Alistair Spalding
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Sir Alistair Spalding (born 25 August 1957,
Stotfold Stotfold is a town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The town covers and the River Ivel passes through the town. The population of the parish at the 2021 census was 9,014. The wider built-up area ...
,
Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...
) has been the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of
Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue, Islington. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre buil ...
theatre since 2004.


Early career

Spalding's first job in arts management was at the
Hawth Theatre The Hawth Theatre is an arts and entertainment complex located in of woodland about from the town centre of the English town of Crawley. It is wholly owned by Crawley Borough Council and is currently operated by Parkwood Theatres. History Th ...
, Crawley, where he was a programmer from 1988 to 1994.


Southbank Centre

Over six years between 1994 and 2000 Spalding was the Head of Dance and Performance at the
Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...
in London where he developed both the presentation and commissioning of national and international dance and performance companies. As well as increasing the number of performances and audience attendance for dance at the centre he developed strong co-producing relationships with a number of national and international companies and artists including DV8, Alain Platel, Jonathan Burrows, Javier de Frutos and Rosas Dance Company. The South Bank Centre won the Time Out award for best dance production in both 1998 for Alain Platel and in 1999 for the New York Ballet Stars project.


Sadler's Wells

He has been responsible for programming at the theatre since February 2000 (when he joined as Director of Programming, becoming Artistic Director and Chief Executive in October 2004). During that time he has presented companies such as
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Founded in 1958, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is the largest modern dance company in the United States.Dance Data Project (October 2024) 2024 Largest Contemporary and Modern Companies Report Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater ...
, Ballett Frankfurt, Tanztheater Wuppertal
Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylised blend of dance move ...
, les ballets C de La B, Michael Clark, Dutch National Ballet,
Martha Graham Dance Company The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded by Martha Graham in 1926, is both the oldest dance company in the United States and the oldest integrated dance company. The company is critically acclaimed in the artistic world and has been recognized as " ...
, Mark Morris Dance Group, Netherlands Dance Theatre 1 and 2, and the
National Ballet of China The National Ballet of China (NBC), known in China as the Central Ballet Troupe, is the national ballet company of the People's Republic of China. It was founded on 31 December 1959. The ballet company works from the Tianqiao Theater, which was s ...
. Under Spalding, Sadler's Wells has become a world-leading production house for dance, as well as a receiving house presenting performances by international companies. In March 2005, he announced a new commissioning and co-producing policy at Sadler's Wells, and has since appointed
Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is a British choreographer. His productions contain many classic cinema and popular culture references and draw thematic inspiration from musicals, film noir and popular culture. Popular ...
,
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (born 10 March 1976) is a Belgian dancer and choreographer and director. He has made over 50 choreographic pieces and received two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, three Ballet Tanz awards for best cho ...
, Sharon Eyal, Jonzi D, Sylvie Guillem (who became Associate Artist Emeritus on retiring at the end of 2015),
Akram Khan (dancer) Akram Hossain Khan, MBE () (born 29 July 1974) is an English dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi descent. His background is rooted in his classical Kathak training and contemporary dance. Career Khan was born in Lambeth, London, England, i ...
, lighting designer Michael Hulls
Michael Keegan-Dolan
Russell Maliphant,
Wayne McGregor Sir Wayne McGregor, CBE (born 12 March 1970) is a British choreographer and director who has won multiple awards. He is the Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. McGregor was appointed Comma ...
, Crystal Pite,
BalletBoyz BalletBoyz or Ballet Boyz are a London-based all-male dance company. BalletBoyz was founded in 1999 by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, both principal dancers with The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned cl ...
( Michael Nunn and William Trevitt),
Kate Prince Katherine Jane Prince (born 1974) is a British choreographer, and the founder and director of ZooNation.Kate Prince in ZooNation Dance Compan retrieved March 30, 2015 Early life Kate Prince was born in Southampton in 1974. Career In 2002, Pri ...
,
Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian and other ...
,
Hofesh Shechter Hofesh Shechter (; born 3 May 1975) is an Israeli choreographer, dancer and composer based in London. He is the founder and artistic director of the Hofesh Shechter Company. Early life Hofesh Shechter was born in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1975. At ...
, Jasmin Vardimon, and
Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Early life Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at th ...
as Associate Artists at the theatre. He has also initiated projects such as the international festival of hip hop dance theatre Breakin' Convention; the Flamenco Festival London; the Global Dance Contest – an online competition to find new choreographic talent from around the world with Shu-Yi Chou (2010), James Wilton (2011) and Ihsan Rustem (2012) being named winners; as well as invited New Adventures, Company Wayne McGregor and ZooNation I The Kate Prince Company to become the theatre's Resident Companies. In November 2014, he appointed English National Ballet as Associate Company at Sadler’s Wells. Since then, he has also appointed Acosta Danza, Rosas and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch as International Associate Companies. Sadler's Wells is the companies' UK home. Spalding was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in the
2012 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours List 2012 was released on 16 June 2012 in the United Kingdom, on 11 June 2012 in Australia on 4 June 2012 in New Zealand,knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
in the
2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
, both for services to dance.


External posts

Spalding was Chair of Dance UK from 2004 to 2009. He was a member of the
Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...
Dance advisory panel between 1995 and 2003 and he is an external advisor on the City University Validation Board for the Laban centre London degree courses. He was awarded Le Chevalier des Artes et Lettres by the French Embassy in October 2005. From 2009 to 2017, he was a member of Arts Council England's National Council. He has been a member of the Creative Industries Federation’s UK Council since October 2016.


Footnotes


External links


Sadler's Wells Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spalding, Alistair 1957 births Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Stotfold Knights Bachelor