This year, we are pleased to support four projects through our Performance funding stream. This includes two projects supported by the Research and Development stream of the fund in 2024, as well as two we are newly supporting this year. We are looking forward to seeing them brought to the stage to be shared with audiences. Discover more about these exciting projects here:

Caught Again in the Net of Rebirth
Torben Sylvest composer and Chandenie Gobardhan choreographer

Caught Again in the Net of Rebirth is a new 60-minute dance theatre production by choreographer Chandenie Gobardhan in collaboration with composer Torben Sylvest and musicians Avi Kishna and Raj Mohan. Rooted in the Vedic Trimurti cycle – creation, preservation and destruction – the work traces the collapse and renewal of identity across time. Blending intricate choreography with Sylvest's original composition, it invites audiences into a layered world where past, present, and future selves meet. Receiving the RPS Drummond Lockyer Fund for Dance makes it possible to bring this vision to life, supporting the final creation, premiere, and future touring of the work.

Caught Again in the Net of Rebirth was previously supported in 2024 by the Research and Development stream of the RPS Drummond Lockyer Fund for Dance.

Performance dates to follow in February 2026.

Discover more: 
Torben Sylvest
Chandenie Gobardhan

Dance:Music
Devon Bonelli composer and Kevin Turner choreographer
Company Chameleon
Royal Northern College of Music

The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) will bring together composer Devon Bonelli and choreographer Kevin Turner with Company Chameleon dancers and RNCM musicians to create new music for new dance, to be performed at the RNCM and other venues in 2026/27. Central to this new venture is the idea of bringing musicians directly into the movement language while integrating dancers into the sonic creation. Thanks to this award, the project will provide a powerful culmination and lasting legacy for the RNCM’s Dance:Music programme, symbolising the inextricable link between the two forms and our commitment to exploring that connection.

Performance dates to follow in Autumn 2026.

Discover more: 
Devon Bonelli
Company Chameleon
Royal Northern College of Music

Gentleman Jack
Peter Salem composer and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa choreographer
Northern Ballet

Gentleman Jack is a major new ballet based on the life of Anne Lister (1791-1840), the Yorkshire diarist, landowner and businesswoman, who inspired the hugely popular and critically acclaimed BBC/HBO series of the same title. Funding from the RPS Drummond Lockyer Fund for Dance is supporting collaboration between choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and composer Peter Salem to create a new score. This will be performed live across the UK from March-September 2026. Gentleman Jack is a co-production with Finnish National Ballet and will also be performed in Helsinki in 2028. 

Gentleman Jack opens Saturday 7 March 2026, 7.30pm at Leeds Grand Theatre

Discover more: 
Peter Salem
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Gentleman Jack

TELLUS
Dickson Mbi composer and choreographer

TELLUS  is a new work for seven dancers by Olivier Award-winning Cameroon-born dancer, composer and choreographer, Dickson Mbi. It follows a person’s journey to reconnect with their mother and is inspired by stories of Mami Water, a mythical deity living in oceans and rivers, known as the spirit of water in many African and North American cultures. Considered the life source of beauty, power, care, and love, she also has a malign capacity for wrath, violence, and destruction. Funding from the RPS Drummond Lockyer Fund for Dance will support the development of the score, as well as music rehearsals and recording.

TELLUS  was previously supported in 2024 by the Research and Development stream of the RPS Drummond Lockyer Fund for Dance.

Performance dates to follow in February 2026.

Discover more:
Dickson Mbi
TELLUS