Claire Benson

Originally from Oxford, Claire graduated in 2001 from the London Studio Centre with a BA in Theatre Dance. After graduating, she worked with various dance companies including, Gelede Dance and Retina Dance Company in 2002, after which she moved to Edinburgh for 'six months' and ended up staying there for four years.

During her time in Scotland Claire worked for various companies including Freshmess and X Factor Dance Company with whom she had the opportunity to work with Phillip de Coufle - performances included Edinburgh's Fringe Festivals, The Nuremburg Opera House and The British Dance Edition 2006.

Claire worked with director Gerry Mulgrew in 2007 as part of the cast of St Kilda the Opera and has recently returned to Scotland to play Nannie the Witch in Mulgrew's adaptation of Tam O' Shanter. Before joining Motionhouse in April 2008, Claire worked with Kompany Malakhi on their latest show Boxin.

As a freelance dance teacher, Claire has taught extensively throughout the UK and overseas, from professional classes to community and youth dance.

Giorgio de Carolis

Originally from Civitanova Marche, Italy, Giorgio began his study of dance at the age of 17, with a background training in athletics and swimming. After studying ballet and contemporary dance at the Fondazione Regionale Arte nella Danza he moved to London, to further his training at London Contemporary Dance School, where he graduated with a Postgraduate diploma in Performance in 2008.

He performed with Henri Oguike Dance Company as part of the LCDS apprenticeship programme touring nationally and internationally. He then attended a professional development course at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, led by Sean Feldman and Diversions. Since then he has worked freelance in different theatres (Bonnie Bird Theatre and White Lodge in London with Combination Dance Company) and site specific works (The Shunt, Lakes Alive, with Axial Dance and SE8soundandmotion). 

He is currently training to be a Pilates instructor with the Pilates Institute in London. In his spare time he likes visiting new places, spending time with family and friends and painting.

Junior Cunningham

Junior was encouraged to study Contemporary Dance by his sister, Chantele Harvey, when he was 17 years old. His early teachers in the Midlands were Marion Thraves and Bernard Pierre-Louis.

He joined the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (Leeds) in 1999 and graduated in 2002 with a BPA (Hons) Degree in Contemporary Dance. During this time he performed on tour with NSCD and at the Gross Brittanien Festival in Dortmund, Germany. He also worked commercially in Switzerland and Paris.

Autumn 2002 saw Junior apprentice with Motionhouse. He joined the company full-time in January 2003 and has since been involved as a performer in Volatile, Perfect and Driven, and as teacher in every project the company has done since. Junior is the Rehearsal Director for the current company.

Laura Peña Nuñez

Laura was born in Paraguay and took up Paraguayan folk dancing at a young age.

In 2000, she moved to Buenos Aires to study and work as a dancer. She trained at the Contemporary Dance School Arte XXI and later at the Contemporary Dance School of the San Martin Theatre. At the end of her studies, she joined the renowned Miguel Robles Company. In addition, she worked as a freelance dancer for several known Argentinean choreographers such as Oscar Aráiz, Roxana Grinstein, and Andrea Chinetti.

In 2006, she joined the London based Henri Oguike Dance Company, performing nationally and internationally. She toured around the UK, China, Portugal, Austria, Serbia, France, Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland (Steps Festival), and US (Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival).

During her time in London she also worked as a freelance dancer, performing for Dance4Film project broadcast by Channel 4, Aya Kobayashi as part of Resolution at The Place and Reach4Dance project. In April 2009, Laura joined Motionhouse.

In her free time, Laura loves reading, making her own clothes, and above all spending time in her sunny hometown with friends and family.

Fernando Pasquini

Fernando was born in Turin, Italy, where he began to study athletic and competitive disciplines when he was young. At the age of 14 he started practicing Latin American dances. From there he moved on to study classic and contemporary styles, working with choreographers from Italy, France, Switzerland and UK. Fernando has danced as a soloist with the Ballet of Milan and worked with companies such as Contemporary Plan, New Dance Concept, Cie twain and Ballet du Rhin, where he danced M. Bejart and Jo Strømgren' choreographies. He also performed in various dance projects for Italian television.

 Fernando is an experienced choreographer and freelance  teacher, and has taught various groups and at dance schools throughout Italy. He is Director and choreographer of Hinterland Dance Theatre, a new contemporary company in Italy. In January 2008 Fernando  participated in the Modern Connection in Rome, an important dance competition where he won the First prize. In April 2008 Fernando participated in the International Dance Festival Movintheatre in Cologne, Germany and joined Motionhouse in the same month to tour Underground. 

Fernando is big fan of electronic and gothic music and enjoys travelling and cooking a la Italian.

Olivia Quayle

Olivia originally trained in gymnastics making a natural transition into dance. She completed her professional training at Bodywork Company Dance studios and graduated with a degree in sports science from Loughbough University where she also gained Fitness instructor and Pilates teaching qualifications.

Olivia has worked all over the UK and in various countries including Germany with Strado Compagnie Danza under the direction of Domenico Strazzeri, Oman with Underwraps and Belgium with Dragone. The latter was under the direction of Franco Dragone and involved aerial dance and bungee stilts.

In London Olivia has worked many times with Combination Dance Company, performing at Hampton Court Palace, The Royal Ballet School and various other site-specific works. She has also worked commercially in the advertising industry.

In January 2008, she worked in the Opera Tosca at The Royal Albert Hall as Tosca’s stunt double performing 25 foot head first crash dives.

Olivia joined Motionhouse in April 2008 and enjoyed touring the UK, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and Holland with Chaser and Underground and is very much looking forward to Scattered.

Alasdair Stewart

Alasdair trained as a gymnast and competed in national championships from the age of nine. He began his dance training at Barton Peveril College and then joined Hampshire Youth Dance Company and worked as an apprentice with Full Force Dance Company, under the direction of Helen Parlor. He began advanced pre-vocational training at The Place’s Centre for Advanced Training and went on to graduate with First Class BA (Hons) from London Contemporary Dance School. During his training at LCDS he undertook a four-month exchange programme to California Institute of the Arts where he specialised in dance theatre.

Since graduating Alasdair has been performing with Hofesh Shechter Company and Dance United through postgraduate study with the LCDS apprenticeship programme.

He is thrilled to have joined Motionhouse for the next touring production Scattered. In his free time (which there isn’t much of!) Alasdair enjoys snowboarding, watching films and dinner parties.

Philipp Stummer

Philipp studied dance pedagogic at the conservatory in Linz, Austria, where parallel to that he also studied classical drums for two years. He then went on to further his training at the international dance school P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, with director Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. From 1998 until 2008 Philipp worked with Itzik Galili in Groningen and he toured internationally, choreographed his own work and delivered workshops. During this period he also worked with different choreographers such as Stephen Shropshire, Jussi Nousianen, Sara Wiktorowicz and Edan Gorlicki amongst others.

Besides the passion for dance, with his musical background since young age, he likes to create music and was asked to compose and arrange music for Galili Dance.

Just before joining Motionhouse in April 2008, he was involved in a project with Club Guy&Roni, for the 395 year anniversary of the Rijksuniversiteit in Groningen.