James is an Olivier Award winning choreographer, director and artistic director of his eponymous dance company, James Cousins Company, which has toured nationally and internationally to critical acclaim since 2013 and in 2019 was nominated for Best Independent Company at the National Dance Awards. In 2021 the company took over Battersea Arts Centre with ‘We Are As Gods’, the company’s first large scale immersive event which went on to take over the National Theatre’s River Stage in 2023. 

In 2023 James choreographed the Bridge Theatre’s immersive production of Guys and Dolls with Arlene Phillips and worked as Associate Director to Nicholas Hytner.  

Other theatre credits include choreographer on Spring Awakening 15th Anniversary Concert (Victoria Palace, dir Jamie Armitage), A Christmas Carol (Bridge Theatre, dir Nick Hytner) and Toy Show The Musical (Convention Centre Dublin, dir Séimi Campbell); co-director and movement director on The Book of Dust (Bridge Theatre); co-director and co-movement director on A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bridge Theatre, dir. Nicholas Hytner); movement director on Entertaining Mr Sloane (Young Vic, dir Nadia Fall), Sweeney Todd (National Concert Hall Dublin, dir. Séimi Campbell), Richard II (Bridge Theatre, dir. Nicholas Hytner) and Abigail’s Party (Theatre Royal Stratford East, dir. Nadia Fall); associate choreographer on Cold War (Almeida Theatre, dir Rupert Goold); associate director on The Cher Show (UK Tour, dir. Arlene Phillips) and Bach and Sons (Bridge Theatre, dir. Nicholas Hytner). 

In film James’s credits include choreographer on The Choral by Alan Bennett and season 2 of the Netflix hit The Sandman. 

As a freelance choreographer James has been commissioned to create work for companies around the world including National Ballet of Chile, Royal Ballet of Flanders and Scottish Ballet as well as music videos for MUSE and pop sensation Anne-Marie and working commercially for brands including Vogue, Bulgari, Impulse and Jigsaw. 

James was the inaugural winner of the New Adventures Choreographer Award, selected by Matthew Bourne for his ‘refreshing desire to entertain’ and the resulting production Within Her Eyes is currently on the GCSE Dance syllabus in England. He has been supported by many of the UK’s leading dance houses including Sadler’s Wells, The Place and DanceEast. 

James grew up in Newbury, Berkshire and trained at London Contemporary Dance School.

Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu is the Lighter Leadership™ Coach, choreographer, movement director, and cultural leader whose work sits at the intersection of dance, empowerment, and transformation. She is the Founder and Creative Director of Uchenna, a national touring dance company known for its bold, heartfelt, and empowering work, and Director of Empowerment at People Make It Work, supporting cultural organisations to unlock potential, embed equity, and strengthen leadership across the sector. Vicki is also a Trustee of New Adventures, the iconic British dance theatre company famous for telling stories with a unique theatrical twist.  

Through Uchenna, Vicki has choreographed and directed four original shows: the award winning Our Mighty Groove, which won Best Dance Production at the Black British Theatre Awards 2025 and includes a newly reimagined version created as the inaugural production for the brand new Sadler’s Wells East in February 2025, The Head Wrap Diaries, Hansel and Gretel – A Fearless Dance Adventure, and The Head Wrap Diaries – Fierce and Free. These works have toured nationally and internationally, captivating audiences with their fusion of storytelling, dance, and cultural expression.  

In theatre, her work as Choreographer and Movement Director includes Pinocchio The Musical (The Shakespeare Globe), The Enormous Crocodile (Roald Dahl Story Company), Urinetown: The Musical (Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Family Tree (Actors Touring Company), Animal Farm (National Youth Theatre), The Woods and A Kind Of People (Royal Court), Princess and the Hustler and The Gift (Eclipse Theatre), Red Dust Road (National Theatre of Scotland), Midlife (Diverse City), The Seven Ages of Patience (Kiln Theatre), Provok’d and POD (co directed for Guildhall).  

She has worked as a Mass Movement Choreographer for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Sochi 2014, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, and the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku.  

Across all her roles, Vicki champions self trust, creativity, and boldness, helping people, whether in leadership, on stage, or in the studio, to trust their instincts, embrace who they are, connect to their internal power, and step into their external influence.  

Vicki is invested in your transformation.

Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In just over a decade he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as DESH, iTMOi, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees. 

An instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to world-class artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographer/dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, singer Kylie Minogue, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost. 

Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic. Described by the Financial Times as an artist “who speaks tremendously of tremendous things”, a recent highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim. 

Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the South Bank Sky Arts Award and the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award. Khan was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. He is also an Honorary Graduate of Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban. 

Khan is an Associate Artist of MC2: Grenoble and Sadler’s Wells, London in a special international co-operation. 

Award-winning Artistic Director and Choreographer Liv Lorent MBE has earned a reputation for creating emotionally charged performances that combine heart with distinctive style. Her choreography is always enriched through collaboration with exceptional designers, composers and writers, coming together to create original dance theatre works. Liv makes performances for audiences who want to experience stories about what it means to be human.  

balletLORENT sits at the centre of Liv’s creative world. The company has been touring for over 30 years and is the northernmost dance company in England, regularly presenting work in some of the country’s most prestigious theatres. Alongside her work with balletLORENT, Liv has been commissioned by artists and companies including Dan Daw, Ballet Boyz, Carte Blanche, Scottish Dance Theatre and Singapore Dance Theatre. Her choreography has been performed internationally by these artists and companies, as well as by balletLORENT.  

Liv is energised by new experiences and is passionate about working with dancers of different ages, backgrounds and physicalities. She creates dance theatre for both family and adult audiences, and enjoys making work for large-scale theatres, intimate spaces and film. Liv is an alumna of ArtsEd Tring and the Laban Centre, and began her ballet training in Belgium, where she was born.