Governance

Michael has previously served as Chair of the Board of the Belgrade Theatre Coventry; Deputy Chairman of the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield; a member of the Board of the Association of British Orchestras; Chair of the Governing Body of the University of Wolverhampton; Treasurer of the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage; Chair of the Chief Officer Groups of both the Regional Arts Boards and Regional Tourist Boards; a member of the first Government Tourism Strategy Group; and member of the governing bodies of further education colleges and schools in Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Walsall, and Hereford.

He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Wolverhampton for his contribution to arts and culture.

Currently CEO at TheConfidenceVault.com, the largest platform for career women and black minority ethnic entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals. It provides access to the most diverse network of sponsor-mentors within their industry or career. TheConfidenceVault.com also offers financial business strategy, senior executive mentoring and tailored business introductions, helping them to achieve their next level success.

Deborah is the  founder of Lean In UK, a women’s network of in 67 locations across the UK. With a membership of over 3,000, Lean In UK is focused on female students interested in STEM subjects, career women and C-suite leaders keen to leave a legacy to support other women. Lean In UK works with under-served communities, building diverse teams by investing in the empowerment of women in the workplace, female founders/ start-ups and female-led SMEs.

Prior to becoming a non-executive director, Deborah was an executive in financial services and investment banking primarily focused on advising leadership teams of the firm’s existing technology partner companies while also working closely with the firm’s partners to evaluate new investment opportunities for a network of high net worth business angel and investor funds.

As a Partner, Senior Executive Director at IDEO, the world’s leading global design and innovation consultancy known for pioneering Human-Centred Design, Anne leads strategy development and activation for IDEO’s European regional business. Over the years, she has held leadership positions that sit at the cross-section of creative and commercial, driving companies to transform through industry paradigm-shifting strategies and breakthrough solutions, supported by the operational expertise to scale new market offers and experiences. She has collaborated with Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies, helping them lead with innovation and embed human-centred design capabilities for future readiness.

Before joining IDEO, Anne gained experience in the fashion retail and brand industry leading buying, product development, and supply chain at companies such as Polo Ralph Lauren. With a wide range of creative interests, she’s also dabbled in music performance and film production. She holds a BA in International Economics from the University of Waterloo in Canada, and an MSc in International Business and Development.

Max studied Music at the University of Durham and has a Masters in Internal Communication Management. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Public Relations (FCIPR) and the Institute of Internal Communication (FIIC).

Max joined the Board of Trinity Laban in May 2023, in addition to his role as a Non Executive Director of the South East Coast Ambulance (SECAmb) NHS Foundation Trust, which he joined in February 2023. Prior to these appointments, Max spent five years as Non Executive Director of the Salvation Army in the UK and Ireland.

He was Joint Principal and Designated Officer previously. As Director of Laban between 2003 and 2005, Anthony played a key role in the merger (2005) with Trinity College of Music which formed Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, the largest of the conservatoires in UK higher education.

His focus has been, and remains, the development of Trinity Laban as an international hub for the development of performing artists who will lead their art forms throughout the first half of the 21st century.

Anthony Bowne’s education in dance at (then) Laban in the early 1980s is complemented by an honours degree in Economics from the University of Southampton and an MSc from the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London. Anthony’s early career was as an economist in the motor industry. Later, he held an academic position at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

His experience as an educator was balanced with creative expertise as a lighting designer for both theatre and architecture. Projects include theatre design for Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, Hong Kong Ballet, Rosemary Butcher, the Cholmondeleys and the National Theatre of Taiwan and architectural design for the World Finance Centre in Shanghai, Chijms in Singapore and Joyce retail stores in Hong Kong.

Utilising his training and experience in the performing arts, economics and architecture, Anthony led the project to realise the Stirling Prize-winning Laban Building which opened in 2003. He acted as Arts Council England capital project mentor on the Lottery funded New Vic theatre and served on the Rambert Dance Company Property Committee for the company’s relocation to London’s South Bank.

Anthony currently chairs both the Finance and Remunerations Committees of London Higher, the ‘umbrella’ organisation for London’s universities and higher education colleges. He is also Deputy Chair of Conservatoires UK and Chair of the UCAS Advisory Group for Universities and Colleges Admissions. Other board memberships include One Dance UK, the Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund, HEFCE’s Teaching Quality and Student Experience Strategic Committee, and Blackheath Halls (Chair). He has served on both the DCMS Dance Forum and the All Party Parliamentary Dance Group and is Visiting Chair of Dance for Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore and Visiting Professor of City University, London.

Qualifications

University College London, Bartlett School of Architecture, EMSC Architecture 1992
Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, Post-Graduate Diploma, 1982
University of Southampton, BSc (Hons) Economics, 1977

Previous experience

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Joint Principal and Designated Officer, 2005-2010

Laban
Chief Executive, 2003-2005

Laban
Deputy Chief Executive, 1994-2003

Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Senior Lecturer, Theatre Lighting Design, 1996-1998 (sabbatical position)
Leading the teaching of theatre and architectural lighting design and developing the Academy’s first Master’s programme

Laban Centre for Movement and Dance
Senior Lecturer, 1987-1994
Lecturing in lighting design and theatre production skills
Course Co-ordinator of Advanced Performance Course
Technical Direction and Management of Transitions Dance Company

Laban Centre for Movement and Dance
Lecturer, 1983-1986
Lecturing in lighting design and theatre production skills

Rover Cars
Senior Financial Analyst, 1979-1981
Leading a team of Financial Analysts

Rover Cars
Financial Analyst, 1978-1979

Professional Lighting Design (selection 1993 – 2003)

2003
Rite of Spring, Natalie Weir, Hong Kong Ballet, tour

2002
Now Blind Yourself, Jan De Schynkel,  The Place Theatre, London
Slow-Still-Divided, Rosemary Butcher, Tanzquartier, Vienna

2001
Chijmes, Singapore (architectural)
Rite of Spring, Natalie Weir, Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong

2000
Vast Desert, National Theatre, Taiwan

1999
World Finance Centre, Shanghai, China (architectural)

1998
Joyce Department Store, Central, Hong Kong (architectural)
Dusk ’til Dawn, Hong Kong (architectural)
Joyce Department Store, Nathan Road, Hong Kong (architectural)

1997
Usa Cosa Rara (opera), Drama Theatre, HKAPA, Hong Kong
G’S Club, Shanghai, China (architectural)
Dance! Dance!! Dance!!!, Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong

1996
Spring Dance, Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong

1995
Swinger, Yolande Snaith
Car, The Cholmondeleys
Fierce/Pink/House, Della Davidson

1994
Metalcholica, The Cholmondeleys
Forgotten Voices, Fin Walker
Silence of the Pestle Sound, National Theatre, Taiwan

1993
Carmina Burana, National Theatre, Taiwan
Silent Tongues, Fin Walker
Set the Night on Fire, Three’s Company, Royal Festival Hall

Awards

Anthony was one of 10 lighting designers chosen as ‘ones to watch’ in ‘Lighting Dimensions’ (USA) and won a London Dance and Performance Award in 1992 for the lighting design of Yolande Snaith’s No Respite.

Professional activities / memberships

Current

• Board member and Chair of Remunerations and Finance Committees, London Higher
• Board member One Dance UK
• Member of Universities UK
• Member of HEFCE’s Teaching Quality and Student Experience (TQSE) Strategic Committee
• Deputy Chair, Conservatoires UK
• Chair, UCAS Conservatoires Advisory Group for Universities and Colleges Admissions System (UCAS Conservatoires)
• Board member, Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund
• Guest Professor, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore
• Chair, Blackheath Halls, Greenwich, London
• Visiting Professor, City University London

Past

• Member of Mayor of London’s Cultural Strategy Group
• Board member, Bird College, Sidcup
• Mentor for Arts Council England Lottery Capital Programme (Young Vic Theatre)
• Member, Scholarship Review Panel, Western Australia Academy for Performing Arts
• Chair, Cholmondeleys and Featherstoneshaughs dance companies
• Member of DCMS Dance Forum
• Member, Property Committee, Rambert Dance Company
• Board member, Creative Lewisham
• Board member, Deptford Creative Village
• Degree Accreditation Panel member, Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation
• Validation Panel member, Open University validation of Lasalle College, Singapore
• Governor, Finnish Institute, London

Qualifications / Educational Background

• BA Dance Theatre from Laban
• MFA in Dance from Florida State University
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Creative Outputs

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Performing:

1992-4: Florida State University graduate shows, including; Jeff Slayton “ Don’t Fear the Fire”, Doris Humphrey “Brandenburg Concerto no 4” , Martha Graham “Steps in the Street”

1997: Rafferty & Gough “Sonnet: The Better Angel” The Place, Jackson’s Lane, Roehampton, Laban

2001: Clare Baker, “Flock”  Bloomsbury

Mothers of Invention – “My Mother, My Daughter, Myself”, Roehampton, Chichester, lilian Baylis, Laban

2002: Amanda Gough “12 Steps”, Laban

2003: Erica Stanton  “The Gravity of the Situation”, Bedford, Laban

2004: Erica Stanton “ Undercurrents”, installation by Rosie Leventon, Fabrica  Gallery, Brighton

Erica Stanton “Matters of Gravity” , The Place

Installation by Rosie Leventon

Choreography:

1992: Hop

1993: Recipe

Shoot the Breeze chosen to represent FSU at the American College Dance Festival (South East Region)

1994: MFA Concert – The Rhythm Method
The Rhythm Method, Hop, Trudge

1995: Chance Encounters for Gloucestershire Youth Dance Group

1996: Paradigm, Paradox, Parallax, Paradiddle for Much Ado
Resolution at The Place
The Edge  for Hextable Youth Dance

1997-present: Co-director of Double Vision Dance Company with Sonia Rafferty. “After Images”  site specific piece for 50 local children and the Company at Lacock Abbey, commissioned by National Trust/Lacock Education 2003. “Sowing the seeds” site-specific piece for local children and the Company at the Courts Garden, commissioned by National Trust/Lacock Education 2002. “In:site” for Double Vision  https://vimeo.com/73867731 and “In:sense” for local community dancers, Millenium Project commissioned by the Derngate Theatre, Northhampton 2000. “Double Vision, Second Sight” full length A4E lottery funded work which also commissioned choreographer Fiona Edwards 1998. “Sonnet” choreographed and performed with Amanda Gough 1997.

2010: Movement direction for finale of Sound Moves, Festival Hall

2011: “The Stone Diaries” (with Sonia Rafferty), TrinityLaban BA3 Commissioned Work. https://vimeo.com/73867731

2011: ’Grace Notes’ , Dance Film screened at Merge Festival, Exeter (March 2011) and New Gallery, London  (April 2011), V Sao Carlos Videodance Festival, Sao Paula, Brazil (1-3 October 2011),   Third Coast Dance Film Festival USA (September 16th/17th 2011), Festival Internacional de Videodanza del Uruguay (24th-30th October 2011) Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania (26th April 2012) GLOW Dance Festival  Castle Green  Hereford (30th June 2012) FiELD  UK Dance Film Festival, Stratford Circus (10th August 2014)  https://vimeo.com/38087646

2012: Movement Director for Youth Music Voices, Choir performing at WOMAD, Houses of Parliament, Royal Opera House, Velodrome (Olympic Park), Trafalgar Square, Hyde park and Battersea Park

2013: “The 5ecret lives of Numbers”, Trinity Laban BA1 Performance Project https://vimeo.com/73951696

2014: Commission from Brighton and Hove Arts – director/choreographer for a collaborative  project music and dance  (Feb 2014), working with 6 young dancers  aged 16-18 and a  string orchestra of 15 young musicians. Performed at Trinity Laban as part of Colab

2014: “Instructions for Folding” Trinity Laban BA1 Performance Project https://vimeo.com/99542948

2015: “Spheres of Influence”  (with Sonia Rafferty)Trinity Laban Centre for Advanced Training

2017: choreography/movement direction for Trinity Laban Sinfonia Strings at Laban Theatre 

2022: “Precipice” (with Sonia Rafferty) Trinity Laban BA3 Commissioned Work

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Publications

Articles published in Dance UK magazine (2002 – “A Fairy Tale Career?”  & 2004  – “Choreographic Observerships – a reflection”) and Dance Matters (2004 – “A Site-Specific Exploration”  & 2008 “Dance Captures”)

Presented at Wellcome Trust conference – University of Manchester School of Music and Drama (2004) “Left  – choreographic research project”

Redding, E., Baker, C., Clements, L., Gough, A. & Lefebvre Sell, N. (2017). Collaborative research in dance science and creative practice. Labanarium Symposium: Thinking in terms of Movement: Teaching and Researching Movement and Dance in University and Conservatoire Settings, University of Surrey.

Peter studied composition with David Harold Cox at Sheffield University, and later with Michael Finnissy. He obtained his doctorate in creative practice in 2024 at Trinity Laban, where he also teaches. His music has been performed in Bath, Birmingham, Huddersfield, Manchester and London by ensembles and performers including Elision, the New Music Players, the Duke Quartet, Angharad Davies and rarescale. He performs regularly throughout London and beyond, both solo and in groups, in particular Rising of the Lights with Jonny Martin and an ongoing multidisciplinary collaboration with Claire Zakiewicz, Petra Haller and Emily Suzanne Shapiro. Dance collaborations include Invisible Cities (2022) and Once Up On a Cube (premiered 2022; further performances at Totally Thames Festival, 2023), both with Scirocco Dance Theatre Company. Ouroboros, an installation/performance created in collaboration with Carla Rees, was first presented in 2024 at Safehouse Peckham. Recordings include An Equal and Opposite Reaction (Linear Obsessional, 2019) and Sophie Stone’s Amalgamations (Sawyer Editions, 2022).

Research interests:

• Composition
• Improvisation
• Drone aesthetics
• Phenomenology and political ecologies of performance and sonic arts practices
• Multi/trans/post-disciplinary collaboration
• Ambiguity and uncertainty as aesthetic strategies

Initially developing dance and theatre school provision, Victoria moved swiftly into further education and apprenticeships in performing arts and sport, with programmes receiving external recognition such as ‘Outstanding’ judgements (Adult Leaning Inspectorate), Beacon status for teaching and learning, and professional industry acknowledgement. This led to partnerships with higher education providers, and the development of the musical theatre provision at Trinity Laban.

As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Trinity Laban Senior Teaching Fellow, Victoria is committed to access and participation, and the development of teaching and learning environments that support progression and achievement. Most recently, she has utilised her MSc in psychology to research the area of mental health and wellbeing in tertiary musical theatre education settings, identifying how programmes and interventions can be established to support the development of good mental health in educational setting, and when transitioning into employment.

Victoria believes that the student is the absolute centre of the learning journey, and that it is important to support personal development beyond the core curriculum outcomes, fostering the unique individual and personal identity within the learning community.

Victoria is a Trustee for a growing Multi Academy Trust in Kent and External Examiner for other Musical Theatre programmes across the UK .

Creative Outputs

Performance credits include: Aladdin, Cinderella and Humpty Dumpty (Millfield Theatre), A Chorus Line (MYT), Fran in A Christmas Carol (Terry Hawes Productions), Aida, MTV, Dream Team (Hewland International), 100 Years of Cinema (Mermaid Theatre), Lead vocalist and dancer for various cabarets.

Choreography Credits include: Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Bugsy Malone, Oklahoma, Little Shop of Horrors, Dick Whittington, Wizard of Oz, Oliver, Corporate Events, Cabarets and College Showcases.

As a council member of MusicHE, Aleks has been involved in recent cross-institutional campaigns to safeguard the future of music at UK conservatoires and universities.  He is a QAA performing arts subject specialist assessor. He has written several articles and a book chapter on blended learning and critical pedagogy and is an external specialist at BIMM.  

As a performer, Aleks specialises in performing music of the 20th and 21st Centuries and has released several albums of contemporary repertoire on the Prima Facie record label, including the Piano Concerto by Daryl Runswick, Inner Landscapes (Douglas Finch), A Land so Luminous (Kenneth Hesketh), and the album Aztec Dances with the recorder player Jill Kemp. He has recorded for Nimbus with the flautist Wissam Boustany, and given premieres of works by Frederic Rzewski, Dai Fujikura, Haris Kittos, Edward Gregson, Nicola LeFanu, Sam Hayden and David Bedford, among others.   

As pianist in the ensemble Gemini, he has recorded three albums with Métier, including works by Jonathan Harvey, Sadie Harrison, Huw Watkins, Philip Grange, and the first recording of Mandala 3 by David Lumsdaine. As well as Gemini, Aleks works with Lontano, rarescale and the Continuum Ensemble.  He has performed in more than forty countries over six continents, on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, Channel 4, and Colombian and Lebanese television.