
Struan Leslie is a collaborative movement director, director, deviser of new work, choreographer and teacher. He is currently Head of Movement at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and held the same role at the Royal Shakespeare Company, 2009-14. He trained at London Contemporary Dance School and internationally in dance and movement. His work in all these fields has been produced internationally and challenges and advocates through his practice for the recognition for the role of the body in performance. His association with APGRD began in 1999 through Oliver Taplin, who was adviser on Ted Hughes' adaptation of The Oresteia at the National Theatre, London, directed by Katie Mitchell. Over the last 20 years Struan has contributed to the work of APGRD as artist in residence, director, dramaturg, mentor and teacher.
His work in classical text includes seminal productions of the Oresteia, Iphigenia at Aulis, Women of Troy and The Suppliants. Notable also is his exploration and application of the role of the chorus in all areas of performance including: opera (Jephtha and The Sacrifice at Welsh National Opera); orchestral staging (Aurora Orchestra at the BBC Proms and Epitaph of Species at RWCMD); circus (Hope at National Centre for Circus Arts and Illuminations, Aldeburgh Festival); choirs ('There’s me and There’s you' for London Jazz Festival and British Council with the Goldsmith’s Vocal Ensemble and directing the BBC Singers in a new devised Family concert Journey to The Singdom Kingdom and also at the last night of the BBC Proms). The ethos of the ancient Greek chorus is also key to his devised work.
- 'Gesamtkunstwerk: Modern Moves and the Ancient Chorus', The Ancient Dancer in The Modern World (2010).