• We devised some bubbly summer activity at Jay Mews - English National Ballet’s company studios in Kensington - which saw many of you join us in the studio. We led professional masterclasses, our first Pre-Professional Intensive and our first Professional Development Lab. With two of the strands completely SOLD-OUT, we met some fabulous artists throughout the fortnight. A huge thank you to all of our talented Guest Leaders who gave of themselves so generously.
• The autumn saw the recommencement of our flagship scheme - KND Performance Mentoring Programme - and it was quite a start! As part of the FreeSpace programme at Studio Wayne McGregor, the three weeks of studio provocation flew by and the chosen 16 relished the varied curriculum led by our outstanding, international faculty. Some of you may already have seen this, but please click here to see a film expertly crafted by Joseph Edwards, that represents our work together during this three-week studio-intensive. We are currently nearing the end of the 3 months of mentoring within the programme and we are enjoying capturing the artists’ thinking from the studio intensive, in addition to supporting goal-setting and planning.

• We led our SOLD-OUT November masterclasses and mentoring series at Studio Wayne McGregor at HereEast and shared with some incredible talent. Thank you to Chris Benstead for all he contributed each morning. 

• Kerry co-led and co-mentored Scottish Ballet Creates beside Christopher Hampson in July. Kerry was impressed by the dedication and courage of the selected choreographers, and also by the openness and generosity of the company dancers who worked with each of the Scottish-based choreographers. A dream of a project!
• September saw the start of the exciting new Degree programme at the Royal Ballet School. Kerry is the Module Leader for the Contemporary strand and the 1^st years have grabbed the new programme with both hands.
• Kerry had the joy of opening her mentoring practice to some of the company dancers of Rambert Company. They are mentoring Quicksilver members – Rambert’s Youth Dance company – and Kerry led a session on setting the right environment for this valuable work.
• In Glasgow, Kerry devised and led a Professional Development week at the Dance House and worked with 12 Scottish based artists. This fun-filled week resulted in a sharing at Scottish Ballet. Kerry will be continuing this work into 2018.
• Kerry was asked to speak and share her story of Parenting within Professional Dance Practice during the Connecting Conversations event: at the Barbican. It was an inspiring start to the dialogue around tighter systems to support artists with caring responsibilities.
• BBC Young Dancer 2015 winners Connor Scott and Vidya Patel have joined forces and created a new work ‘About the Elephant’. Kerry has been mentoring their choreographic journey and was incredibly proud of all they achieved - they are currently touring in Goa. Good luck to them! 

• In the summer of 2017, KND employed the fabulous Vivienne West on a sustained part-time basis as our Project Coordinator. We now wonder how we ever managed without her! The KND trio – Kerry, Erica and Vivienne went away on a Creative Break to discuss visions for 2018 and beyond (over a bag of chips on the beach!). We have lots of plans for this sparkly new year - and our 3-year timeline is quite something to behold. Watch this space…!

• We are kicking off our in-house activity this year with our popular Masterclass series in February at a new venue -  Lanterns Studio Theatre in Canary Wharf. We are really looking forward to gracing this fabulous new space and to continuing our Professional Development work with you. Booking has most certainly opened and you can also book your own KND Creative Coaching session. More to follow about this re-labeled strand of our work in our next newsletter in January. Book here before all the places disappear!

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