Debbie Lee-Anthony
Teacher.
Choreographer.
Performer.
Choreographer.
Performer.
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Teaching, encouraging and nurturing others has long been a passion of mine.
I love to make work about things that matter - to me and to others.
I have been a dance practitioner for 40 years. My work has Included working in a broad range of professional, education and community contexts, facilitating groups of all ages around the country. Collaborating with artists and academics, over a number of years, my choreography and performance has taken me further afield to the USA, Portugal, Holland, Malta and Scotland, where I toured, led summer schools and undertook choreographic commissions. In addition to my 4 years training at The Place, I attended several training intensives at the Limón Institute in New York and Impulse Tanz in Vienna, studying with world class teachers including Risa Steinberg, Kurt Douglas, Gary Masters, Carla Maxwell & Daniel Lewis.
I worked in the mid 1980’s as a dancer with TACIT Dance Theatre, Directed by Lesley Crewdson, performing in works by choreographer/performer Neil Fisher. The three of us toured around the country and ‘3 shirts dancing’ (1986) made for schools, is one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever been a part of.
3 Shirts Dancing - Image credit Paul Roylance
My teaching work has mainly focussed focused on Limon- influenced technique, choreography and improvisation for leading educational organisations including Trinity Laban (1989-1993) Swindon Dance (1985-1996) and the University of Winchester (1999-2019) amongst others. I also led modules such as Dance Management, Dance Facilitation and directed a student dance company for 10 years.
In 1997 I co-founded Obelisk with Kate Cetan, where we were invited to be dance company in residence as part of a Southern Arts funded Dance Artist & Venue Collaboration Scheme. I then went on to form a partnership with Deborah Dunn, under the name Soma/Numa, where we enjoyed regional tours of Arts Council funded projects. In 2006, together with Project Manager Tim Tubbs, Director of UKFD, I performed in and curated ‘Body of Experience’ an evening of multi-cultural solo dance works which toured nationally to critical acclaim.
Obelisk: Debbie with Kate Cetan
For many years I reported on small-scale dance touring for Southern Arts. I was a member of Swindon Dance Advisory Board (1988-1994) and served as a Trustee for Hampshire Dance (2004-2010) and Springs Dance Company (2012-2021). Since 2020 I have been serving as a member of the Advisory Board for Zoie Logic Dance Theatre.
I am currently External Examiner for the Central School of Ballet, examining on their BA Honours Professional Performance and MA Choreography programmes.
My writing has addressed issues pertaining to the mature dancer, ageing and performance and have been published in several editions of Animated, the quarterly journal of the leading organisation People Dancing (links are provided to the full articles). My writing reflecting on my experience as a dancer post hip replacement (Jan 2012) was very well received. I have presented my writing and solo performance work at a number of International Dance Conferences in France, Portugal and the US.
My choreography for dance undergraduate students has been performed in a number of schools and arts venues across the South East and South West of England. A special duet co-created with my daughter, Lauren Anthony in 2017, ‘Do not go gentle’ was presented at Resolution, The Place to critical acclaim.
Riverside
Film by Elizabeth Lydia