Directors | Motionhouse

Directors

Louise Richards | Co-Founder and Executive Director

Louise co-founded Motionhouse with Kevin Finnan in 1988 and is the driving force behind Motionhouse’s trailblazing journey and global success. Her vision shapes the company’s activity and strategic direction.

Louise is instrumental in developing the many partnerships Motionhouse enjoys across the industry, skilled at spotting opportunities for the company and persuasive in her pitches for commissioning, project development and collaboration. She has built the company from its original two-hander to become a global force, delivering dance performance and participatory work throughout the UK and internationally and producing many of the acclaimed large-scale productions that have made us the go-to company for the creation and delivery of major international performance events.

She has developed a range of new markets for Motionhouse and brokered collaboration and partnerships with other sectors including local and international businesses, creative industries, educational institutions as well as arts venues and festivals.

Originally a dancer and choreographer, Louise has undertaken numerous commissions for other companies and maintains close links with the Motionhouse performing company and creative process, acting as a sounding board and an outside eye. Louise continues to offer inspirational training to dancers, students, teachers and practitioners both in the UK and throughout the world.

A recognised leader in the sector, Louise is regularly invited to present and speak at seminars and conferences. Committed to the development of the dance sector, she acts as a mentor for performers, arts leaders and organisations, as well as developing a range of apprenticeships and professional development strands for the Motionhouse programme. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

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Kevin Finnan MBE | Co-Founder and Artistic Director

Kevin is known for his dynamic, highly visual productions integrating dance, circus and digital technology. He is responsible for the distinctive style that Motionhouse is renowned for.

Kevin is passionate about exploring and questioning the traditional use of space in performance, which has led to the creation of an extensive body of work developed over three decades. He is regularly commissioned to develop extraordinary dance spectacles, most notably as Choreographer and Movement Director of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Kevin has created major productions celebrated globally. These include more than 45 theatre and outdoor touring productions and a range of large-scale outdoor spectacles, including several bespoke performance events to mark Capital of Culture celebrations across Europe, as well as the launch of the London 2012 Festival with The Voyage in Birmingham city centre. In March 2022, Kevin was commissioned to create Wondrous Stories, the opening show of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, seen by more than 22,000 people over four days. The show launched the six–month cultural festival in the West Midlands running alongside the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. More recently, Kevin was the artistic director for The National Lottery’s Big Eurovision Welcome event in Liverpool in May 2023, watched live by 25,000 people on the night.

He also created and directed Watermusic, a large-scale outdoor spectacle for the Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture celebrations in Randers Harbour, Denmark in September 2017 and Lumen, a large-scale outdoor spectacle in the lead up to the TM2021 European Capital of Culture celebrations in Timișoara, Romania in October 2018.

Committed to collaboration, he has worked with artists including writer A.L. Kennedy, installation artist Rosa Sanchez, film-makers Logela Multimedia, set visionary Simon Dormon and international companies such as Legs On The Wall and Vancouver’s Headlines Theatre.

In 2017 Kevin became first Visiting Professor of Dance at Birmingham City University’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He has an MA in Contemporary Performing Arts from University College Bretton Hall and a PhD in Theatre from Warwick University. He is a Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and Associate Artist of Greenwich+Docklands International Festival. In 2013 he was made an honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Warwick in recognition of the importance of his work and his service to the arts. He was awarded an MBE in 2013 for his services to dance.

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