History
David M. Hughes trained at the London Contemporary Dance School from 1983-86. He left to join Janet Smith and Dancers and in 1988 came home to London Contemporary Dance Theatre where he remained for 6 years under the mentorship of Bob Cohan. This heralded the arrival of ‘a new breed of dancer’ and was a prolific time with iconic roles such as Christopher Bruce’s ‘Rooster’. This connection with Bruce flourished and in 1994 Hughes began a two year period of guesting with Rambert Dance Company along with roles in Siobhan Davies Dance.
In 1995, alongside Adam Cooper, Hughes co-created the original role of the swan in Adventures in Motion Pictures’ acclaimed production of Swan Lake . 1996 also saw Hughes’ first solo tour ‘Map’ which featured solo commissions from Christopher Bruce, Bob Cohan, Siobhan Davies and Wayne McGregor. A second solo tour ‘Maps’ had further commissions from Javier De Frutos, Cesc Gelabert and Pit Fong-Loh. In 1997 Hughes performed in the music and dance collaboration between PJ Harvey and Mark Bruce ‘Dance Hall at Louse Point’. From 2005 to 2006 Hughes worked with Lloyd Newson’s DV8 company.
In July 2005, with the support of The Scottish Arts Council, Hughes launched the David Hughes Dance Company with four dancers and commissions from Rafael Bonachela and Hughes himself, with performances in Scotland and in London.
In 2007, with a unanimous decision, Hughes received a Partnership award from the Scottish Arts Council, which allowed his company to take up home at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews. This saw six dancers and the revival of ’4:Freeze Frame’ by Rafael Bonachela, ‘L Apres midi d’un Faun’ by Siobhan Davies and two new commissions; ‘Imploded: Une Reverie Romantique’ by Tanja Liedtke and ‘Matt’s lost his groove’ by Hughes himself.
2008 was a busy year and saw the creation of a technical dance and theatre collaboration between Al Seed and the Hughes Company -‘The Red Room’ which included an invitation to unite Australian friends Lina Limosani (ADT) and Paul White (ADT), virtuosic dancers with our beloved and greatly missed friend Tanja Liedtke, to join the Hughes Company.
In 2009 David Hughes Dance began a two year period of flexible funding from the SAC. The first result of this was for the company to take up residence at new offices and rehearsal space in partnership with the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. In addition to several domestic education projects, DHD performed ‘The Red Room’ to massive critical acclaim at the Traverse as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and followed this up with a subsequent Scottish tour.
2010 was a year of growing momentum and kicked off with a Highlands and Islands tour of Hughes’ original solo show ‘Maps’ 10 years on from its premier. Educational projects were delivered with Horsecross Arts (Perth), Kilmarnock Townscape Heritage Initiative and Glasgow Inspiration Festival and the year concluded with development time on a new work funded by the National Theatre of Scotland.
