Movement Direction/ Research: The Witcher: Series 3, Episode 5, The Art of the Illusion

I created an iconic and invented dance for The Witcher Series 3 Episode 5 (Netflix). The script asked for an imaginary dance that looked like a mash-up of the Tango meets the Rennaisance Quadrille. I added to this brief my own choreographic work with visual design to impose a strong symmetry and structure that would work with a large cast of over twenty actors and performers and suggest the grandeur and formality of the occasion. My prior research and movement history of creating imaginative and collage based choreographic approaches meant that I was able to bring to this brief an approach not bound by any necessity to stick to any one historical idea of dance.

The entire main cast of The Witcher was involved, and mainly focused on the relationship between the leads Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra during the Thanned Ball with all the other Mages.
I undertook prior research at Goldsmiths University, with Libby Sinclair (who teaches various forms of the Rennaissance Quadrille) and then worked with a research cast of professional dancers to generate imaginative 'mash-ups' of various dance style and material that would conjure the intrigue, courtly deviousness and plotting as well as the seductions needed in this particular scene. I was assisted by Stephen Moynihan who added rigorous counts to my choreographic composition of the material and also coached the main cast during filming.