- Home Exhibition PERFORMANCE: 4X20 Emerging Choreographers
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The selected 4X20 choreographers for 2023 are John-William Watson and Chandenie Gobardhan – two outstanding artists based in Leeds and London respectively. Watson’s work is highly theatrical and tragi-comedic, drawing influence from Surrealism and playing with everyday, utilitarian and pedestrian movement. Gobardhan’s work, meanwhile, draws upon Eastern and Western traditions to develop a rich and distinctive movement language with influences from Bharatanatyam, hip-hop and contemporary dance.
Chandenie is a London-based, Netherlands-born dancer and choreographer, whose movement vocabulary is rooted in dance forms such as Bharatanatyam, street styles and contemporary. They therefore enjoy building bridges between dance styles, where others might not see that possibility.
Chandenie’s work is typically led by connecting stories and knowledge they have gathered on their path in the Hindostaanse diaspora. Their artistry enables them to share the important but often unheard stories they have inherited from the strong people who paved the way for them.
Chandenie has been commissioned to create work for Tate Gallery, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, The Place and The Royal Docks. As a performer, they have enjoyed working with artists such as Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Botis Seva and House of Absolute.
John-William Watson is a dance theatre maker from Leeds, whose work is highly theatrical and tragi- comedic. They draw influence from Surrealism, abstracting and playing with utilitarian and pedestrian movement to explore relationships between existentialism, the comedy of the mundane, nostalgia and time.
John-William is an alumni of The Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, and became a Sadler’s Wells Young Associate in 2020 and a Northern Connections Artist in 2021. They are also the co- founder of Another Collective, a dance theatre collective based in Belgium.
The platform commissions two emerging choreographers to present one pre-existing and one newly developed choreographic work of up to 20 minutes each, with a maximum of 4 dancers.
In addition to a financial commission and networking opportunities, the artists receive professional production and marketing support and free rehearsal space provided by our affiliated partners.
Messums Wiltshire would like to thank our judges, Sir Alistair Spalding CBE, Sadé and Kristina Alleyne, Victor Fung and Jeanette Hinton for their valuable contributions during the 4X20 selection process, as well as our affiliated partners, Rambert School and Pavilion Dance South West, for their ongoing support on this project.
