National Youth Dance Company appoints Wayne McGregor as its next Guest Artistic Director
Choreographer Wayne McGregor is the new Guest Artistic Director of the National Youth Dance Company (NYDC). NYDC, now Entering its tenth anniversary year, is the UK’s flagship company for young dancers and is run by the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London.
McGregor has many close ties with Sadler’s Wells as the Company Wayne McGregor is the resident company at the theatre. McGregor has made over 30 works for the company, which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2022. He is also a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist.
McGregor said,
It’s fantastic to see NYDC leading the way in making sure that opportunities to take part in dance are open to everybody from all backgrounds, and from all around England. Together with my team at Studio Wayne McGregor, we are looking forward to training, mentoring, and creating opportunities and creative experiences for this fresh cohort of emerging talent.
NYDC has begun its search for the next intake of 30 young dancers to join the company and these dancers will work with Wayne McGregor to create a new commission from October 2022. NYDC Workshops to find the new dancers will take place across England in July and August as well as some workshops online.
The company works with young people aged 16-18 or up to the age of 24 for d/Deaf or disabled dancers. The dancers come from across the country and from a range of different backgrounds and dance styles. Over 80% of NYDC members go on to further dance training or professional work. Graduates have since danced in Matthew Bourne‘s New Adventures, Rambert, Hofesh Shechter Company and Jasmin Vardimon Company. Graduate John William Watson is also part of Sadler’s Wells’ Young Associates programme. The winner of BBC Young Dancer 2022, Adhya Shastry is in the current company and will be on tour with NYDC this summer.
Dancers can sign up for the workshops on the NYDC website: https://nydc.org.uk/nydc-experience-workshop-registration-2/
NYDC workshops 2022
| Date | Town/City | Venue |
| Sat 2 July | Manchester | Company Chameleon |
| Sun 3 July | Brighton | BHASVIC |
| Sun 3 July | Falmouth | AMATA |
| Sat 9 July | Ipswich | DanceEast |
| Wed 20 July | Leeds | Riley Theatre |
| Fri 22 July | Birmingham | MAC |
| Sun 24 July | Newcastle | DanceCity |
| Tues 26 July | Derby | Deda |
| Sat 30 July | London | Sadler’s Wells |
| Mon 1 August | Medway | Brook Theatre |
| Wed 3 August | Online | Online Workshop |
| Mon 22 August | Bristol | Trinity |
| Mon 22 August | Online | Online Workshop |
| Fri 26 August | Oxford | Old Fire Station |
| Sat 27 August | Leicester | De Montfort Uni |
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
