Artistic Director
Sue Lewis
Born in London, then came to Wales as a child, Sue spent many years developing dance in the South Wales Valleys. First, as Head of the Dance Department at Ebbw Vale Comprehensive School and subsequently as Director of Blaenau Gwent’s flagship Youth Dance Company, The Move.
Originally graduated in Physical Education and Performing Arts, Sue then trained in Dance with Dilys Price OBE at Cardiff College of Education going on from there to work on large scale community projects with professional companies including The National Dance Company of Wales. Sue has undergone further training with Siobhan Davies, and now works as a freelance dance consultant and choreographer. In 2010, Sue became general manager of FFIN DANCE advising the Board in an artistic capacity and running the company’s business enterprises. In April 2017, Sue steered the company through a community asset transfer taking over The Beaufort Theatre where she is now the Senior Manager
Honorary Choreographer
Gary Lambert
Gary Lambert trained at the Royal Ballet School, where as a student and graduate he worked with the Royal Ballet.
In 1983 Gary joined London Festival Ballet where he danced for two years working with the likes of Glen Tetley, Alvin Alley and Ashton before moving on to Rambert Dance Company. During his time in Rambert he received national and international acclaim for his performance as a dancer and while at Rambert began choreographing.
He has made works for Rambert, Phoenix Dance Company, English National Ballet Scottish Dance theatre, Ricochet Dance Company, Tambuka, the national contemporary dance company of Zimbabwe and had work presented at the cultural Olympiad in Atlanta. He established the company Small Axe which received acclaim at the International choreographic competition in Groningen, winning first prize.He was Assistant Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Company for two years. He has worked as an Independent choreographer, teacher and performer on projects and collaborations with the likes of Laurie Booth, Hans peter Kuhn and Art Angel and in 1999 presented XXL A site-specific work at the Arches, Glasgow funded by the Tramway in collaboration with DJ Dave Clarke and Carl
In 2011 he created Synapsequence for FFIN DANCE collaborating with composer Ronen Kozokaro. In summer of 2012, Gary curated a dance festival at Burg Namedy in Germany at the invitation of Princess Heide von Hohenzollern. He reworked 2 of his pieces for FFIN DANCE for 2013, Degrees of Freedom and Axiom Tangent
Gary began working in Jacksonville with The White Oak Project and has consequently choreographed 2 new works for the company inspired by his practice in The States – Sentient Trace in 2014 and Re-tracing Emergence in 2015
The Dancers
Catrin Lewis | Assistant to the Director
Catrin|Image Paul Trask|fourfold
Catrin graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance in July 2013 and it was there that she worked with choreographers such as Kerry Nicholls, Charlotte Darbyshire, Gary Lambert, Henrietta Hale, Lea Anderson and Fred Gehrig. She originally began dancing in South Wales as a member of The Move Blaenau Gwent Youth Dance Company and associate member of National Dance Company Wales. It was during her time studying at The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance that she was able to explore the depths and possibilities of her choreographic nature. Catrin spent a particularly large amount of time under the guidance of artists Angus Balbernie, Errol White and Janice Claxton undertaking various lectures, workshops and intensive projects.
Catrin performed for FFIN DANCE during the 2012 tour of Connections being selected by Gary Lambert to perform in Synapsequence as a result of a student work placement period with the company.
This is Catrin’s 11th season performing with the company: as well as directing her own choreography that has been professionally commissioned after the work was initially witnessed as in independent project at Laban Bonnie Bird Theatre in July 2013. Catrin has a keen interest in dance for film and has collaborated with Aoise Tutty and music label Autonomy, using this type of media to assist with her second commission d-cay for The Power of 3 Tour 2015
In addition to being Assistant to the Director, Catrin has more recently taken on the post of Community Coordinator for FFIN DANCE creating vital links with our community and managing varied projects with schools and community groups
Georgina Turier-Duerden
Georgina|Image Paul Trask|fourfold
Georgina graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2017 and has since worked in dance theatre, film, and commercial industries as a performer and choreographer. Georgina has had the pleasure of working with the Ellie Tapper Dance Company, Roswitha Chesher, Sarah Blanc, Laura Caldow, Wang Yue, the Adore Dance professional company, as well as creating work for Voxburner and The Museum of the Order of St John.
You’ll most likely find Georgina sharing her passion for movement in her classes and regularly teaches in London and the South East to participants of all abilities and ages 4yrs – 70+.
Georgina joined FFIN DANCE in 2018 and has since then performed in all of the company work; Georgina has also had the wonderful opportunity to work on many education and outreach projects with the company and recently led our R I S E Engagement Project with young people from our dance community
Louis Norman
Louis|Image Paul Trask|Traces: we are all just passing by
Louis is a London/Welsh dancer and community dance practitioner. He graduated from the Dance Department at The University of Roehampton in 2018 with a 1st Class BA Honours Degree in Dance Studies. Whilst studying at Roehampton, Louis worked with Lea Anderson, Athina Valha, Annie Lok, and H2 Dance. Louis gained a place on the Siobhan Davies Next Choreography Course and presented work at their annual festival whilst performing in the commissioned work ‘Greatest Hits’ by Martin Hargreaves.
Louis took up position of Rehearsal Director of Third Row Dance Company during his final year collaborating with Traceworks Dance, Barnaby Booth and Piedad Seiquer on the commission of 4 professional dance works that were performed by the company throughout the 2017/18 season.
Since graduating Louis has worked in the community dance sector developing dance education programmes for FFIN DANCE
In addition to performing in the company, Louis is also the Events and Volunteers Coordinator for The Beaufort Theatre & Café Bar
Louis is delighted to be joining Ffin Dance as a company dancer for the third season and is looking forward to an exciting and vibrant year ahead