“…I am not talking about being inspired, but trying to notice and honour how the work of other people is essential to our own growth as makers.”
The esteemed British choreographer Siobhan Davies’welcome address at The Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2025 was such a poignant and fitting start to the awards.
Siobhan’s poignant address reminded us all of our place in the lineage of art and how we are nourished by the centuries of labour and practice of other artists and makers.
We are honoured to share Siobhan’s words of wisdom with you. The Award Ceremony was held in London on 17 February 2025.
Siobhan Davies is a renowned British choreographer who rose to prominence in the 1970s. Davies was a founding member of London Contemporary Dance Theatre and in 1982 joined forces with Richard Alston and Ian Spink to create independent dance company Second Stride. Founding Siobhan Davies Dance in 1988, she works closely with collaborating artists to ensure that their own artistic enquiry is part of the creative process. By 2002 she moved away from the traditional theatre circuit and started making work for prestigious Art Institutions including ICA, Victoria Miro, Whitechapel, The Barbican, Turner Contemporary.
Davies applies choreography across a wide range of creative disciplines including visual arts and film.
In 2006 she commissioned a lottery funded building Siobhan Davies Studios designed by Sarah Wigglesworth which became a home for many dancers and choreographers to work and study in often alongside other artistic disciplines. In 2020 she retired from the studios.
In 2016 she became Associate Professor at the Centre for Dance Research (CDaRE) at Coventry University. Following her CBE, Davies was awarded a Damehood in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours and is an Ambassador and past trustee of the Arts Foundation.
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