Cold War

For the Almeida: Spring Awakening. 

Theatre includes:  

As Musical Director: Assassins (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Producers (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); A Little Princess (National Youth Music Theatre); Titanic (Charing Cross Theatre); Spring Awakening (LAMDA); Side Show (Southwark Playhouse). 

As Associate Musical Director: Matilda the Musical; This Is My Family; Oklahoma! (Chichester Festival Theatre). 

As Assistant Musical Director: & Juliet (West End); Fun Home (Young Vic); Oliver! (Curve Theatre, Leicester). 

As Keyboards: An American in Paris (West End). 

Theatre includes:

As Writer: Uncle Vanya (West End); The Weir (Royal Court/ Donmar Warehouse/ West End/ Broadway, Olivier Award for Best New Play); The Nest (Lyric Theatre, Belfast/ Young Vic); The Dance of Death (Trafalgar Studios); Dublin Carol.

As Writer and Director: Girl from the North Country (The Old Vic/ West End/ Broadway, Oliver Award nomination for Best New Musical and Tony Award nominations for Best Direction of a Musical and Best Book of a Musical); The Night Alive (Donmar Warehouse, Olivier Award nomination for Best Play and New York Critics Circle Award for Best New Play); The Veil (National Theatre); The Birds (Gate Theatre, Dublin); The Seafarer (National Theatre/ Broadway, Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play and Tony Award nominations for Best Play and Best Director); Shining City (Royal Court/ Broadway, Tony Award nomination for Best Play); St Nicholas; This Lime Tree Bower (Bush Theatre); Port Authority (West End); The Good Thief (City Arts Centre, Dublin).

As Director: Poor Beast in the Rain (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Tales from the Holywell (Abbey Theatre, Dublin).

Elvis Costello is a writer and musician who made several records in the 20th century, many of which are still remembered today. He is the composer of thirty-five record albums, over five hundred published titles, including fifteen songs co-written with Paul McCartney and notable collaborations with Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint, the Brodsky Quartet, T Bone Burnett and Diana Krall.  

Elvis’ songs have been recorded by Roy Orbison, Chet Baker and Johnny Cash. He has written lyrics for the music of Billy Strayhorn, twelve Charles Mingus compositions and the score for an adaptation of Budd Schulberg’s A Face In The Crowd, as well as setting a dozen unpublished lyrics by Bob Dylan. He is a member of both The Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, holding two honorary doctorates in music. 

Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre, founding Artistic Director of Headlong (2005 to 2013), Associate Director at the RSC and Artistic Director of Northampton Theatres (2002 to 2005). 

For the Almeida: Women, Beware the Devil; Tammy Faye; Patriots (also West End); Spring Awakening; Albion; The Hunt; Shipwreck; Richard III; Medea; The Merchant of Venice; The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; American Psycho (also Broadway); Ink; King Charles III (also West End/ Broadway). 

Theatre includes: Dear England (National Theatre/ West End); The 47th (The Old Vic); The Effect; Earthquakes in London (Headlong/ National Theatre); Time and the Conways (National Theatre); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Kensington Gardens); The Merchant of Venice; Romeo and Juliet; Speaking Like Magpies (RSC); ENRON (Headlong/ West End/ Broadway); Made in Dagenham; Oliver!; The Glass Menagerie; No Man’s Land (West End); King Lear (Headlong/ Liverpool Everyman/ Young Vic); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Headlong/ West End); Macbeth (Chichester Festival Theatre/ West End/ Broadway). 

Film includes: Judy; True Story. 

Television includes: Macbeth; King Charles III; Richard II. 

Opera includes: Turandot (ENO); Le Comte Ory (Garsington Opera).  

Rupert has received Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard awards for Best Director twice and won a Peabody Award in 2011 for Macbeth. Rupert received a CBE in 2017 New Year’s Honours for services to drama. 

After graduating from Goldsmiths, University of London with an honours degree in Music, Simon’s solo album, East Fifteen, led to recordings with many artists, including George Benson, Simply Red, Alicia Keys and Sam Smith. 

For the Almeida: Spring Awakening.  

Theatre includes: Girl From the North Country (The Old Vic/ West End/ Broadway/ Theatre Royal Sydney/ UK & Ireland tour/ US tour, Tony Award for Best Orchestrations); Get Up Stand Up! (West End, Olivier Award for Best Original Score or New Orchestrations); Newsies (Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre); Kiss My Aztec! (Hartford Stage, Connecticut; Hex (National Theatre); Bedknobs & Broomsticks (UK tour); Romantics Anonymous (Bristol Old Vic/ US Tour); Tootsie (Cadillac Palace Theater, Chicago/ Broadway/ US tour); Alice By Heart (MCC Theater); Whisper House (Old Globe, San Diego/ The Other Palace); One Love (Birmingham Rep); Strictly Ballroom (West Yorkshire Playhouse/ Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto/ West End); Guys and Dolls (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Romantics Anonymous (Shakespeare’s Globe); Spring Awakening (Broadway/ US tour/ West End); Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Broadway/ West End); Finding Neverland (American Repertory Theater/ Broadway/ US tour).  

Film includes: Spectre (Sam Smith ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’). 

Ellen is a London-based Tony and Olivier nominated choreographer. She has worked extensively across film, Broadway and the West End, receiving critical acclaim for reinventing classic musicals for modern audiences. Ellen is the Worldwide Associate Choreographer for Matilda the Musical. 

Theatre includes:  

As Choreographer: The Hills of California (West End); Dear England (National Theatre/ West End); Legally Blonde (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); A Chorus Line; West Side Story (Curve Theatre, Leicester); Groundhog Day (The Old Vic/ Broadway, Olivier Award and Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical); Pieces of String (Mercury Theatre, Colchester). 

As Associate Choreographer: Billy Elliot the Musical; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Sister Act; The Lord of the Rings (West End); Matilda the Musical (RSC). 

Film includes: Matilda the Musical (Chita Rivera nomination for Choreography in Film, World Choreography Award for Best Movie Musical Sequence, MTV nomination for Best Musical Sequence in a Movie); Cats; Good Grief; Knuckles for the Sonic Universe.  

Television includes: Gangsta Granny Strikes Again. 

Other works include: KidSuper Fashion Show (Creative Theatre Consultant, Paris Fashion Week 2023); Electricity music video (Elton John). 

Jon studied Music at Oxford University and Royal Academy of Music before retraining on the Motley Theatre Design Course. He designed the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games and was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for his Production Design on the Redbull film Human Pinball. As an Associate Artist of the RSC Jon has designed numerous productions including Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale and the entire 2012 season.   

For the Almeida: They Drink It In The Congo.

Theatre includes: Bat Out of Hell (West End/ Broadway/ Paris Theatre, Las Vegas); Into The Woods (Bath Theatre Royal); Spirited Away (Imperial Theatre, Tokyo/ International tour); The Grinning Man (UK Theatre Award for Best Design); King Lear (West End); The James Plays (National Theatre/ National Theatre Scotland/ International tour); Mametz (National Theatre Wales, UK Theatre Award and Wales Theatre Award for Best Design); I am Yusuf (ShiberHur, Palestine/ Young Vic).  

Opera includes: Ainadamar (Scottish Opera/ Welsh National Opera/ Detroit Opera/ Metropolitan Opera, New York); Cendrillon (Glyndebourne); The Knot Garden (Theater an der Wien); Xerses; Rigoletto; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Halle Opera); Agrippina (The Grange Festival). 

Jon’s extensive dance collaborations include designs for Rambert, Royal Ballet, Norwegian and Finnish National Ballets, Netherlands Dans Theater, and English National Ballet.  

For the Almeida: Portia Coughlan; Women, Beware the Devil; The Hunt.

Theatre includes: Dear England; Antony & Cleopatra; Much Ado About Nothing (National Theatre); The Vortex (Chichester Festival Theatre); The 47^th (The Old Vic); The Seagull (Dramaten, Stockholm); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington D.C.).

For the Almeida: …and breathe. 

Theatre includes: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Complicité), PJ Harvey (UK and Europe tour), Les Misérables (West End); Rock Follies (Chichester Festival Theatre); Guys and Dolls (Bridge Theatre); Angels in America (National Theatre/ Broadway); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre/ West End/ Broadway, Tony Award and Olivier Award for Best Lighting); His Dark Materials (National Theatre, Olivier Award for Best Lighting); War Horse (National Theatre/ West End, Tony Award for Best Lighting); The Normal Heart; The Visit; Follies; Pinocchio; The Red Barn (National Theatre); Wolf Hall (RSC/ West End/ Broadway); The Glass Menagerie; Cock; The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre/ West End, Olivier Award for Best Lighting).  

Dance includes: Swan Lake; Romeo and Juliet; Midnight Bell; The Sleeping Beauty; The Red Shoes (New Adventures). 

Sinéad Diskin is a sound designer and composer. She is a recipient of the Next Generation Artists Award 2019 from The Arts Council and An Chomhairle Ealaíon, as well as the Commissions Award 2021 from Anú Productions and the Arts Council of Ireland.  

Theatre includes: 

As Sound Designer: Dixon and Daughters (National Theatre); Walking with Ghosts (West End/ Broadway); Tales from the Holywell (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); Somewhere Out There You (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/ Dublin Theatre Festival); Aftertaste; Ask Too Much of Me (National Youth Theatre); The Phlebotomist (Hampstead Theatre); Bedbound (Galway International Arts Festival); Piaf; Pale Sister; The Snapper; The Glass Menagerie (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Happy Days (3Olympia Theatre, Dublin/ Cork Opera House/ Birmingham Rep); Blood in the Dirt (The New Theatre, Dublin); Boland: Journey of a Poet (The Mick Lally Theatre, Galway). 

As Associate Sound Designer: Medicine (St. Ann’s Warehouse/ Galway International Arts Festival). 

Film includes: Suited; Canaries; Torch; Hecatomb.  

For the Almeida: Spring Awakening. 

Theatre includes:  

As Musical Director: Assassins (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Producers (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); A Little Princess (National Youth Music Theatre); Titanic (Charing Cross Theatre); Spring Awakening (LAMDA); Side Show (Southwark Playhouse). 

As Associate Musical Director: Matilda the Musical; This Is My Family; Oklahoma! (Chichester Festival Theatre). 

As Assistant Musical Director: & Juliet (West End); Fun Home (Young Vic); Oliver! (Curve Theatre, Leicester). 

As Keyboards: An American in Paris (West End). 

After graduating from Goldsmiths, University of London with an honours degree in Music, Simon’s solo album, East Fifteen, led to recordings with many artists, including George Benson, Simply Red, Alicia Keys and Sam Smith. 

For the Almeida: Spring Awakening.  

Theatre includes: Girl From the North Country (The Old Vic/ West End/ Broadway/ Theatre Royal Sydney/ UK & Ireland tour/ US tour, Tony Award for Best Orchestrations); Get Up Stand Up! (West End, Olivier Award for Best Original Score or New Orchestrations); Newsies (Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre); Kiss My Aztec! (Hartford Stage, Connecticut; Hex (National Theatre); Bedknobs & Broomsticks (UK tour); Romantics Anonymous (Bristol Old Vic/ US Tour); Tootsie (Cadillac Palace Theater, Chicago/ Broadway/ US tour); Alice By Heart (MCC Theater); Whisper House (Old Globe, San Diego/ The Other Palace); One Love (Birmingham Rep); Strictly Ballroom (West Yorkshire Playhouse/ Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto/ West End); Guys and Dolls (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Romantics Anonymous (Shakespeare’s Globe); Spring Awakening (Broadway/ US tour/ West End); Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Broadway/ West End); Finding Neverland (American Repertory Theater/ Broadway/ US tour).  

Film includes: Spectre (Sam Smith ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’). 

For the Almeida: The Secret Life of Bees; Tammy Faye; Spring Awakening. 

Theatre includes: My Neighbour Totoro (RSC/ Barbican); Matilda the Musical (RSC/ West End/ UK tour); Oklahoma; Come From Away; 42nd Street; Queen Anne; Dr Semmelweis; From Here to Eternity (West End); My Fair Lady; South Pacific; Anything Goes; Jerry Springer: The Opera; Caroline, or Change; The History Boys; War Horse (National Theatre); Girl from the North Country (West End/ The Old Vic/ UK tour); Groundhog Day; Sylvia; A Christmas Carol; Future Conditional; The Lorax; The Divide (The Old Vic); Miss Saigon; She Loves Me; Guys and Dolls; White Christmas (Sheffield Theatres); NHS the Musical (Theatre Royal Plymouth); Identical (Nottingham Playhouse/ The Lowry, Manchester); The Wizard of Oz (Leeds Playhouse); The King and I (UK tour/ Ireland tour); Bernadette Peters (UK tour); Jackie The Musical (UK tour); Play Without Words (Sadler’s Wells/ UK tour). 

Film includes: Robin Hood. 

David was Music Manager at the National Theatre from 2000 to 2010, and Music Manager at RSC from 2010 to 2011. David has managed various projects with the National Symphony Orchestra and booked musicians for the 2014 and 2015 AMFAR Cinema Against AIDS Gala at the Cannes Film Festival. 

For the Almeida: Portia Coughlan; Women, Beware the Devil; “Daddy” A Melodrama; Albion; The Hunt; Shipwreck; Dance Nation; Boy.

Theatre includes: Hamnet (RSC); Jerusalem; Leopoldstadt; Uncle Vanya; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; The Night of Iguana; Rosmersholm; True West; The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?; The Pillowman (West End); The Son (Kiln Theatre/ West End); Sweat (Donmar Warehouse/ West End); The Ferryman (Royal Court/ Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre/ West End); The Moderate Soprano (Hampstead Theatre/ West End); The Birthday Party; Consent (National Theatre/ West End);  Hangmen (Royal Court/ West End/ Atlantic Theater Company); Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar Warehouse); Stories; Exit the King (National Theatre); White Noise; A Very Very Very Dark Matter (Bridge Theatre); The Brothers Size (Young Vic); Maryland; ear for eye; Girls & Boys; Cyprus Avenue (Royal Court).

For the Almeida: Portia Coughlan; Women, Beware the Devil; “Daddy” A Melodrama; The Hunt. 

Theatre and Dance includes: 

As Costume Designer: Double Murder (Hofesh Shechter Company); Voices and Light Footsteps; Chacony (Richard Alston Dance Company); The Waiting Game (Ballet Black); The Snow Queen; Hansel and Gretel; Alice in Winterland (Rose Theatre Kingston); Frankenstein (Aquilla Theatre). 

As Costume Supervisor: Il trovatore; The Rape of Lucretia; La traviata; Salome (Royal Opera House); The Lost Thing (Candoco/ Royal Opera House); Dante Project; Flight Pattern; Unearthed; Don Quixote (The Royal Ballet); Lest We Forget; Le Corsaire (English National Ballet); Stories; As You Like It (National Theatre); Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre); Prisoner of the State; Dead Man Walking (Barbican); People, Places and Things (Headlong); A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer (Complicité). 

Dubheasa is a multidisciplinary theatremaker, filmmaker and photographer. In her lens-based practice she was most recently a Sundance Institute Fellow on the Ignite Programme with Adobe, winning a place with her debut short film, Blue Corridor 15. Her work is motivated by finding the social truth within drama. She is interested in work which revolves around and interrogates the theme of liberation. Her practice is grounded in a deep interest in the politicised lives of people. 

For the Almeida: Cold War; Women, Beware the Devil.

Theatre includes: 

As Director: Best Fit (Theatre Peckham); Labyrinths of Fire (Greenwich Theatre); Resurrections (Golden Goose Theatre); Bone (Omnibus Theatre); Deb & Joan (Canal Café Theatre); Blind Date (Katzpace); A.I. in Wonderland (University of Warwick). 

As Associate Director: Never Have I Ever (Chichester Festival Theatre). 

As Assistant Director: Paradise Now! (Bush Theatre); Handbagged (Kiln Theatre); We Need to Talk About Grief (Donmar Warehouse); I Know My Husband Loves Me (Union Theatre). 

As Assistant Dramaturg: Clean Break Pathways Programme (Royal Court). 

James is a choreographer, director and Artistic Director of his eponymous dance company, James Cousins Company, which has toured nationally and internationally to critical acclaim since 2013. He was the inaugural winner of the New Adventures Choreographer Award, selected by Matthew Bourne for his ‘refreshing desire to entertain’. 

Theatre includes:
As Choreographer: Guys and Dolls; A Christmas Carol (Bridge Theatre); Toy Show the Musical (Convention Centre, Dublin); House of Flamenka (West End).
As Co-Director and Movement Director: The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage (Bridge Theatre).
As Movement Director: Vogue World London (West End).
As Associate Choreographer: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bridge Theatre).
As Associate Director: Guys and Dolls; Bach and Sons (Bridge Theatre); The Cher Show (UK tour).

Dance includes:
As Director and Choreographer: We Are As Gods (James Cousins Company/ Battersea Arts Centre/ National Theatre); Elysium (British Council Colombia).
As Choreographer: Jealousy (Scottish Ballet); Photographs and Souvenirs (Graz Opera); With Nothing More Than Hope (Royal Ballet of Flanders); Everything and Nothing (Sadler’s Wells); With Every Goodbye (Chilean National Ballet); Epilogues; Rosalind; Without Stars; Within Her Eyes (James Cousins Company).

Film includes:
As Choreographer: Sandman.
As Dancer: Matilda the Musical; Anna Karenina; Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. 

Manuel graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a Professional Graduate Diploma in Musical Direction. He also holds an MSc Theoretical Physics from Imperial College London. 

Theatre includes:  

For Arrangements and Musical Direction: Candid Cabarets (Revolution, Glasgow); Hashed Out; Christmas at the Conservatoire (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); Disney Performing Arts (Disneyland Paris). 

As Musical Director: Footloose; Shrek (Imperial College London). 

As Artistic Director: Come Alive: Revue (Imperial College London). 

Music includes: Little Blue (Mahogany Sessions/ Jacob Collier). 

Phoebe is a Taiwanese-Australian performance-maker and theatre designer. She thrives on blending theatre, movement, and technology to create captivating and visually stunning performances that evoke emotions for both theatre and visual art. 

She last worked with the Almeida Theatre on Rush as part of the Almeida Young Company. 

Theatre includes: 

As Designer and Director: Drifting.漂浮 (The Place).
As Designer: The Sweet Science of Bruising; Light Shining in Buckinghamshire; Jesus Christ Superstar (Young Actors Theatre Islington); The Lady and the Unicorn (The Yard).
As Assistant Set and Costume Designer: Clyde’s (Donmar Warehouse). 

Film includes: All is Vanity; Dual. 

Livi is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where she gained a Distinction for her MA in Musical Direction and a DipRAM. 

Before attending the Royal Academy of Music, Livi studied for a BA(Hons) in Music at St Anne’s College, Oxford, graduating with First Class Honours in 2021.  

She was also Lead Creative and Actor-Musician on the BBC New Creatives/ Wrapt Films short film, Folk. 

Theatre includes:  

As Musical Supervisor and Arranger: Actually, Love (Edinburgh Fringe); Sex with Friends (Edinburgh Fringe, Musical Theatre Review Award); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Courtyard Theatre, Hereford); The Day the Sea Caught Fire (Anthology Theatre). 

As Musical Director: The Clockmaker’s Daughter (New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth); Gypsy (Bird College); Peter Pan (His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen); Merrily We Roll Along; Into the Woods (Royal Academy of Music). 

As Assistant Musical Director/ Music Assistant: The Book Thief (Belgrade Theatre/ Curve Theatre, Leicester); Roman Holiday (Theatre Royal Bath); The Witches of Eastwick (West End). 

As Musician: Treason (West End); Sinatra (Birmingham Rep); The Band’s Visit (Deputy, Donmar Warehouse). 

Theatre includes:

As Music Copyist: Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Leeds Playhouse/ National tour); Hex; Dick Whittington (National Theatre); Identical (Nottingham Playhouse); The Magician’s Elephant (RSC); Pinnochio; Oklahoma! (Chichester Festival Theatre); Company (West End).

The Warsaw Village Band formed in Warsaw, Poland in 1997. Since their inception, they have released seven albums alongside cultivating an international reputation, touring across five continents and fifty countries, from Japan to Algeria to the USA. Warsaw Village Band create Eastern European music which combines tradition with modern elements, appealing to rock audiences and traditionalists alike. They play traditional instruments which are rarely heard in modern music; frame drums, the hurdy-gurdy and the suka; a Polish folk fiddle from the 17th century stopped with the fingernails rather than the fingers. The Guardian previously described the band as “one of the most inventive folk groups in Europe”. In 2004 they won the Newcomer award at the BBC 3 World Music Awards. The have collaborated with names such as Kayhan Kalhor, Mercedes Peón, Bill Laswell, Leszek Możdżer, Esperanza Spalding.  

For the Almeida: Portia Coughlan. 

Theatre includes: 

As Wigs, Hair and Make Up Supervisor: Witness for the Prosecution (County Hall); The Third Man (Menier Chocolate Factory); Top Girls (National Theatre). 

As Wigs, Hair and Make Up Head of Department: The Lehman Trilogy; King Lear; Oppenheimer (West End); Sleeping Beauty; Swan Lake; Edward Scissorhands (International tour); Ghost (China tour). 

Film includes: The Field; Far and Away; The Commitments. 

Television includes: My Murder; Matthew Bourne’s Christmas Special. 

Originally from Paris, Fabien is a language and accent coach based in London who specialises in coaching for film, television and theatre. Passionate about languages, he holds a BA in Eastern European studies and is fluent in French, Russian and Italian, as well as conversational in Spanish, German and Swedish. 

Fabien has worked on numerous projects with some well-known names in the industry including Dame Helen Mirren, Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Charlotte Rampling, Margot Robbie, Jenna Coleman, Chris Pine and Samuel L. Jackson among others. 

Theatre includes: Henry V; Force Majeure; Belleville (Donmar Warehouse); Life of Pi (Sheffield Theatres). 

Film includes: Dune; All the Old Knives; Wonder Woman; The King; Hotel Mumbai; Mary Queen of Scots; Justice League; The Hundred Foot Journey; Tetris; SAS: Red Notice; The Spy Who Dumped Me; Adam Jones. 

Television includes: The Crown; Litvinenko; A Spy Amongst Friends; The Boys; Slow Horses; Half Bad; The Confessions of Frannie Langton; The Serpent; Dracula; Gomorrah; Silent Witness; Strike Back; Secret Invasion; Hanna; SAS Rogue Heroes; Baptiste. 

Edyta has been a lecturer in Polish at the University of Cambridge since 2014, as well as the Founding Director of Polword- School of Polish Language and Culture in London since 2000. Her areas of expertise include glottodidactics, multiculturalism in education and language teaching methodologies.

She has also worked at University College London, Jagiellonian University Research Centre, and University of Lodz, Poland. She has an MA in Polish Studies from Jagiellonian University, Kraków. Edyta also was a Voice Coach for the television series, New Blood, produced by Eleventh Hour Films for BBC One.

Additionally, Edyta was the Founder of the Polish State Certificate Examination Centre, London and is actively involved in various cultural and educational initiatives within the Polish diaspora community.

Polish folk song and dance group, Orleta, was established in South London in 1973. Known for their lively style, Orleta are passionate about bringing the art form of Polish folk dance to life. 

The ethos of the group is to present the joy and spontaneity of traditional Polish dance parties. Their director and choreographer, Basia Klimas-Sawyer, and her daughter Laura Klimas-Sawyer, who is the group’s instructor, make sure that what they present on stage is as authentic as possible, both in dance and costume. They perform all over the UK and abroad. 

Members come from all over London and beyond for weekly lessons on Tuesdays. With ages ranging from 16 to 38, Orleta is a melting pot of first, second and third generation Poles all wanting to have fun and learn regional and national dances. With accordion accompaniment, the atmosphere is always cheerful and friendly. The Dance Group also has 3 junior groups for ages 5-14, learning and performing as they await their turn to join the main group. 

The Polish Ministry of Culture have awarded Basia and Orleta numerous awards, including a gold medal, for maintaining and promoting Polish folk culture abroad.