Our Dancers

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 '6 months' and ended up staying there for 4 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.

Martina Bussi

Originally from Torino (Italy), Martina began dancing at early age, studying ballet and modern at Centro Danza Arkè under the direction of Matilde De Marchi and Annagrazia D'Antico.

She moved to London in 2006, where she trained at London Contemporary Dance School and graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance in 2008. In 2010 she also gained an MA in Performance.

She has performed with various companies including Henri Oguike Dance Company, TomDale Company and Tavaziva Dance touring nationally and internationally, as well as developing her own work.

She has recently graduated with a BSc in Sport Science form University of Torino (Italy) and she is very much interested in the connection between sport and dance.

Giorgio de Carolis

Originally from Civitanova Marche, Italy, Giorgio began studying dance at 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 scheme touring nationally and internationally. He then attended the Deep Blue Program, performing pieces choreographed by Sean Feldman and Diversions in Wales.

Giorgio joined Motionhouse in September 2009, after a year freelancing as an outdoor/site specific performer in England and Europe.

Giorgio is also a trained Pilates instructor and he has recently gained an MA in Performance from London Contemporary Dance School.

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, Driven, Scattered, Underground, Cascade and Waiting Game and as teacher in every project the company has done since. Junior is the Rehearsal Director for the current company.

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 enjoys touring the company's theatre and festival productions throughout the UK and Europe.

Alasdair Stewart

Alasdair trained as a gymnast and competed in national championships from the age of 9. 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 4-month exchange programme to California Institute of the Arts where he specialised in dance theatre.

Since graduating Alasdair has performed with Hofesh Shechter Company and Dance United through postgraduate study with the LCDS apprenticeship programme and graduated with an MA in Contemporary Dance Performance from the London Contemporary Dance School in 2010.

He was thrilled to join Motionhouse for Scattered back in 2009. 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 2 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 a 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.

Rebecca Williams

Rebecca Williams completed her vocational training at the Northern School

of Contemporary Dance in 2010 qualifying with a BPA (Hons) degree.

Since graduating Rebecca began her performance career in 2011 with

Harnisch Lacey Dance Theatre, creating and touring their double bill show,

‘Spin.’ During this time she had the opportunity to make choreography for

Hedfan Youth Company.

Rebecca then went on to work for Watkins Dance, Wayne Sables Project, Company Decalage and Joon Dance.

Rebecca also organizes international break dance events and has her own professional dance company, Dirty Feet. Dirty Feet DC premiered it’s piece ‘Out of Nowhere’ as part of Resolutions! 2012 with a sellout show.

Rebecca also has experience in commercial work and teaching.