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Fern Wareham
Co-Artistic Director
Fern has had a passion for theatre and story telling from an early age. After studying at The Arden School of Theatre, she also discovered a love for contemporary dance. She then went on to train at The University of Salford, where she developed her choreographic voice and athletic floor based movement style. During this time, Fern worked with Jamaal Burkmar, Company Chameleon, George Adams and Peter Grist. Fern has 2 years professional experience with Belinda Grantham Dance, and 1 year with Hawk Dance Theatre as creative learning assistant. Fern co founded Coalesce Dance Theatre in 2017, and since then, she has produced work for a variety of platforms (theatre, festival and digital) throughout the UK. Coalesce have been fortunate enough to be awarded funding from Arts Council England on multiple occasions, as well as various other commissions. Fern is a passionate advocate for creating better working opportunities for women within dance as well as centering more female narratives. With a holistic approach to creating work, Fern focuses her process on improving people’s well-being through dance.
Rachel Maffei
Co-Artistic Director
Rachel has been working as a professional dancer, teacher and director since she graduated from The University of Salford in 2017. She has a strong passion for facilitation and teaching contemporary technique across the North West. Since co-creating Coalesce, Rachel has fed her ambition to choreograph and make new, original work. Rachel has worked professionally with Hawk Dance Theatre, The Knotted Project and Bridget Fiske, as well as being a returning lecturer at The University of Salford. Rachel has watched Coalesce grow alongside co-director Fern since the company was established in 2017. Having received Arts Council Funding for several projects, Rachel has developed a love for project management. Rachel strongly believes in continuing to help and support emerging artists, through initiatives like DanceConnect and by creating working opportunities for local artists. She also hopes to inspire young people to think about a career in the arts.
Kato Thomas
Social Media Content Creator
Kato Thomas is a freelance dance artist based in the UK. Born and raised in Belgium, she started dancing at an early age and moved to England to start her training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. After completing her Bachelor’s, Kato joined Emergence, the postgraduate dance company at the University of Salford under the creative direction of Joss Arnott. This is where she discovered her passion for social media and content creation, having the opportunity to run the company’s Instagram. Kato is excited about capturing dance and showcasing it in creative ways on different social media platforms.
Jordan Sheard
CYD Youth Dance Lead
Jordan (she/her) is a Manchester based dancer, choreographer, and producer. Fulled by the joy of moving, discover through youth dance programmes, she continued her training through intensives, R&D's and work experience with artists and companies across the UK and Abroad. Experienced in facilitating, playing and performing, she has worked with Casson & Friends, Avant Garde Dance, Wired Aerial Theatre and more to bring projects to life. Passionate about making creativity accessible; Jordan produces for Afrocats, a charity supporting refugee communities. Recently supported by Company Chameleon, she's developed her choreographic practice, drawing from her and her collaborators lived experiences, using dance theatre, storytelling and comedy. Jordan delivers Coalesce Youth Dance and gets inspired every week by their curiosity and desire to learn, getting to share the companies powerful movement style.
Lisa Chearles
Company Dancer
Lisa is a dance artist based in Leeds. She was born in Singapore and trained under Frontier Danceland as part of the PULSE Programme before moving to the UK. She completed her undergraduate studies at Northern School of Contemporary Dance, performing works by Anna Williams, Yukiko Masui and Jose Agudo. Since graduating in 2021, Lisa has performed in Kapow Dance Circus Theatre’s UK tour of the outdoor production ‘Mayfly’ and SAY's family-friendly show ‘album: skool edition’. Lisa enjoys exploring dance on film and is particularly interested in surrealism and the absurd. She is delighted to be wiggling her fingers and stomping around in 'The Old Green Time Machine' with Coalesce Dance Theatre!
Rebecca Callow
Company Dancer
Rebecca began dancing at an early age and attended DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training before going on to study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. During that time, she worked with Alison Curtis Jones, Theo TJ Lowe, Hubert Essakow and Zoi Dimitriou. In 2018 Rebecca gained her Masters degree from Emergence, during which time she toured works by Joss Arnott and Sharon Watson. In 2020 Rebecca worked for Ellen Hathaway Dance Company, delivering workshops to the North West refugee community. As well as working as a Dance Artist for Coalesce since 2019, Rebecca has also begun developing her own creative practice. Her first work T H E S E S P A C E S was shown to critical acclaim at 'I'm Bored, What's Next' online international festival.
Janice Ho
Company Dancer
Born and raised in Singapore, Janice moved to the UK in 2019 to train at London Contemporary Dance School, where she graduated with a First-Class BA (Hons) degree. Whilst there she had the pleasure of performing works choreographed by Anthony Matsena, Clod Ensemble, 2faced Dance Company, Ohad Naharin and in the ‘We Are as Gods’ production with James Cousins Company in her final year. In 2022, she performed with Trigger in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant, portraying a young princess dancing alongside a giant dragon puppet called The Hatchling. She then joined Emergence Postgraduate Dance Company, which included a national tour of works by Joss Arnott, FLOCK & Anthony Missen; graduating with a distinction in 2023. Janice then joined ACE Dance & Music as a company dancer, touring internationally and nationally with them as part of the ‘Unknown Realms’ double bill, performing works by Serge Aimé Coulibaly and Vincent Mantsoe. Janice currently works as a freelance dance artist in Manchester.
Ben Yorke-Griffiths
Company Dancer
Ben (he/him) is a British dance artist based across Leeds and London, UK.
He grew up in Hertfordshire and began his dance training at Let’s Dance Academy, moving onto Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, where he danced with the Watson Dance Project company. During his year with the company, Ben performed in the UK premiere of ‘Gran Bolero’ by Jesús Rubio Gamo and the world premiere of ‘Seeds, Dreams & Constellations’ - a collaboration between Sharon Watson and Corinne Bailey Rae, as well as engaging in research with Magnus Westwell, Marco Di Nardo, and IMPERMANENCE. He has gone on to work with Opera North, Möbius Dance, Move Manchester, and Channel 4. Mika and the Polar Bear marks Ben's debut with Coalesce Dance Theatre.
Luke Speddings
Company Dancer
Luke is a dance / dance theatre practitioner based in Leeds and the North of England. He completed both his BA in Contemporary Dance and his MA in Contemporary Dance Performance at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Luke has worked on placement with the dance theatre company Luca Silvestrini’s Protein with which he toured the country with their production of The Little Prince. He has also worked with choreographers such as Phil Sanger, Akeim Toussaint Buck and has been seen dancing on screen for the “Waterloo: an ABBA Tribute Band”. Luke is passionate about making art accessible to everyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from. He is also deeply committed to storytelling through movement, particularly in works that explore identity, mental health, and human connection. If he can bring laughter along the way, even better.
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