Nadine Senior, MBE (born Nadine Pickles; 4 October 1939 – 28 January 2016) was the founding principal of the

Northern School of Contemporary Dance The Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD) is a higher education institution in Chapeltown, Leeds, England specialising in contemporary dance. Students can obtain undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in dance, validated by the Universi ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England.

Personal life

Senior was born Nadine Pickles, in

Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town and civil parish in North Yorkshire District, the district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. With a population of 61,749, Scarborough is the largest town on the Yorkshire Coast and the No ...

, on 4 October 1939. She attended Friarage School and the Scarborough Convent Grammar School, and then studied at a college in

Professional life

In the late 1950s, Senior had encountered the work of

Rudolf von Laban Rudolf (von) Laban, also known as Rudolph von Laban (; 15 December 1879 – 1 July 1958), was an Austro-Hungarian dance artist, choreographer, and movement theorist. He is considered a "founding father of expressionist dance" and a pioneer of ...

while at teacher training college, and she went on to apply his ideas while teaching PE and athletics then when holding the position of deputy headmistress at Harehills Middle School in

Harehills Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is about northeast of Leeds city centre. Harehills is between the A58 road, A58 (towards Wetherby) and the A64 road, A64 (towards York). It sits in the Gipton and Ha ...

, Leeds. She introduced all the pupils to dance, saying that "children are natural movers," and that "dance is one of the few art forms where they have the edge over adults, and they can relate to it immediately." Forty of her pupils, mostly male, became professional dancers, including the group of young men who moved on to Intake High School and later formed the all black, all male dance company

Phoenix Dance Theatre Phoenix Dance Theatre is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, that has grown from small beginnings in inner-city Leeds to be one of Britain’s leading contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, danc ...

. The award-winning choreographer Darshan Singh Bhuller became the company's artistic director in 2002. In 1985, Senior established the

(NSCD), which offers degree and postgraduate courses in dance, and also youth and community courses. The School offers the only conservatoire-level professional dance training outside of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Senior retired in 2001, and was Chair of the Trustees of Phoenix Dance Theatre for the next six years. She was appointed a

Member 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 ...

(MBE) for services to dance.

Death and legacy

Senior died on 28 January 2016, aged 76, following a stroke. Her funeral was attended by Richard Alston, Namron, David Hughes,

Kenneth Tharp Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE (born 11 February 1960), is a British dance artist, who was chief executive of The Place (2007–16) and director of the Africa Centre, London (2018–20). Biography Born in 1960 at Croydon, Surrey, to English mother P ...

and Janet Smith. In 2017, the Phoenix Dance Theatre hosted a Celebration Gala to pay tribute to Senior after he death, with the event including a staging of Robert North’s ''Troy Game (''1974). In 2021, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance launched the Nadine Senior Legacy Fund to provide financial assistance for students from groups underrepresented in higher education. In September 2024, a commemorative

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

in honour of Senior was unveiled in Leeds by her son, Gareth Senior. The unveiling event also included a performance by nine students who danced ''New Work'' by Amaury Lebrun. The plaque was funded by the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senior, Nadine 1939 births 2016 deaths Dance teachers People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire