Welcome Karen Wood!

Karen is a Birmingham-born dancer, maker, researcher, educator and producer. She received her BA (Hons) in Dance from the University of Wolverhampton, and then an MSc in Dance Science from Trinity Laban, London, and a PhD from the University of Manchester. She has worked as a freelance dance artist and teacher in Manchester, London and now Birmingham. Her practice includes projects that have previously been supported by Arts Council England and other funders, and involves collaborating with other art forms, such as drawing, lighting design and music. This work has been shown at venues such as Contact theatre in Manchester, FACT in Liverpool, Five Years gallery in London, Light Moves Festival of Screendance in Ireland and Vivid Projects in Birmingham. Karen is co-founder of Manchester Dance Consortium, which shows her passion for working with artists to expand professional practice. She sees the value in artist-led initiatives and in how they can create opportunity and encourage risk taking for dance-making practices. Since her early involvement with the Centres for Advanced Training in London, Manchester and Birmingham, she has been a keen advocate of mentoring graduates and finding opportunities to retain graduates in the region.

She also works as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Dance Research at Coventry University, where her research is rooted in practice (choreography, performance, film and digital technology).