Anna graduated from the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in 2005. She has worked as a dancer with European Ballet, Neville Campbell, Pair Dance, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, MaxwellDanceProject and Motionhouse for its world premiere tour of ‘Broken’. Anna is a current dancer for Tavaziva Dance, having joined in 2007. She was Rehearsal Assistant from 2009–2010, Project Manager in 2014 and then Project Leader for ZIVA Youth Dance, Tavaziva’s youth company.
As a choreographer Anna has been commissioned to choreograph for several youth organistaions, such as English National Ballet Youth Company, Studio Danza 82 – Italy, Dance City Centre for Advanced Training (CAT), DanceEast CAT, Suffolk Youth Company, Third Row Dance Company, New College Youth Dance Company, Quicksilver (Rambert’s youth company) and LSC Expressive Arts. Anna’s work has been shown across the UK and internationally, and she was recently commissioned by English National Ballet as an associate artist and choreographer for Akram Khan’s Giselle.
Anna formed Watkins Dance Company in May 2011. In 2014 Anna was awarded funding from Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England for a Research and Development project to create work for her future national tour.
Have you always wanted to be involved in dance and the performing arts?
Yes, I have been involved in dance and performing arts from the age of four. It has always been my escape and ambition. I never predicted where it would take me but always knew it was where I belong.
Where did you train? What was it like?
I trained at the Rambert School. The school was great, and right for me as it offered both ballet and contemporary dance training to a high technical standard. The training pushes you as a dancer and gives you the solid foundation you need for the dance industry.
Who or what inspired you to create Watkins Dance Company?
I have been performing professionally for 11 years and choreography became an interest to me over time. I started to understand that my body can make movement, and how I could structure that to make my own work. This became an interest to make movement on other dancers and form my own company. I was never really taught how to choreograph as such, it is something that just started to happen from absorbing from others.
My inspiration to create came from choreographer Bawren Tavaziva (Tavaziva Dance), an amazing choreographer for whom I have been a dancer for 10 years. Bawren encouraged and has mentored me throughout my career. I started off organising a platform for choreographers to showcase their work for a night, and went on to apply for funding from Arts Council England to produce a short tour of my work. This was the beginning, forming Watkins Dance Company in 2011.
What is a day in your life like?
A day in my life will vary throughout the year. As the Artistic Director for my own dance company I will be managing projects, choreographing for different organisations, guest teaching, funding applications – the list goes on! As well as this I am still performing outside of my own company work, therefore I will be still doing all of the above as well as rehearsing, teaching and touring. Sometimes I am in the dance studio, sometimes administrator, every day is different!
What would you say your greatest achievement is?
Receiving Arts Council England, Grants for the Arts funding for my company. It was the most exciting news!
What is your favourite part of your work?
To have the freedom for what you do next. Being a freelance artist enables me to take on as many skills as possible in the dance industry and work with different artists.
What’s the best thing about dance?
I love knowing that I will be inspired when I go to work. Whether it’s by music, the artists around me or even myself, it’s a feeling that is beyond all complications that exist in life. Being able to express yourself in such an extraordinary way that also inspires others is the most valuable part of dance. Dance is more than dance, it’s social skills, co-ordination, education, mentorship, communication and integration.
And the worst thing?
Dance can only be enjoyable, but you have to have the passion and be ready to work hard in this industry. I would say what’s difficult is no artist ever entered it for the money, however there is a constant battle dancers and choreographers have to fight for respectable fees for their work. With maturity and experience this can become an important part of your decisions.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
I always like to have at least five minutes to myself just to breathe and clear my head, so I can focus on bringing that energy for the show!
What would be your advice to an aspiring dance artist?
As a training dance artist you will receive a great deal of information. I think it is important, which again comes with maturity, to be yourself and take your own journey. There isn’t a fixed path, so break your own boundaries and reject the negativity that blocks possibilities for you. My main advice would be to always stay being an artist, never stop trying new things and be good at self-management.