Royston Maldoom

Royston Maldoom, OBE (born 1943 in Harrow, London) is a British choreographer whose works, including Adagietto and Ursprung, have been performed for various dance companies, such as The Jefferson Dancers and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Royston Maldoom’s career as a choreographer began in 1972 when he received a major Gulbenkian Foundation award for his work in a Royal Ballet workshop, he had previously been studying dance with Hilde Holger. Since then he has created works for companies in Britain and abroad, including Dance Theatre of Harlem (New York), ‘Atlanta Contemporary Dance Company’ (Georgia USA), ‘Ballet San Marcos’ (Peru), ‘Northern Ballet Theatre’ (Manchester UK), ‘EMMA Dance Company’ (Leicestershire UK), Scottish Ballet (Glasgow UK) for whom, in collaboration with Graham Bowers, he created ‘Ursprung’.

In 1975 his small group, ‘Mercury Dance Company’, won first prize at the 7th International Choreographic Competition at Bagnolet in Paris, and was subsequently awarded the ‘Foundation of France’ prize for choreographer and company.

Maldoom was appointed ‘Dance Artist in Residence’ jointly by Fife and Tayside Regional Councils in January 1981. The year’s residency with financial support from the Scottish Arts Council, was the first of its kind to cover an area rather than a single institution, and through his unique and unconventional approach to dance successfully encouraged participation and interest in dance within communities, with performance workshops and classes, on a scale not seen before.

He was responsible with others in forming Dundee Repertory Dance Theatre and in his role as Artistic Director, established a solid, successful and ongoing base for professional contemporary dance in Scotland. He also maintained his commitment to community dance by setting up annual summer projects, where people within the community regardless of age and experience, could participate in a work that culminated in a performance to commissioned music and stage design at a professional venue. One such work was ‘Bivouac’ where Gordon McPherson wrote the musical score and Graham Bowers designed the costumes and stage set. The company was renamed several years later and adopted the name Scottish Dance Theatre, after the closure of Peter Royston’s original company of the same name.

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