Dance UK chief Farooq Chaudhry quits after attack on schools' training

The chairman of Dance UK, Britain’s leading dance body, has resigned after condemning the standard of contemporary training.

Farooq Chaudhry had joined choreographers Akram Khan, Hofesh Shechter and Lloyd Newson of DV8 Physical Theatre in complaining that the UK’s top contemporary dance schools were failing to produce the dancers they needed.

Evening Standard reported last week how the top choreographers complained they were being forced to recruit overseas-trained dancers because standards here had dropped.

The criticisms provoked fury from the schools and some professionals who had gathered in London this weekend for the country’s biggest conference on the future of the art form.

Mr Chaudhry, a former dancer and producer with Akram Khan’s company, said he was sticking to his “strong conviction” that “teaching methods have fallen behind the needs of the market”.

But he had not made his comments as chair of Dance UK and its director, Caroline Miller, was not party to the statement so it was right he should go. “I understand this has created public confusion about the position of Dance UK and my role as its chair, and therefore I am stepping down.”

His resignation came before a complete day’s discussion on the future of dance organised by Dance UK as part of preparations for a new five-year strategy set to be published within weeks.

Khan, Shechter and Newson complained of a lack of rigour and technique in British-trained dancers and said they were having to recruit from overseas as a consequence.

But Caroline Miller said the complaints were not new or exclusive to the UK. The conference was organised partly to examine the issue of contemporary dance training.

“We are looking at international training programmes and what artists think they are going to want. The whole point is to look to the future and new ideas and new solutions.”