Company
Phoebe Ophelia is a dance artist, musician and director of Phoebe Ophelia company and is based between the UK and Portugal. Phoebe has been performing, making and presenting art as a mover, musician and storyteller, nationally and internationally. Her practice includes percussive dance ⁸(Appalachian Step/Lancashire Clog) complimented through her contemporary dance training from Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD) and traditional folk music (Song, Fiddle, Banjo).
Phoebe is currently touring two shows (Finding Folk and Betty Brown Bags) and both made with support from Arts Council England and co-commissioned by The Dukes, Lancaster. She is also one half of street performance duo ‘The Old Time Rags’ who perform nationally and internationally traveling and living on the road.
She is a member of Folk Dance Remixed dance company and performs in their outdoor show ‘Step Hop House’. Phoebe’s work has been performed across the UK and internationally in venues such as The Dukes, Harrogate Theatre, The Civic, NSCD, The Place, Contact Manchester, Dance Base and many more. She has also performed at Festivals and events such as Glastonbury Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Stockton International Riverside Festival, Pitch’d Festival (IRE), Cuba Dupa (NZ) Hasta Trilce (BA) Clifftop (USA) Trafaria Bluegrass Festival (PT) Windows to the world street festival, (CHINA)
Laurence Marshall is a creative artist specialising in Music and performance in outdoor spaces.
Laurence has been a street musician for over 15 years. Graduating with a BA Hons in jazz performance at the Leeds Conservertoire Laurence became an in demand player on the local music scene and began to tour internationally with many bands. Laurence co-created an outdoor music and circus show “The Two man one man band” which toured to outdoor arts festivals throughout the UK as well as becoming one of the flagship acts for the Charity “Music in Hospitals and care”.
Laurence is known for his classic style one man band playing 15 instruments simultaneously as a popular walk-about act internationally. This lead to the coupling with Phoebe Ophelia as ‘The Old Time Rags’ music and dance act who have toured extensiveley for the past 7 years making outdoor, cabaret, theatre and festival performances.
João Maio is an independent dance artist and creative producer based in Leeds.
João trained at Balleteatro Professional School, Porto (2009-12) and at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (2012-15), danced with companies as DeNada Dance Theatre, Rosie Kay Dance Company and Lizzie J Klotz and performed in festivals as Birmingham International Dance Festival, Manchester International Festival and Internationale Tanzmesse. He worked as rehearsal director in Gracefool Collective’s “This is not a wedding” and Phoebe Ophelia’s “Betty Brown Bags”.
After completing the MA in Dance & Creative Enterprise at NSCD (2018), João began to work as a Creative Producer independently and for Leeds-based community development organisation Open Source Arts. Since, he has supported artists such as Akeim Toussaint Buck, Gracefool Collective, Marianne Tuckman, Phoebe Ophelia and Linden Dance Company.
João continues to further his understanding of the national artistic ecology and to collaborate with creatives to deliver projects that enhance it. He has led several independent sector development activities in Leeds via his roles as Artist Development Producer at Yorkshire Dance, Independent Board Member at Leeds Dance Partnership and co-Director at ProDance Leeds.
