Hello,

 I am Sara Wookey, a dance artist, researcher and consultant based in London.

Currently I am preparing to defend my research to a committee as part of the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University. The thesis is called Spatial Relations: Dance in the Changing Museum and makes a case for dance artists as having transferable skills that support creative, sustainable, and inclusive ways of relating in our world. If I am successful in making my argument for what I want to say I will have earned what is my third academic qualification in the Humanities and then I can go by Dr. Wookey. And that really does sound a bit strange! Having the surname Wookey has meant both enduring being made fun of in school and, on the more positive note, being memorable as it is somewhat of an uncommon name. It is a British name. I am an American.

I trained in dance through the University system in the United States through the 90s at The Ohio State University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Getting an education was important to me as both my parents are educators. I also have always had a love for thinking, for knowing things, and for learning. I also love dancing more than anything. Perhaps I have spent my professional life working to weave my somewhat different interests and passions into one which has meant a career that spans across a mulitiplicity of projects and work experiences, in three different countries and yet all under the umbrella interest of human movement, shared public space, and social or relational interactions. Dance, for me is all about relationships (to space, to each other, to ourselves). I am grateful for having studied dance and within an academic Humanities context as our world has become increasingly in need of humanitarian gestures and of being, of embodied presence during a crisis.

Along my training journey I also took unexpected paths such as heading off to New York City to study somatic-based practices such as Contact Improvisation, Body-Mind-Centering, and Kinetic Awareness through the New York Dance Intensive run by Nina Martin and Francis Becker. I also wanted to escape the confines and expectations of dance training in the University where we were expected to maintain a certain body type and, as a late bloomer or late into physical development, my body was changing fast and somehow I felt a round, female figures was not welcome in the world of Contemporary, Western Dance. It was then I decided to be a choreographer. I felt more freedom to make the kinds of work that suited my body type and where I could also be reflective about dance what dance can be and what a dancer can look like.

I returned to finish my BFA  degree and soon after graduation moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands to begin my career as a choreographer. I also began teaching at the School for New Dance Development and doing odd jobs here and there to make a living. I stayed in Amsterdam for 10 years. This big geographic move in my life was made possible through a colleague, Joukje Kolff, who encouraged me to move to Europe as she felt there would be an audience for my dance-theatre works. These kinds of support networks have been essential to my progress. Almost every important experience I have had, work I have done, and opportunities I have been gifted have come through professional relationships. I try and develop and nurture those as best I can and to stay connected.

After my time in Amsterdam I moved back to the States, to Los Angeles to begin a Master degree in dance from University of California, Los Angeles. There I met and worked with two of my main mentors the late Ed Soja (a political geographer and urbanist) and Yvonne Rainer (choreographer, filmmaker, and activist). In LA I found ways to bridge my choreographic practice of body, time, and space to my interest in cities, urban design, and architecture. This unique practice led to a new role being made for me as a consultant for the LA transportation agency. I curated and programmed a series of cultural events, hiring dancers and actors, to lead groups of people through the transport system, encouraging ridership and getting people out of their cars and onto trains for a more sustainable future city. This experience opened my eyes up to ways my skills as a dancer and choreographer could be of us for the greater good – something larger than me and that I cared about. 

After nine years in LA it was time for me to shift in my practice and return to Europe. I applied for an International Artist Visa through Arts Council England to live and work in London for three years. I am still here after five and applying for citizenship. Here is where I returned to working I cultural institutions, primarily, with museums such as Tate Modern. My expertise is dance in the museum. I make performances, write and do research as well as advocate for good working conditions for dancers in the museum.  London for me, coming in, was a place with a rich dance history and lots of opportunities.

Jump to today and London feels very different. But it is still promising, vibrant and full of amazing people who will be shaping the kind of city this becomes. All is not hopeless, even if some days it feels so. Getting through this crisis has meant, for me talking to people in the arts, hearing what the need is and then looking to the skills I have to offer something to that need. The need I hear, at the moment, is one of human-to-human connection and, as a dancer, I am good at that. So, I am looking for ways to put my skills into action and to contribute to a more livable future.

Looking back, the advice I would give my just graduated self today is to never lose the dancing. I have done such diverse projects and kinds of work that I sometimes forgot the essence of my practice – finding joy and connection through moving. Living in a world that does not always promote that way of being, has meant I had to keep coming back to my body and to dance, even if that meant my mentors, teachers, colleague, and friends had to remind me. Now I dance wherever possible: in parks, on my roof terrace, in my living room, and online. I see dance as a way of life, of being in the world. Of reading the world through the body. 

One thing you might not know about me from my bio is that I love square dancing and was trained to call square dances at one point along my path and I even play the banjo a bit. 

Any ‘advice’ I may give to you comes from my own experience so take what you want and leave the rest. What comes to mind from what I have shared is to continue to journey down the path of realising your true potential. And this potential is not only your talent of dancing, your technical skills and craft,  but your give of communication, of collaboration, empathy, understanding, and intuition. So many skills are passed on to us along our training in dance. The skills you have now will be and are already needed in today’s world more than ever. Keep coming back to your body, your dancing, and share that with others as much as you can.

Oh, and have fun wherever possible!

For more and to hear me speaking about my work and life path on similar platforms that might also be of interest go to: