National Dance Company Wales have announced Gustavo Ramírez Sansano as the Company’s new Artistic Director, bringing a new era into being for Wales’ flagship dance Company. Ramírez Sansano will be joined at the head of the Company by Chief Executive Paul Kaynes, together tasked with taking the Company forward to explore new territory for dance in Wales, while building a solid and sustainable business foundation at its core.
Company chairman Andrew Davies said “I am delighted to have appointed two such excellent leaders of the Company in Gustavo and Paul. They bring a shared vision and ambition as well as great track records to their new roles. I am confident that under their joint leadership, NDCWales will become a signature company creating work of excellence, and a national company Wales can be proud of.”
Originally from San Fulgencio Spain, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano is a celebrated artist and choreographer creating work performed extensively throughout the world by companies including Compañía Nacional de Danza, Gyori Ballet, the Hamburg Ballet, IT Dansa, Nederlands Dans Theater, Norrdans, BalletMet Columbus, Ballet Hispanico and Ballet BC to name a few. He was Artistic Director of Chicago’s Luna Negra Dance Theater for three years (2010–13), following four years directing proyectoTITOYAYA in Valencia, Spain. Ramírez Sansano has held a relationship with National Dance Company Wales since 2011 when he created the acclaimed work Quixoteland, which toured throughout Wales and internationally. Ramírez Sansano was named one of 15 choreographers to watch by POR LA DANZA magazine for its 15th anniversary, one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine, and a Chicagoan of the Year in the arts and entertainment by the Chicago Tribune in 2012.
Chief Executive, Paul Kaynes joins NDCWales from Birmingham Hippodrome, where he has held the position of Director of Creative Programmes since early 2013, creating a programme of new events and experiences designed to engage and inspire audiences. Prior to his role at Birmingham Hippodrome he worked on the Cultural Olympiad arts and culture programme which ran alongside the Olympics and Paralympics. Based at Arts Council England in Birmingham, Paul led a team that commissioned over 30 large scale dance projects which happened in every part of the West Midlands. He has over 25 years of working in the arts in the Midlands and has headed up marketing teams for Warwick Arts Centre, mac Birmingham, The RSC as well as running Audiences Central, the arts marketing agency for the West Midlands.
Together this combination of artistic and audience focused knowledge and experience will provide a foundation for a renewed focus for a Company with a rich history of using of dance to engage and inspire audiences with a passion for the art form across Wales, the UK and internationally.
Following a number of high calibre applications and an extensive recruitment process, these two appointments mark a new phase for Wales’ national dance Company following a significant period of change over the last eighteen months.
Nick Capaldi, Chief Executive of Arts Council Wales said, "These appointments confirm the international reputation that National Dance Company Wales has earned. I’m delighted that the company has managed to secure the services of two such impressive candidates, and I’d like to welcome both Gustavo Ramírez Sansano and Paul Kaynes to Wales. I look forward to seeing the new energy and ideas that they will bring in what is a very exciting time for the company.”
National Dance Company Wales boasts a valuable resource to be built upon, within the UK and international dance sector; and it is the brief of this new leadership to seek out and develop opportunities to develop the role of the Company further both nationally and internationally.
Paul Kaynes will take up the Chief Executive position at National Dance Company Wales in February 2015. Gustavo Ramírez Sansano will officially take up Artistic Directorship of the Company in June 2015 but will be spending time with the company on a regular basis from the end of January 2015. |
