Sam has over 30-years experience of the arts within an abundance of education, community and arts venue settings. She is enthusiastically committed to facilitating a broad reach of people to explore their unique creative ‘voice’, enjoy building skills and increase their sense of wellbeing through participatory opportunities.

As Dance Development Artist and Artists’ Support she has been delighted to witness people’s personal growth, as well as the cohesion and innovation fostered within groups involved in an artistic process. It has proved profoundly rewarding to co-choreograph performances with multiple groups and know the buzz and satisfaction that so many experience when these are shared with family and supporters.

She originally moved to Suffolk to work for Suffolk Dance, now DanceEast, and later developed a freelance portfolio. Over the years a few of the highlights have been:

• Directing, producing and co-choreographing (with participants) ‘Dance Under Suffolk Skies’, filmed outdoors with 114 community performers aged 2 to 80 years, to celebrate the wildlife and landscapes of Suffolk. With the privilege of collaborating with a filmmaker, composer and dramaturg.
• Managing and directing 6 story-based performance projects with up to 5 schools and 175 primary aged children in each, culminating in sell-out performances in local venues.

• Fostering the evolution of Moving Minds with Inside Out Community and DanceEast. This is an interactive, improvisational session to support participants’ mental and emotional health and wellbeing.
• Facilitating variously themed workshops for Creative Arts East in rural Norfolk with Older adults in a dementia friendly and sociable setting, with fun, cake and costumes!
• Crashendo, a nine-month co-created dance, music and film project with young people supported by Haverhill Youth Centre team.
• Being Artistic Director of I.D. Dance (1996-2000), producing, choreographing and performing dance works in London and the East of England.

Whilst living in Malawi, southern Africa, she established Contemporary Dance Lab for young adults, then Kuunika Dance, a company devising work using contemporary and African dance, performing in arts venues and festivals, in collaboration with Nanzikambe Arts.

Throughout her career, Sam has particularly enjoyed collaborating with other artists for inter-disciplinary projects and appreciates the richness of both experience and outcome that this engenders for the artists and participants. She has danced and drawn/painted for as long as she can remember and is currently dancing and performing with Kinetica Dance Collective, Ipswich. She listens to a vast array of music; not one to shy away from getting into the groove, Sam was a long-standing member of Suffolk School of Samba, playing at festivals, carnivals and her wedding!

Sam loves being in the big outdoors, attending exhibitions and performances, being part of a thriving and vibrant church, hanging out with her family and friends and chocolate!

She is excited to be part of the Orchestras Live team and to have the opportunity to foster new partnerships and arts projects with organisations and communities in East Anglia, as well as deepening existing ones, alongside artists and orchestras.