Case Study: Sharon Watson
Choreographer and Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre
Sharon Watson is the 7th Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre. Trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, she was one of the first female Principal Dancers invited to join the all-male award-winning Phoenix Dance Company, touring with the company from 1989 to 1997 where she choreographed Never Still and Shaded Limits. Having left Phoenix to pursue a number of other ventures including setting up her own company ABCD, and lecturing at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance for 6 years Sharon returned in 2009 as the new Artistic Director. Since then Sharon has choreographed Fast Lane, Melt, Never 2 Still, Repetition of Change, TearFall and Windrush: Movement of the People.
During her tenure at Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sharon has received a number of awards and accolades: In 2010, she was named as one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s ‘Women to Watch’, a list of 50 influential women working in arts and culture in the UK. She was awarded The Sue Ryder ‘Yorkshire Women of Achievement in Business Award’ and named ‘Yorkshire Woman of the Year’ in 2016. She was presented with the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts’ Companionship Award by Sir Paul McCartney and was recognised as one of ‘100 faces of a vibrant economy 2017’ by Grant Thornton. Acknowledged at the 2017 Northern Power Women Awards as part of the very first ‘Top 50 Power List’ and in 2018 Sharon was awarded the First English Woman’s Award for Arts and Culture and was presented with an Honorary Fellowship by Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Sharon’s recognitions are testament to her continued passion and drive to contribute to the local and national creative industries through the medium of dance.
In addition to her role as artistic director at Phoenix Sharon was a recent trustee of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, The Place, Leeds Playhouse, and an artistic advisor for Central School of Ballet. She is committed to improving diversity within the arts by supporting the creative voices of women and BAME artists. She is also current Chair of Leeds 2023.
Praise for Watson
“Dance Theatre doesn’t come much better than this”
The Yorkshire Post on Windrush
“Infectiously upbeat”
The Guardian on Windrush
★★★★★
North West End on Windrush
★★★★
The Observer on Windrush
“Best première 2017”
Dance Europe on Calyx
“Moodily enigmatic”
The Guardian on Calyx
“Emotive, traumatic and weighted with memory”
The Times on Shadows
Career history
- 1989 Sharon Watson joins Phoenix Dance Company as one of the first female dancers in the award-winning company
- 1994 Choreographs Shaded Limits for Phoenix Dance Company
- 1995 Choreographs Never Still for Phoenix Dance Company
- 2009 Sharon becomes Phoenix Dance Theatre’s 7th Artistic Director
- 2009 Choreographs first work as Artistic Director, Fast Lane
- 2010 Choreographs Never 2 Still
- 2010 Named one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s ‘Women to Watch’
- 2011 Choreographs Melt
- 2013 Choreographs Repetition of Change
- 2015 Choreographs Tearfall
- 2016 Awarded the Sue Ryder Yorkshire Women of Achievement in Business Award
- 2016 Named Yorkshire Woman of the Year
- 2017 Choreographs Windrush: Movement of the People
- 2017 Presented with the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts’ Companionship Award by Sir Paul McCartney
- 2017 Recognised as one of 100 faces of a vibrant economy 2017 by Grant Thornton
- 2017 Acknowledged at the 2017 Northern Power Women Awards as part of the very first Top 50 Power List
- 2018 Choreographs And still I walk for Emergence Dance
- 2018 Nominated for a UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Marketing/Audience Development for her work Windrush: Movement of the People
- 2018 Nominated for a White Rose Award in the Arts and Culture category for her work Windrush: Movement of the People
- 2018 Nominated for a Theatre and Technology Award in the Best Poster Design category for her work Windrush: Movement of the People