Lea Anderson

Lea Anderson MBE (born 13 June 1959 in London) is a British choreographer and artistic director. She co-founded The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs dance companies with Teresa Barker and Gaynor Coward, at which she has choreographed over 100 works.

The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs are two of the foremost contemporary dance companies who have worked in Britain over the past 25 years. Under the artistic direction of choreographer Lea Anderson, they have created a distinctive choreographic language that is as defiantly individual as it is recognisable. The all-female Cholmondeleys were formed in 1984 and the all-male Featherstonehaughs in 1988 and both have toured extensively in Britain and abroad.

Original music performed live for all productions and notable collaborations with costume, stage and lighting designers have become defining features of their work. Lea and her companies have also become recognised for outdoor and site specific works, performances in alternative venues such as Glastonbury Festival, work for TV, film and video and an innovative and responsive programme of work with young people. Lea Anderson’s work has been studied from GCSE to post-graduate level.

Key collaborators include:

  • Sandy Powell - costume design,
  • Steve Blake - composer,
  • Drostan Madden - composer,
  • Chris Nash - photography,
  • Simon Corder - lighting/stage design,
  • Simon Vincenzi - costume and staging design,
  • Tim Spooner - costume design
  • Emma Fryer - costume design
  • Jo Stendall - executive producer

Anderson's style has been described as " ...this most accessible of choreographers (feeds) not on the esoteric and obscure, but on the readily available debris of media culture."[1] The works she has choreographed have been described as "Political without being dogmatic, irreverent but not lightweight..."[2]

Career

Anderson graduated from the Laban Centre, prior to that she attended St. Martins College of Art and Design as a visual arts student, but decided eventually to focus on dance.[3]

Works made for The Cholmondeleys include: Flesh And Blood (1989/1997), Cold Sweat (1990), Walky Talky (1992), Metalcholica (1994), Car (1995/96)

Works made for The Featherstonehaughs include: The Show (1990), The Featherstonehaughs’ Big Feature (1991), The Featherstonehaughs Immaculate Conception (1992), The Bends (1994), The Featherstonehaughs Go Las Vegas (1995), The Featherstonehaughs Draw On The Sketchbooks Of Egon Schiele (1997) (2010), Edits (2010)

Work made with The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs include: Russian Roulette (2008), Yippeee!!! (2006), Double Take (2004), 1 1/2 – The Club Shows (2002), 3 (2001), The Cholmondeleys, The Featherstonehaughs And The Victims Of Death In Smithereens (1999), Out On The Windy Beach (1998), Precious (1993), Birthday (1992), Flag (1988)

References
  1. Lea Anderson - Breaking the Boundaries of High Art by Sheri Dodds Archived 2007-11-15 at the Wayback Machine Dancing Times, Ltd.. Retrieved 2007-12-10
  2. Dance without the boring bits by Keith Watson The Guardian. 11 September 1999 "Top of the shake-up were DV8 and the Cholmondeleys. Political without being dogmatic, irreverent but not light, this was dance shot through with pop sensibilities."
  3. Lea Anderson Q&A with Tanja Mangalanayagam
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