ABOUT LAILA

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Canada, Laïla currently lives and works in Bristol. She is an Associate Artist at ROH2 at the Royal Opera House and with the Arnolfini in Bristol.

After graduating from L’École de Danse de Québec, in Canada, in 1996, Laïla migrated towards Europe. She first stopped in La Rochelle, where she studied with Régine Chopinot, before completing her MA in Performance at the London Contemporary Dance School. She first came to prominence as a performer with Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance where she danced from 1998 to 2005, at which time she chose to focus on developing her own choreographic work. In 2006, she was awarded a Rayne Fellowship for Choreographers. The bursary, which aimed to contribute to a greater social cohesion, gave Laïla the opportunity to work in areas outside her usual spheres of activity, most notably by allowing her to research the situation of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK.

The philosopher Alva Noe suggests that choreography could be described as the art of discussing the activity of our contact with the world. Laïla’s choreographic research attempts to capture, in some way, the fragile and fleeting qualities of personhood. In recent years, her work has travelled extensively across the UK and is leaving its marks on the international stage. Creations include the solos At-any-moment-something-else for Theo Clinkard, Out of sight in the direction of my body, waiting fleeing, The Wayside and Imprint; the duet Between the Shingle and the Dune - in collaboration with Theo Clinkard; Sense of Self - a full length piece co-authored with Mélanie Demers; On the feeling of being together for map dance; Five for Swerve Dance Theatre Company; and Come rain or come shine for Verve, the Postgraduate company at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

For opera and theatre, movement direction and choreography credits include, among others, Aïda (Canadian Opera Company), The Prince of Homburg (Donmar), The Road to Mecca (Arcola), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Rose Theatre), All’s Well That Ends Well (National Theatre), War and Peace (Canadian Opera Company), Thérèse Raquin (National Theatre), Days of Significance (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Vortex (Theatre Royal Windsor), A Doll’s House (Theatre Royal Bath), Macbeth and Hansel and Gretel (Scottish Opera on Tour).