Alison Ferrao

alisonferrao@magpiedance.org.uk

Alison joined the company as a volunteer in 1997 and has never left! In 2019 she was thrilled to become Artistic Director having watched the organisation grow from just two classes per week to currently delivering 22 different programmes catering for all ages and abilities. She has been involved in all facets of the company’s activities working as a facilitator, choreographer, outreach workshop leader and heads the unique Oxleas NHS partnership. This programme was presented at the first National Arts in Health Conference & Showcase for health decision-makers at the Royal Festival Hall in London (2016) hosted by AESOP (Arts Enterprise with a Social Purpose), in association with the NHS Alliance and College of Medicine.

She has been an assessor for Magpie Dance’s IDPT (Inclusive Dance Practice Training) since its inception and has led CPD workshops at Trinity Laban, Greenwich Dance, Canterbury Christchurch University, Kent University, BalletBoyz and is currently working with Royal Opera House to improve accessibility for dancers with learning disabilities. Whilst with Magpie Dance, she has collaborated with numerous arts organisations including New Adventures, Complicité and StopGap and has seen Magpie dancers perform at Unlimited Festival and Ballroom Blitz (South Bank Centre), Liberty Festival (Trafalgar Square), Xposure Festival and =dance (Sadler’s Wells) Street Festivals (Brighton, Bromley and Wandsworth) Big Dance and Dance Umbrella festivals (across South East).

In addition to her work at Magpie Dance, Alison was a dancer for various projects and performances, most notably in the corps de ballet with the Bolshoi Ballet Company (‘Sleeping Beauty’, London Coliseum). She ran her own dance school (with around two hundred students) for ten years, producing shows with often two and sometimes three generations of the same family dancing alongside one another! She has taught a range of dance styles, drama and gymnastics in settings ranging from nursery and primary schools through to adult education and delivered multicultural dance and drum workshops for key stages 1 and 2 across London and the South East.

Alison has been shortlisted as a finalist for the upcoming awards: Visionary Director (Young Entertainers Academy Awards) and Inspirational Community Dance Practitioner (One Dance UK)