Rehearsal Directors
Mikaela Polley
Born in Hadleigh, Essex, Mikaela trained at the San Toy School of Dancing, Central School of Ballet and the Royal Ballet School. A former soloist with Birmingham Royal Ballet, she joined Rambert in spring 2001 and danced in works by choreographers such as Bruce, McGregor, Brandstrup, Bonachela, Clark and Cunningham. From 2006-8 Mikaela also worked as part of the Dancers' Management Team and made the transition to full-time Rehearsal Director in autumn 2008. Mikaela has created six works for Rambert's Seasons of New Choreography, two of which have entered the main repertoire: Momenta (2005) and Phantasy (2008), an excerpt from which was performed as A Tribute to Norman Morrice. In 2007 she was commissioned by ROH2 to create a new work, Coast, and in 2009 was commissioned by Ballet Central to create Ascent which toured extensively around the UK.
Simon Cooper
After graduating from the Royal Ballet School in 1989, Simon began his professional career as a dancer with the English National Ballet. He joined Rambert Dance Company in 1994 where he embarked on a successful career earning him a Time Out award for Best Performer in 1998. In 1997 Simon was invited to perform the role of the Lead Swan in the London season of Matthew Bourne's 'Swan Lake' with Adventures in Motion Pictures. He toured the UK with the production throughout 1999. 2005 took Simon to Japan where he performed with Adam Cooper Productions dancing the lead role in 'Les Liaisons Dangeureses'. In 2006 he became the first recipient of the JADE Fellowship Award and stopped performing with Rambert Dance Company. Simon has recently been working with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance as Rehearsal Director for the Post Graduate Company Verve. Simon re-joined Rambert as Rehearsal Director in March 2009.