JAMES COUSINS
After early training with Kylie Appleby and Sue Llewellyn in his hometown of Newbury, James went on to train at London Contemporary Dance School, where he was awarded the Robert Cohan Award for most promising dance artist.
Upon graduating in 2010, he joined the cast of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake for an international tour including a four-week run at the New York City Centre, and also appeared in the 3D film version of the show. On finishing swan lake James worked internationally as a dancer including working with Marc Brew Company, Yorke Dance Project and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on Joe Wright's 2012 film Anna Karenina staring Keira Knightley.
As a choreographer James has been recognised by Time Out magazine as one of the future faces of dance, called ‘a rising star’ by the Independent and described by Matthew Bourne as ‘one of the UK’s most promising choreographic talents’.
In 2012, he was the winner of the inaugural New Adventures Choreographer Award, where his work was critically acclaimed as ‘outstanding’, ‘visually breath-taking’ and ‘spellbindingly beautiful’ at a sold out performance at Sadler’s Wells, London.
After the showcase he formed James Cousins Company with producer Francesca Moseley, to act as a vehicle for creating and performing his work. The company has already toured internationally to critical acclaim and has many exciting projects in the pipeline.
As a freelance choreographer James has been commissioned to create work for companies around the world including National Ballet of Chile, Oper Graz, Royal Ballet of Flanders and Scottish Ballet as well as Graduate companies including Edge, Verve and LC3.
James is a Work Place artist at The Place and Associate Artist at DanceEast. He also teaches professional level class, workshops for a range of levels, and frequently works with CAT schemes, schools and youth groups across the country.
Download James' biography here
Without Stars | Promo from James Cousins on Vimeo.