Sara Matthews
Sara went to The Rambert Academy at age sixteen to undertake professional study in ballet and contemporary dance techniques. One year after graduating, she returned to Rambert Dance Company in 1985 where she stayed until 1996. At Rambert Sara worked with three Artistic Directors – Robert North, Richard Alston and Christopher Bruce – and with numerous choreographers including Siobhan Davies, Lucinda Childs, Merce Cunningham, Sir Frederick Ashton, Mark Baldwin, David Gordon, Ashley Page and Ian Spink.
Sara taught at Rambert: classical ballet, Cunningham-based technique and creative work at all levels. Leaving Rambert in 1996 she became Choreographer in Residence at Queen’s College, Cambridge, developing site specific work with harpsichordist Giulia Nuti.
Meanwhile Sara continued teaching and choreographing for various organisations including: Central School of Ballet, Ballet Central, Rambert, Richard Alston Dance Company, the Royal Opera House, English National Ballet (with Dame Gillian Weir at Westminster Abbey) and London Contemporary Dance School.
In 1998 Sara became Head of Dance at Central School of Ballet, a school of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama (CDD). She became Assistant Director in 2002 and then Director in 2009. Throughout her eighteen years at Central Sara remained passionate about ensuring the training and education of dance artists remains informed, current and relevant.
Sara has continued to undertake choreographic and creative commissions: collaborations with composer Philip Feeney; dance performances within the London 2012 Olympic venues; two productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; a joint performance with the Southbank Sinfonia at St John’s Waterloo; and most recently, the ‘Nutshell Nutcracker’ presented at Theatre by the Bay, Weston-super-Mare, a venue better previously known as Banksy’s Dismaland!
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance:
Sara is delighted to have been appointed Director of Dance from January 2019, having previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Dance since January 2017.