London Contemporary Dance School (informally LCDS) is a

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

school located in London, England and a part of the

Conservatoire for Dance and Drama The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama is a higher education institution in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2001 to bring together a number of schools providing higher-level vocational training in the performing arts. There are six member scho ...

. It was founded by Robin Howard in 1966 to train new dancers for his company,

London Contemporary Dance Theatre The London Contemporary Dance Theatre (LCDT) was a contemporary dance company, based at The Place, founded by Robin Howard with Robert Cohan as its Artistic Director. Founded in 1967, and strongly influenced by the ideas of American modern and pos ...

. LCDS is based at

The Place The Place may refer to: * The Place (London) The Place is a dance and performance centre in Duke's Road near Euston in the London Borough of Camden. It is the home of London Contemporary Dance School and the Robin Howard Dance Theatre, and former ...

in the

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

area of

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

, close to the Senate House complex of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

History

London Contemporary Dance School and its partner company, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, were founded in 1966 under the governance of the Contemporary Dance Trust. After receiving support from its founder, Robin Howard, the Contemporary Dance Trust moved to 17 Duke's Road in 1969, which it renamed

. In 1978, with assistance from the Arts Council and Linbury Trust, The Place underwent a major redevelopment, with new studios created for the School on Flaxman Terrace. In 1982, LCDS began offering a BA Honours degree in Contemporary Dance, validated by the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

. In 1994, London Contemporary Dance Theatre was closed and the Richard Alston Dance Company formed. In October 2001 a £7.5 million redevelopment of The Place, including the construction of six new dance studios, was completed. In the same year LCDS and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) formed the

. In 2008 a £1.1 million development at The Place added two new further studios.

Teaching

LCDS teaches a variety of contemporary dance techniques including release-based, Limón, Humphrey and Contact Improvisation, priding themselves on their

Graham technique Graham technique is a modern dance movement style and pedagogy created by American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894–1991). Graham technique has been called the "cornerstone" of American modern dance, and has been taught worldwi ...

and

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player *Abe Cunningham, American drummer * Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

technique. As part of its courses LCDS also offers pilates, body conditioning, free electives in Choreology, Anatomy and Scenography, and ballet studies. LCDS provides both undergraduate and postgraduate (including EDge) vocational training as well as a research programme in contemporary dance. The School also offers courses in contemporary dance in London for adults and children, including Centre for Advanced Training, a programme allowing pre vocational training for young people in the South East.

Alumni

LCDS's first year's intake included Richard Alston, Ian Spink and

Siobhan Davies Dame Siobhan Davies DBE (born Susan Davies; 18 September 1950 in London), often known as Sue Davies, is an English dancer and choreographer. She was a dancer with the London Contemporary Dance Theatre during the 1970s, and became one of its lead ...

who went on to perform with the main company before founding their own. Other notable alumni of LCDS include: Richard Alston,

Darshan Singh Bhuller Darshan Singh Bhuller (born 4 March 1961) is a British dancer, teacher, artistic director, filmmaker, and choreographer. Considered "one of the brightest stars of his generation" and a "darkly powerful performer," Bhuller danced for London Contempor ...

Seeta Indrani Seeta Indrani (born 20 April 1963) is an English dancer and actress. Biography Performance After graduation as a dancer from the London Contemporary Dance School, Indrani took the role of Cassandra in the original 1981 West End theatre, West ...

Sally Potter Charlotte Sally Potter (born 19 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing ''Orlando'' (1992), which won the audience prize for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. Early life Potter was born an ...

Liz Roche Liz Roche (born 1974) is an Irish choreographer, working in contemporary dance. She is a member of Aosdána, an elite Irish association of artists. Early life Roche was born in Dublin in 1974, and grew up in Dundrum, Dublin. Career Roche studie ...

Kenneth Tharp Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE (born 1960) is a British dance artist and former Chief Executive of The Place. He was director of the Africa Centre, London from 2018 to 2020. Biography Tharp was born in Croydon, south London, to English mother Pame ...

and

Paul Liburd Scottish Ballet is the national ballet company of Scotland and one of the five leading ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet. Founded in 1969, ...

. Students of the School have gone on to accept contracts from a variety of prestigious dance companies including

Adventures in Motion Pictures New Adventures is a British dance-theatre company. Founded by choreographer Matthew Bourne in 2001, the company developed from an earlier company Adventures in Motion Pictures, now dissolved. History Adventures in Motion Pictures (AMP) was est ...

, Random Dance Company,

DV8 ''DV8'' is a comic book published by Wildstorm. The series revolves around the lives of a group of Gen-Active people (Called DV8, or referred to as "The Deviants"), initially living in New York City under the supervision of Ivana Baiul, who se ...

CandoCo Candoco Dance Company is a contemporary physically integrated dance company, founded in 1991 by Celeste Dandeker and Adam Benjamin. The company is based at the Aspire National training centre in Stanmore, North London. History Candoco Dance Comp ...

, Diversions and the

Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

at the

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-sea ...

References

External links

Applying to London Contemporary

The Place website

The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1966 Performing arts education in London Contemporary dance in London Dance schools in the United Kingdom 1966 establishments in England