Hakan Redjep
Hakan Redjep is the Artistic Director and Founder of HR Artworks and is currently living and working in London, England. His technical and choreographic style is greatly influenced by the work and philosophy of renowned modern dance pioneer Martha Graham. With training in both practical and theoretical forms of contemporary dance from Middlesex University, London and a short but intensive education at the Martha Graham School in New York, Redjep has forged an individual and creative voice with which to articulate his ideals and assertions. Inspired by Graham's defiant and politically charged methods, he fuses elements of his Turkish-Cypriot heritage with western educational and social influences; often combining the realms of personal sentiment with modern socio-political and abstract subject matters.
Following his graduation from Middlesex University in 2007, Redjep suffered a devastating bout of injury and ill health, which, after several failed operations rendered him indefinitely unable to dance. During an unpleasant and ongoing recovery, Redjep looked for ways to gather together the remnants of his profession and return to the world of art and performance; sanctuaries he had once been forcedly denied. After assembling enough courage he accepted two professional contracts, (whilst still receiving medical care and observation,) and began work on a Community dance initiative in Detmold, Germany, under the artistic direction of Royston Madloom, Tamara Mclorg and Janice Parker.
Following these successful projects, Redjep returned home to London, where he founded the multi-disciplinary art company HR Artworks. Combining expressive forms of choreography, photography, graphic design, sculpture, live exhibition, music and video production, this company was to become the hub of his creative interests. As a result, he is currently writing pieces for Middlesex University, Movement-Directing for Roberts and Price and Co. and producing several dance events including Vines of Duty- March 2009, London. Regardless of his diminished health and lost career as a dancer, Redjep remains dedicated to his vision of being a choreographer and creator of modern art.
Jillian Hopper
With several years of formal dance tuition from establishments including Academy De La Danse, University of Michigan, The Limón Dance Institute, New York, and Middlesex University, London, and with professional instruction from companies such as Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and Joel Hall Jazz Dance Chicago, Jillian Hopper is a true example of how divergent performance disciplines, ranging from Cecchetti Ballet to Release-based Improvisation, can be mastered with great precision and wielded by a single body in space.
Following her graduation in 2007, with a BA (Hons) in Dance Choreography from Middlesex University, London, Hopper has embarked on a series of comprehensive training programmes, focussing on renowned choreographer Doris Humphrey's dance technique, under the expert guidance of practitioner Dr. Lesley Main, London, UK. She has recently been instructed by leading Humphrey/Weidman/Limón specialists Gail Corbin, Deborah Carr and Jim May, in conjunction with Momenta Repertory Dance Company and The Doris Humphrey Society, in Oak Park, Illinois, which has furthered her practical and theoretic understanding of these forms.
As a trustee of the Doris Humphrey Foundation UK and a part-time lecturer at Middlesex University, Hopper is currently performing for various London-based dance companies including HR Artworks, for which she is a soloist and rehearsal director. Whilst testing the boundaries of modern art, Hopper maintains a firm focus on Doris Humphrey's work, with the aim of its preservation as a vital part of modern history and the maintenance of its legacy for future generations.
Rosemary Spencer
Present-day choreographer and dance facilitator, Rosemary Spencer draws upon the diverse influences in her life in order to create compelling and innovative live works. During her extensive training at Middlesex University, London, Spencer began to develop a distinct choreographic style, with a particular interest in the portrayal of intimate and romantic relationships. Following her graduation in 2006, however, this focus seemed to shift; particularly as her education in Skinner Releasing Technique (Seattle/London/Istanbul), in both its theoretic and physical forms, was leading her into experimentation with structured improvisation.
Spencer’s current work explores the interactions between her performers and their influence upon the formation of her piece as a whole. Utilising various stimuli for her dancers, such as personal memory, she deploys them on stage with a strong element of risk as they work into the unknown. The signature use of British Sign Language (BSL) in choreographic context is also a key component of her focus, which through years of study has also given her the means with which to teach dance to the deaf community- using BSL as her main form of communication. The cathartic channelling of complex personal emotions, coupled with the duality of possessing the ability to share these with a community often deprived of dance, gives Spencer’s work a unique and imaginative edge.
An ongoing collaboration with artist Maxfield Bozeat, involving the preparation and presentation of food, is proving to be an interesting addition to a highly diverse dance repertoire and a new instrument to test the boundaries of multi-disciplinary performance.
Maxfield Bozeat
The aim of Maxfield Bozeat's current work is to bring the worlds of art and food together in order to allow them to be viewed as one. With an honours degree in fine art from the University of the Arts London Central St. Martins, Bozeat's projects test the boundaries of where the culinary and artistic worlds collide. Often adding the dimensions of olfaction and taste to his sculptures, and his own presence during exhibitions (Unstill Life- 2008,) Bozeat's creations are a true challenge of form and function, as intriguing combinations of social etiquette and ephemeral sculpture continue his expression of multi-sensory art.
Ross Cheam
Ross Cheam is an aspiring London-based artist, illustrator and visual designer, whose many skills include working with a range of materials from ink and charcoal sketches to prints, comic strips and clothing designs. Cheam's current programme of study at the University of Westminster, together with his foundation degree in Fine Art from the University of the Arts London Central St. Martins, have provided a strong technical basis from which to develop and realise both his commercial and creative ideas.
Cheam's recent work includes a weekly Webcomic for Ninsox.com, a gallery installation entitled Dark Matter and a line of printed t-shirt designs, (Lion Designs). Cheam is also currently working in collaboration with Fine Artist Emma Bridger, on a "fashion protest", affectionately named Fudge My Crunch. In response to the credit crunch and impending UK recession, the bohemian duo has taken to producing inexpensive/free items of clothing, made from everyday objects and newspapers, for the sole purpose of 'partying in the face of economic disaster.' Cheam also works in partnership with HR Artworks for the production of dance events such as Vines of Duty, March 2009, London, by creating several illustrations for the advertising material and programmes for the show.
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