Graduation Show

Holly Blakey, whose signature style is likened to the inhibition-free state of being at a rave at 4am, has shaken herself free of institutional expectations and comes to define a new moment in contemporary dance.

Blakey started dancing as a ballerina at the age of three, after which she went on to train professionally. In 2012, at the age of 24, she choreographed her first music video and realised that she was better suited calling the shots behind the camera. Since then, Blakey has orchestrated performers in music videos for Florence & The Machine, MØ, and Mabel, and in fashion clips for Dior and Gucci. Far from the world of ballet, her choreography breathes new life into dance with hyper-fluidity, eroticiscm, and her commitment to celebrating diverse bodies.

SAY was founded by Sarah Golding & Yukiko Masui (Work Place Artist) in 2019 and have been associate artists at Dance East since 2022.

In 2020, they were selected by The Place to be part of the Choreodrome residency to develop the concept for their show titled "the album” which has since then toured nationally and internationally.

They performed an excerpt of this piece at the National Theatre Riverstage 2023(the album:live). Alongside this they were commissioned to create a family version of the show that is in its 3rd year of touring to schools and festivals (the album: skool edition). As a duo they have created a dance film SAY: AF with the international festival Dance Umbrella, have recently been featured dancers in the film ‘The Marvels’ and were dance captains and performers in the Commonwealth Opening Ceremony 2022. SAY was commissioned to create a piece for NDCWales(‘SAY Something’) which toured nationally and internationally including Rugby Sixth Nation half time in Paris. SAY have recently worked on "The Effect" at National Theatre & The Shed, NY and "Romeo & Juliet" starring Tom Holland directed by Jamie Lloyd at Duke of York's Theatre as Movement Directors.

Simone Mousset is a Luxembourgish choreographer based between London, Luxembourg, and France. Her work is concerned with articulating textures around the uncertain, the messy, and the unresolved, sculpting rigorous processes of imagination and strange qualities of presence. Through the creation of playful and poetic worlds situated between fiction and a heightened reality, her work shifts the familiar and opens up spaces for existential questionings steeped in humour and strangeness, in the surreal, and in the fantastical. Her practice spans dance, voice work, comedy, theatre/performance, visual art, magical thinking, and writing. Simone is also the co-director of the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg, which is currently on tour in Japan.

Recipient in 2017 of the Luxembourgish Dance Award, supported by the Réseau Grand Luxe in 2018-2019, and associate artist of the Escher Theater in 2020-2022, Simone is currently a Work Place Artist at The Place and accompanied by the Fondation Cléo Thiberge Edrom in France. Her production company, Simone Mousset Projects, was founded in 2018 and is accredited and supported by the Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg since 2020. Simone develops her interdisciplinary work in conversation with freelance artists, dramaturges, producers, and the performing arts production agency Les Indépendances in Paris. Next to her own work, recent choreographic commissions include works for London Contemporary Dance School, the Luxembourgish National Museum of Archeology, History, and Art, and the Luxembourg Pavilion at World Expo 2021/2022.

Simone trained in London at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, the Royal Academy of Dance, and the London Contemporary Dance School’s postgraduate dance company EDge, touring works by Sasha Waltz, Igor Urzelai & Moreno Solinas, James Wilton, Tony Adigun, Matthias Sperling, and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta. Simone has worked with independent choreographers and companies including Anu Sistonen (FI), Jean-Guillaume Weis (LU), Dog Kennel Hill Project (UK), Caracalla Dance Theatre (LB), Provincial Dances (RU), Olga Pona (RU), Ballet Moskva (RU) and others. Simone teaches and facilitates workshops internationally, and loves setting up spaces to accompany artists and artistic processes in conversation with artists and venues. In 2023, she was part of the Aerowaves Startup Forum for emerging dance presenters, and she accompanies artists in the Talentlab residency at Les Théâtres de la Ville (LU) in the role of artistic companion.

Simone’s book On Uncertainty, Choreographic Spells, and Wanting to Be the Grass focuses on the choreographic process around her work Empire of a Faun Imaginary and was published in May 2023 by the Centre National de Littérature (LU) as part of the Choreographical Talks series.

Born in South Korea, Sung Im Her obtained a master’s degree in contemporary dance at Hansung University. She also studied in Belgium at P.A.R.T.S., the acclaimed contemporary dance school led by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

As a performer she has worked in with companies in Korea and Belgium including, Ji-Gu Dance Theater, Les ballets C de la B, Needcompany, Abattoir Fermé, Opéra de Lille and more.

As a choreographer, Sung Im has been selected for development programmes Testbeds Catalyst, Aerowaves 21, Choreodrome at The Place. She has been commissioned by Seoul Performing Arts Festival, Counterpoint Arts and Korean Arts Council, and supported by Arts Council England, Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture, Horizon Showcase and more.

Some of Sung Im’s key achievements include:

• SPAF (Seoul Performing Arts Festival) Associate Artists 2023-2025

• Received “Dance Artist of the years” Award from Korea Ministry of Culture 2022-2023
• Named as one of ten "Stage sensations to watch out for in 2023" by The Guardian (2023)
• Selected artist as part of Horizon Show Case Performance Created in England artist (2022)
• Guest Choreographer with Korean National Contemporary Dance (2022 - work touring England & Europe spring 2023)
• Worked as Movement Director for New Diorama Theatre and the National Theatre in addition to her choreography work.
• Received 5-star review from The Skinny for Nutcrusher presented at Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2022)
• Aerowaves Artist 21 (2021)