Antoine also often acts as deputy Rehearsal Director for Company Wayne McGregor on tour.

Louise Verrill is a leading international expert in legal, specialising in restructuring and capital markets. Her numerous roles within the profession include former President of the Insolvency Practitioners Association and Chair of the Insolvency Lawyers Association. In addition to serving on the Board of Studio Wayne McGregor, Louise is also a member of the Advisory Board of Christof Industries GmbH, GDA Luma Capital Management LLC, and Chair of the Board of Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

Anna Williams is responsible for all finance and administration at Studio Wayne McGregor, leading on strategic oversight in both these areas. 

After training at Central School of Ballet, Jessica Wright joined D.A.N.C.E. in 2007, directed by Wayne McGregor, William Forsythe, Frederic Flamand and Angelin Preljocaj. Since then, she has performed with the Forsythe Company in Human Writes and Ballet Preljocaj at the Centre Pompidou. Jessica danced with Company Wayne McGregor from 2008 to 2019, and now regularly teaches nationally and internationally. She also creates dance films with Morgann Runacre-Temple, which have been shown at FIFA, Cinedans, Agite y Sirva, Sadler's Wells, the South Bank and in Trafalgar Square with commissions from Channel 4, TATE Liverpool and Scottish Ballet. Jessica continues her collaboration with Studio Wayne McGregor as a restager.