Yolande Snaith

office: Galbraith Hall 319
e-mail: ysnaith@ucsd.edu

Biography

YOLANDE SNAITH (BA). Yolande Snaith trained initially in Art & Design at Wimbledon School of Art, London, before pursuing a Theatre and Dance degree at Dartington College of Arts, England. Since graduating in 1984, Yolande has been creating her own work, performing, choreographing and teaching throughout the UK and overseas. Her performing repertoire began with a series of solos and duets including Blue Whiteness Rhapsody (1985), Scared Shirtless (1986), Can Baby Jane Can Can? (1988) and Germs (1989), all of which toured internationally. Yolande received several awards for these productions including two Digital Dance Awards, Time Out/Dance Umbrella awards and Bonnie Bird Choreography Awards. In 1990 Yolande formed her own company with financial support from the Arts Council of England, and since then Yolande Snaith Theatredance has produced 10 full length works, including No Respite (1992) which was selected for the Prix D’auteur du Conceil Generale de la Seine-Saint-Denise, and Blind Faith, which won the same prestigious award in 1998. Yolande has choreographed four original works for the camera, including an adaptation of her stage piece Swinger (1996), all of which were broadcast on British television and overseas. Should Accidentally Fall (1992), made in collaboration with film director Ross Macgibbon, was winner of the Vancouver Dance/Video Festival, and Tablecloth Garden was short listed for the Monaco Dance Screen Choreography Award 2001, also made in collaboration with Ross Macgibbon.Throughout her career Yolande’s choreography has been commissioned by dance, theatre and opera companies, including the English National Opera, Birmingham Dance Exchange, Transitions and Ricochet Dance Company, as well as educational establishments to create work on student groups. In 1997 Yolande created the choreography for Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut, and in 1999 she was the choreographic adviser for director David Hinton’s film Birds, which was the overall winner of the 2001 Monaco Dance Screen Awards. Yolande Snaith Theatredance’s most recent touring productions include Maximum Machine (2000) and Very Yellow (2002). Yolande joined the faculty of Theatre and Dance at UCSD in July 2002.