For more information on Supporting Acts, please visit our Artist Development page.
Charlotte Eaton, Commissioned Artist
Charlie is a professional movement artist with a fascination for the moving body and philosophies surrounding the dancing flesh. She trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and holds a BA (Hons) Contemporary Dance and MSc Dance Science from the institution. She is currently writing her PhD with TL about the use of imagery to explore the phenomenological experience of having and being a body that dances. Charlie lecturers for universities, colleges and theatres in South West England, bringing to life her passion about people discovering more about themselves through dance and demystifying the moving body. Choreographically, she has created pieces for live performance and for camera, including working across projects with University of Plymouth, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Chhaya Youth (Exeter), Barbican Theatre. Charlie is always excited by projects that bring dance into a range of communities to make dance and movement an accessible possibility for all to enjoy.
Malin Kvist, Commissioned Artist
Malin is a dance theatre artist from Sweden based in Exeter who has been engaged in movement research, dance, opera, short film and physical theatre with Temper Theatre, Garsington Opera, Scottish Opera, platform CRAFT/Takuya Fujisawa (SWE), Iraqi Bodies (SWE) and Bristol Film Collective. Her curiosity for theatre and clowning has recently brought her to learn with Internationally renowned Philippe Gaulier and Spymonkey. She is intermittently co-creating and performing work with the South West Dance Hub at the Exeter Phoenix and with NooN Collective. She trained at London Studio Centre where she graduated with a first class honours and was awarded the Peter Brinson Award for her achievements in Contemporary Dance.
Willa Faulkner, Commissioned Artist
Willa grew up on Dartmoor and studied contemporary dance at Performact in Portugal and at Trinity Laban where she was awarded the Marion North Award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Performance'.She explores her body and movement through the imagination, sensations and through a dialogue with the environment.
She feels passionately about community engagement, humour and playfullness. She collaborates with Mass Hysteria Collective, Not Yet, South West Dance Hub and NooN Collective.Willa also facilities dance well-being through WellMoor.
Bakani Pick-Up, Commissioned Artist
Bakani Pick-Up (He/They) is a Zimbabwean UK-based choreographer, movement artist, and Artistic Lead of Bakani Pick-Up Company. Their work explores improvisational methodologies and "Ways of Being" within performative structures. They have presented work at Vienna Secession, The Place and Institute of Contemporary Art. Bakani's teaching spans institutions like Trinity Laban, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, National Dance Company Wales, Psoas 2 (Madrid), Dans Atelier (Rotterdam) and Gender Bender (Bologna).
Clare Parker, Programmed Artist
Clare Parker is a socially-engaged dance artist, choreographer and producer with thirty years’ experience of making community and professional dance theatre work. She trained at London Contemporary Dance School and CalArts; and has worked on a wide range of productions and projects as a dancer, choreographer and dance practitioner/artist.
Clare’s current choreographic practice explores the more-than-human world and invites a dialogue with the natural world. She collaborates with artists from diverse disciplines and current works include: Featherheads, a playful movement and installation piece highlighting Britain’s red list birds; the Saltmarsh Collective, an art & environment collective exploring and amplifying fragile yet vital salt marsh habitats; and Murmur, a multi-sensory live performance that dives into the fantastic world of fungi, working with NooN collective.
Juan Sanchez Plaza, Programmed Artist
Juan Sanchez Plaza is a Professional Dancer, choreographer and teacher from Spain, who has been based in London for five years. He has worked with Agudo Dance Company, Tom Dale Company, Persona Collective, Flute Theatre alongside co-funding and creating his own work with Nomad Dance Collective, touring ''The Renegade Master'', ''D(US)T'', and ''Nomades'' in the UK, Spain, Germany and Ecuador. 2021-2022.
Juan is as well a Certified Yoga Teacher by the Yoga Alliance and he is currently finishing his university studies of Environmental Sciences in the UNED. Juan graduated at SEAD - Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in 2018, after graduating in the Professional Conservatory of Dance in Valencia -Spain in 2014.
Juan has been collaborating with RCD as an ensemble dancer since 2022 and this is his first season and a programmed choreographer.
Aisha Namaani, Programmed Artist
Aisha Naamani is a Cornwall based Welsh and Lebanese Dance Artist who performs and facilitates dance both nationally and internationally. After graduating from London Contemporary Dance School, she danced with National Dance Company Wales where she performed works by renowned choreographers Marcos Morau, Andrea Costanzo Martini, Fernando Melo, Caroline Finn, Fearghus Ó Conchúir, Alexandra Waierstall and many more. She has since been freelancing with companies including balletLorent, The Paraorchestra and Richard Chappell Dance and others.
Alongside her performance career, Aisha has been curating her own work in different capacities for both stage and film since 2018. Her work has been showcased in The Place Theatre, The Senedd and the Barbican Centre, as well as collaborating with artists such as Hanan Issa, Rasmus Zwicki, Kyla Goodey and Thomas Jackson-Greaves.