Joanne Leighton

After dancing with the Australian Dance Theater (1986-1991), Joanne Leighton moved to Europe, living and performing in London for 2 years. Her company Velvet was formed in Brussels from 1993 - 2010, where she established her choreographic work, active for over 18 years. In 1994 and in 2010 she received the Choreography Prize from the SACD - Society of Composers and Dramatic Authors. Joanne Leighton has been commissioned by international companies such as the Dance Theater of Ireland (2001) ; in Belgium for Charleroi Danses (2005) ; in France for the Ballet de Lorraine (2014), in Switzerland for the company Marchepied (2015), and Seiko Company in Lithuania (2023).

Director of the National Choreographic Center of Franche-Comté in Belfort in France (2010 – 2015), Joanne Leighton formed WLDN, a platform for choreographic research and creation, in 2015. Her works have been performed nationally and internationally in theaters, urban and industrial spaces, art galleries, town squares, and on rooftops. Joanne Leighton’s choreographic work has been co-produced and presented on international stages for over 20 years, with over 30 productions touring in France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Wales, the United Kingdom, Australia and Cuba.

Joanne Leighton’s choreographic work includes Corps Exquis (2019) a piece for 3 dancers around an exquisite corpse for 58 choreographers ; I am sitting in a room, a movement study of the sitting position performed by four poetic clowns on the eponymous text by American composer Alvin Lucier ; Made in...Series, a large scale ‘architecture in movement’ for 99 participants performed in situ and (re)created in France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Cuba ; The Modulables, a series of site specific pieces between installation and performance with an ambulatory public, which have been evolving over a period of 15 years. Over 10 years, Joanne Leighton created a tetralogy of works with 9000 Pas, Songlines, People United and The Gathering.

In September 2011, Joanne Leighton launched her monumental work, The Vigil, whereby each morning and evening at sunrise and sunset over 365 days, a participant holds watch over the city for one hour, a work for 730 inhabitants and performed over 365 consecutive days. Around these same principals this choreography has been in continuous performance for over 15 years in France, Germany, Holland, Austria, and the UK. The Vigil Cycle, mounted in Paris for the prestigious Olympic Games / Paris 2024 will come to conclusion on December 14th 2025. The Beauvais Vigil is also currently in performance in France (4/10/25 - 4/10/26). In parallel to this work, Joanne Leighton initiated a series of walking pieces with Walk#1 Belfort – Freiburg, walking a solitary path in silence, between two Vigil sites by following waterways over 127 kms in four days. Since 2014 Joanne Leighton’s ‘walking practice’ is part of her choreographic work.

An internationally recognized pedagogue, Joanne Leighton regularly gives classes, lectures and workshops. She has taught for companies such as Jean-Claude Gallotta, Catherine Diverrès, Angelin Preljocaj, Trisha Brown Company, Batsheva Company, Charleroi / Danses, AMNT in Tokyo, Need Company, Rosas, Wim Vandekeybus, and dance centers like the Seoul International Choreographic Center (South Korea) ; The Menagerie de Verre, Paris ; Centre National Danse in Paris ; Atelier de Paris / CDCN ; PARTS ; Dansens House in Copenhagen ; Greenwich Dance Space in the UK and the Croatian Institue for Movement and Dance / Zagreb Dance Center. She has also taught in art schools such as the fine arts school in Toulouse. Interested in finding new ways of being, doing, thinking, working, making and presenting, Joanne Leighton seeks to embrace a radically different approach to practice and authorship in contemporary dance.