Russell Maliphant (born 1961 in Canada) is a British choreographer. He grew up in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

and trained at the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

and graduated into Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet before leaving to pursue a career in independent dance. As a performer Maliphant worked with companies such as

DV8 Physical Theatre DV8 Physical Theatre (or Dance and Video 8) was a physical theatre company based at Artsadmin in London, United Kingdom. It was officially founded in 1986 by Lloyd Newson (1986–2015), Michelle Richecoeur (1986–1988) and Nigel Charnock (1 ...

, Michael Clark Company, Laurie Booth Company and Rosemary Butcher. He has studied anatomy, physiology, bio-mechanics, and the

Rolfing Rolfing () is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. Rolfing is marketed with unproven claims of various health benefits. It is based on Rolf's ideas about how the human body's " ...

Method of Structural Integration. In April 2000, he received an Arts Council Fellowship. He has created over 20 pieces to date, collaborating closely with lighting designer Michael Hulls, and has set works on renowned companies and artists including:

Lyon Opera Ballet Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, Ricochet Dance Company, The Batsheva Ensemble and Ballet de Lorraine. In 2003, Russell created ''Broken Fall'' with

Sylvie Guillem Sylvie Guillem (; born 23 February 1965) is a French ballet dancer. Guillem was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She has ...

and

George Piper Dances George Piper Dances is a London-based contemporary dance company. George Piper Dances was founded in 2001 by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt William Trevitt (February 7, 1809 – February 8, 1881) was a doctor, politician, diplomat, and newsp ...

and music by Barry Adamson. ''Broken Fall'' premiered at the Royal Opera House in December 2003 and was awarded an Olivier Award in 2003. Rise and Fall – an evening of work at Sadler's Wells Theatre including ''Broken Fall'' – was awarded a Critics' Circle

National Dance Award The National Dance Awards are presented annually in the United Kingdom by The Critics' Circle, and are awarded to recognise excellence in professional dance. They are widely regarded as the most prestigious award presented for dance in the UK, a ...

for Best Choreography (Modern) in 2006. ''Broken Fall'' marked the beginning of a collaborative relationship with

, which has seen further fruit with the award-winning ''Push'' and ''Solo''. These two works premiered at Sadler's Wells in Autumn 2005 in a programme entitled ''PUSH'', which has subsequently toured to sell-out audiences in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and America. The duet ''Push'' danced by Guillem and Maliphant has been presented by The Tokyo Ballet in Tokyo and on tour in Japan. Maliphant received a South Bank Show Award and an Oliver Award (2006) for the work; Guillem also received a Time Out Live Award for Solo (2006). This collaboration with Guillem continued in 2009 with the premiere of a new production, Eonnagata, created with the Canadian Director

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

. Russell also makes work with his own company, Russell Maliphant Dance Company, which acts as his creative lab for the development and presentation of new work. In the past two years, the Company have been touring Push, reworked for and presented by two of the company dancers, alongside the new female quintet, Transmission, and a new male solo, Flux. In 2007, RMDC featured in Cast No Shadow, a new work exploring the ideas of identity and migration created in collaboration with the visual artists Isaac Julien which was presented at

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 ...

and BAM in New York. ''Afterlight'', created by Maliphant for the in The Spirit of Diaghilev programme at Sadler’s Wells, won the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography in 2010 Maliphant created ''Fallen'' for the BalletBoyz, winning the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Modern Choreography in 2013. https://dancetabs.com/2014/01/2013-national-dance-awards-winners-announced/ Maliphant is Associate Artist at Sadler's Wells and Wycombe Swan. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by

Plymouth University The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

and in 2020 he gained his PhD from Canterbury Christ Church University, for academic research on for research on anatomy and somatic practice within choreography.

References

External links

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Russell Maliphant Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maliphant, Russell 1961 births Living people Canadian emigrants to England Contemporary dance choreographers English choreographers National Dance Award winners People educated at the Royal Ballet School People from Cheltenham