Gary Clarke

Artistic Direction

Gary Clarke is a multi-award winning British Choreographer, Director, Performer, Mentor, Teacher and Facilitator who has been contributing to the UK dance scene for over 25 years. In 2017 Gary was awarded with an inaugural Honorary Fellowship from The Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

Established in 2015, Gary is currently the co-founder, Artistic Director and joint CEO of Gary Clarke Company where he has created 3 major mid-scale works for the company which have toured extensively both nationally and internationally to critical and audience acclaim: COAL (Winner of a UK Theatre Award and a Critics Circle National Dance Award), WASTELAND and DETENTION. Gary also designs, leads and delivers on Gary Clarke Company’s other creative projects and education / outreach work.

Before becoming Artistic Director of Gary Clarke Company, Gary operated as an independent artist and created an impressive body of small scale touring work. These works toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe and was programmed as part of a number of festivals and seasons including The British Dance Edition, Spring Loaded, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Exposure: Dance at The Royal Opera House, Junge Hunde (Young Blood) International Theatre Festival, Homotopia and Liverpool’s LEAP Festival. Gary was mentored by renowned choreographers Javier De Frutos, Wendy Houstoun and Nigel Charnock in the creation and development of these works.

In 2004, Gary became Artist in Residence at The Northern School of Contemporary Dance and received the Artist Development Award from Danceworks UK which was presented to him by iconic British choreographer Michael Clark. In 2009 he became an Associate Artist at Yorkshire Dance under the LIFT programme and was honoured with The Gary Clarke Dance Award from the Department of Creative Media and Entertainment Industries. In 1998 he was the first recipient of The Brian Glover Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performing Arts and Dance and in 2011 was invited by Royal Command to Buckingham Palace to meet Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Phillip to acknowledge his outstanding contribution to the arts. In 2012 Gary was selected by Dance4 in Nottingham to take part in European in Motion facilitated by Jonathan Burrows and Gerald Nestler as part of Brut Imagetanz Festival in Vienna.

Gary was commissioned to choreograph a number of large scale productions to commemorate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games including: Overworlds & Underworlds in collaboration with The Quay Brothers, Games Time produced by DEDA, HOME for Birmingham International Dance Festival, The Opening Ceremony for the arrival of The Olympic Torch in Leeds, Just 30! to celebrate 30 years of Yorkshire Dance and The Yorkshire Flock for Big Dance 2012.

Since 2001, Gary has created over 100 works of various sizes and scales for other companies and organisations including: The National Theatre, Opera North (South Bank Award Nominated), Akademi (Winner of Herald Angel Award, The Summerhall Lustrum Award and The Special Arts & Culture Award at the UK India Awards), Sky Arts, Hull City of Culture 2017, Marlborough Productions, Homotopia, Dance4’s Changing Perceptions Project, Anjali Dance Company, Phoenix Dance Theatre, StopGAP Dance Company, Ludus Dance Company, Mimbre Circus Company, Leeds Dance Partnership, Dance Limerick, Ascendance REP, The Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Trinity LABAN, Scottish School of Contemporary Dance, MAP Dance, The UK’s Centre for Advanced Training Scheme’s (CAT) and Edge Hill University / Edge FWD amongst others.

His work has been seen in some the UK’s leading venues including Sadlers Wells, The South Bank Centre, The Barbican and The Royal Opera House.

Gary has also acted as a Movement Director for many theatre companies including: Brighton’s People Theatre, Shooting Fish Theatre Company, Inky Cloak Theatre and Bent Architect Theatre Company.

Between 2001 and 2015, Gary worked as a performer with some the UK’s leading dance companies and choreographers including Lea Anderson’s The Cholmondeleys & The Featherstonehaughs, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Lloyd Newson’s DV8 Physical Theatre, Liv Lorent’s balletLORENT, Candoco Dance Company / Jerome Bel, Bock & Vincenzi, Retina Dance Company, Nigel Charnock + Company, Frauke Redquart and David Rosenberg, Fuel Theatre, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Maresa Von Stockert & Tilted Productions, Sadlers Wells & Young Vic Productions, TC Howard, Compagnie Felix Ruckert, Polar Produce Productions, Future Cinema and ACE Dance & Music.

He also worked as a movement specialist on a number of large scale Blockbuster feature films including World War Z, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and The Mummy. Gary is also featured in Maximo Parks hit music video single Brain Cells.

Gary has a wealth of experience in delivering both education and outreach work and has led projects in collaboration with Greenwich Dance Agency (GDA), The Place, BBC 3 / Phoenix Dance Theatre, The South Bank Centre, Tate Modern, The Royal Festival Hall and West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Gary is currently an Associate Artist at The Lawrence Batley Theatre, Independent Governor at The Northern School of Contemporary Dance and is The Vice President of Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band.