Angela Towler
Born in Aberdeen, Angela first came to London in 1991 to train at the Urdang Academy, concentrating on musical theatre. She then trained at London Contemporary Dance School (1992-1995) and graduated with a first class BA Honours degree. In 1994-95 she joined 4D, the London Contemporary Post-graduate Performance Group. Upon graduating she joined Richard Alston Dance Company until 1999 when she was invited to join Rambert under its then Director, Christopher Bruce.
She has danced many leading roles in Christopher's works: ‘Lady Jane' in Rooster, ‘Red Dress' in Ghost Dances and ‘Mother' in Hush, to name a few. Her personal highlights include dancing and creating leading roles for Wayne McGregor (opening solo in PreSentient) Aletta Collins' Awakenings, Javier De Frutos' Elysian Fields, Siobhan Davies' Sphinx, ‘leading lady' in Peter Farrell's Rucket Songs, Jiri Kylian's Blackbird, ‘solo woman' in Mats Ek's She Was Black, the restaging of Michael Clark's Swamp, when it was awarded an Olivier Award in 2005, and Mark Baldwin's Constant Speed which also won a TMA Award for Achievement in Dance (2005).
In 2007 Angela was nominated for this same award for her outstanding performance in Pond Way and other roles throughout the season. The same year she was voted 25th in the Scottish magazine The List's ‘Top 100 most influential Scots'.
Angela choreographed three works for the Rambert workshops with former dancer Martin Joyce. Divine Influence (2005), See Me, voted ‘No.1 Dance Triumph of 2008' by Mark Monahan of the Daily Telegraph, and Brevity which was performed at the Southbank Centre in 2009. Both Divine Influence and See Me were taken into the Rambert repertoire. In 2007 they were commissioned by the International Herald and Tribune to create Funerailes, and in the same year they created Mercury, a site-specific work for the launch of James Houston's photographic book Move, at KOKO Club in Camden (sponsored by Hugo Boss in conjunction with Elton John's Aids Awareness Foundation). Her TV choreography includes Dan Clark's sitcom How not to live your life (BBC 3), Little Miss Jocelyn (BBC 3) and The Paul O'Grady Show (ITV). She also assisted Mark Baldwin on BBC1's So You Think You Can Dance.
In 2011 she choreographed the Wella ITVA awards which were held at Pier 94, New York.
In November 2011 she was nominated for a Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performance (Modern).
She also worked as rehearsal director with Rambert in 2009, and with extensive teaching experience is currently still assisting.
Alongside dancing, teaching and choreographing, Angela is currently supporting Dance UK to establish the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science. Raising money for hub-sites will enable all dancers to seek quick access to top practitioners for treatment and rehabilitation.
