Sarah Alexander

Personal statement

Sarah is the Course Leader for BA (Hons) Dance and lectures across the BA and MA Dance courses. She currently leads modules on dance teaching practice, contemporary dance technique, site dance, professional practice and dance making/ choreography. 

Sarah’s most recent professional output sought to investigate how creative practice and embodied knowledge might help us to recognise/ contemplate/ discuss the dire state of the ecological world and our associated anxieties, within the event ‘Embodying Ecocide: between hope and hopelessness.’

Her choreography ‘Overspill’ dealt with themes of excess and over-consumption, surrounding the dancers with the entire contents of a store cupboard; asking them to be with, contemplate, play with, create with, and work through ‘stuff’. The work was funded by the CPEK research group alongside QR funding. 

Prior to working in HE, Sarah worked extensively as a freelance dance practitioner in Brighton, London and the South East, working for a range of organisations. As a performer she has worked for Rosemary Lee, Willi Dorner, Bicycle Ballet and many small-scale dance companies and productions.

She joined Bicycle Ballet in 2006 as a performer for their large-scale performance on Brighton seafront, and continued in the capacity of performer, workshop leader, and later as assistant choreographer, enjoying national and international touring with the company.

She was an Animateur for Rambert Dance Company for eight years, delivering workshops, summer schools (Rambert School and Dance City) and larger projects for venues such as Ripon Cathedral and The Royal Festival Hall.

As a freelance dance artist, she has created numerous specialist educational projects for Creative Partnerships (Sussex and Suffolk), with a particular interest in teaching maths through dance. She has also been an educational advisor for DanceSpinner.

In 2013 she co-founded the arts company Co.Here with composer Amy Mallet, and collaborated on two site-specific community projects, 'The Witchfinder Project', supported by Ipswich Borough Council and ACE, and 'The Unreturning', performed at Ipswich Museum.

Sarah has had an extensive teaching career, particularly within FE and HE settings. She moved to Suffolk in 2012, taking a lecturer post on BA Dance and BA Dance in the Community at UCS, and took up her post at Bath Spa University in 2014.

Academic qualifications

• Diploma in Dance - Rambert Dance School
• BA(Hons) Dance and Visual Art - University of Brighton
• MA Creative Practice - Trinity Laban.

Professional qualifications

• Fellow - Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Professional memberships

• One Dance UK

Recent professional updating

• Embodying Ecocide: between hope and hopelessness – curator, producer and choreographer. 
• Sandline (2021) by Chris Lewis-Smith - Performer 
• Mother, time (2021) A promenade performance conceived and directed by Sarah Alexander and Luke Antysz. Created and performed by 3rd Stage Dance Company and Yama Dance Company. Performed at Bath Spa University Campus on Sunday 24th October 2021 and later made into a film by Daniel Martin. Link here. 
• Contributor to the Porthleven Prize residency 2019
• 'Women, know your place!' choreographed for YAMA Dance Company selected for Full Bloom Festival and Testing Ground 2018
• Research into mobile technologies in the studio with Jeff Boehm and Neil Glen. Findings presented at 'Students as Partners' staff development day at Bath Spa University in June 2018
• External Examiner for South Gloucestershire and Stroud College FdA Dance (2017 onwards)

Teaching specialisms

• Choreological studies
• Contemporary technique training
• Performance skills
• Site-specific choreography and performance
• Professional development planning
• Dance pedagogy

Projects and training opportunities

2018

• Performer for Rosemary Lee's 'Passage for Par' as part of Groundwork international contemporary arts programme for Cornwall 2018.

2017

• Commissioned to make a new work for YAMA dance company
• Presentation of collaborative project in partnership with The Holburne Museum: "Dance and Museums Conversation at The Museum of Bath at Work".

2016

• Rosemary Lee's "Rising", Bath International Music Festival, The Circus, Bath
• Residency with Rosemary Lee: Salt Dance Camp, Hay Studios, Cornwall
• "Mementos" - performances with 3rd Stage Dance Company at The Arnolfini, Bristol, and The Edge Theatre, Bath
• Dance choreography and direction for the ceremony for Jeremy Irons' inauguration into the role of Bath Spa University Chancellor, Bath Abbey.