Sarah Foster-Sproull is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, dancer and senior lecturer in dance studies at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

Early life and education

Foster-Sproull was born in Dunedin and attended Otago Girl's High School. She began dancing at age 6 being taught by Robyn Sinclair at the Dunedin School of Ballet. She went on to attend the New Zealand School of Dance and in 2017 gained a Masters in Dance Studies from the University of Auckland. Her masters thesis was entitled ''Embodied economies: Locating the ‘prosumer-dancer’ within dancers’ experiences of choreographic practice''. As at 2021 Foster-Sproull is undertaking a doctorate in the dance studies programme at the University of Auckland.

Performance and choreography

During her dancing career Foster-Sproull has performed with Soapbox Productions, the Douglas Wright Dance Company, and the Commotion Company amongst others. Foster-Sproull went on to become a founding member of

The New Zealand Dance Company The New Zealand Dance Company (incorporated as The New Zealand Dance Advancement Trust) is an Auckland based, nationally focused contemporary dance company. Established in 2012, by co-founders Chief Executive/Artistic Director (and Arts Lau ...

, performing as a dancer as well as choreographing works for that company. In 2008 she performed a role in ''Parmenter's Tent'' at the

Tempo Dance Festival Tempo Dance Festival is an annual pan-genre professional dance festival held in Auckland, New Zealand and is the 'longest standing annual dance event' of New Zealand, founded in 2003. History Tempo Dance Festival started in 2003 from an in ...

and was awarded best female performer. In 2015 Foster-Sproull was chosen as one of five choreographers to contribute to the ''Craft of Embodiment'' workshop in Canada and also had a residency at the T.H.E Second Company, a dance company in Singapore. From 2017 to 2019 Foster-Sproull was the Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellow. In 2018 Foster-Sproull was commissioned by Patricia Barker to choreograph a work to commemorate the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand. For this commission, Foster-Sproull created ''Despite The Loss Of Small Detail,'' and it was this work that began her association with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Foster-Sproull then went on to create the work ''Artemis Rising'' in 2019. This work was produced to honour Abigail Boyle, a Royal New Zealand Ballet Principal who was retiring. ''Artemis Rising'' was again performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2020. Her choreographic work ''Orchids'' (2019) produced by her company Foster Group Dance at

Circa Theatre Circa Theatre is a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that was established in 1976. They present a number of plays each year in their two auditoriums, and have a unique partnership and funding model with incoming shows unde ...

and Q Theatre received critical acclaim with an intergeneration group of women dancers; Marianne Schultz, Katie Burton, Rose Philpott, Jahra Wasasala, Joanne Hobern, Tori Manley- Tapu and Ivy Foster. Also in 2019, Foster-Sproull was appointed the Director of Choreography for the 2019

World of Wearable Art World of WearableArt (WOW) is an internationally recognised design competition, attracting entries from more than 40 countries each year. The competition features wearable art entries, which are judged on durability, the safety and comfort of t ...

performances. As at 2021 she lives in Auckland and is the artistic director of the Foster Group Dance company as well as a senior lecturer in dance studies at the University of Auckland. She is also a choreographer in residence at the Royal New Zealand Ballet. She says of creativity: "How you can make art and not think about it critically?"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster-Sproull, Sarah Living people Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand School of Dance alumni Academic staff of the University of Auckland People educated at Otago Girls' High School