Double bill: Push & Umbra
Programme
19:30 Push
19:55 Five min break
20:00 Umbra
20:35 Five min break
20:40
21:00 Close Post show Q&A hosted by Dr Ruth Pethybridge with Company Chameleon’s Co-Artistic Director, Anthony Missen, and the Company Dancers.
Push
Showcasing Chameleon’s signature athletic yet sensitive dance and movement style, Push is a powerful and engaging duet, which looks at the different stances we take to understand and relate to one another.
The piece explores thecomplex nature of our psychology - how at times we push to exert dominance and control, and at other times choose to submit and step back.
Created by Anthony Missen and Kevin Edward Turner, Push is considered by the dance world as a classic outdoor dance piece and has toured the world since 2012. The piece was originally made as a male duet and part of a trilogy, exploring themes within relationship interaction.
Co-commissioned by Without Walls and Dance Manchester.
Push creative team
Kevin Edward Turner MBE
Co-choreographer
Anthony Missen
Co-choreographer
Kevin is Co-Artistic Director of Company Chameleon. He started dancing at the age of eight with Trafford Youth Dance Theatre Kevin’s formal studies were at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance where he gained a first-class degree.
Kevin’s professional engagements include working with Rambert Dance Company, Scottish Dance Theatre, Phoenix Dance Theatre, CassaniDance, Rubberbandancegroup (Canada), Henri Oguike Dance Company, Company Decalage, Mad Dogs Dance Theatre, Finn Walker and Roda He has worked as an independent artist in collaboration with Gansango in Seattle, Crossfade in Budapest and Navala Chaudhari in London. He has taught in most major British contemporary dance institutions, as well as in Canada, USA, Hungary, Trinidad and Tobago, South Korea, South Africa and all-over continental Europe.
Kevin co-founded Company Chameleon in 2007 and has since created, performed, led, directed, produced and facilitated performances, masterclasses, workshops, residences, interventions and participatory projects nationally and internationally
In 2025, Kevin was awarded an MBE for his services to dance and mental health
Anthony is Co-Artistic Director of Company Chameleon He is a Clore Fellow, Without Walls Board Director, member of the Greater Manchester Culture Steering Group, Executive Member of Dance Consortia North-West, and member of The UK Dance network.
He trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance before working with companies including Scottish Dance Theatre, Mad Dogs Dance Theatre, Cie. Willi Dorner (Vienna), and choreographers including Rui Horta, Didi Veldman and Liv Lorent
Anthony has Movement Directed plays made at HOME Manchester, The Royal Exchange and the National Theatre. He was series Director for BBC One drama “Everything I Know About Love” (2021/22), and “Fool Me Once”, Netflix 2024.
Anthony has taught in most major British contemporary dance institutions, to several professional dance companies and in many countries including South Korea, South Africa, Ethiopia, Israel, Trinidad, Morocco, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Austria and Romania He has led many Choreographic and skills-based Residencies. Anthony is an accredited coach.
Push creative team
Alice Bonazzi Performer
Originally from Italy, Alice formally trained in dance at Trinity Laban graduating with a First-Class Honours degree. During this time, she worked with industry acclaimed Alison Curtis-Jones, Zoi Dimitriou, Fernanda Prata, Maciej Kuzminski amongst others and she performed in works by Maxine Doyle and Sir Matthew Bourne. In 2017, she joined Company Chameleon as an apprentice dancer through the Professional Placement Scheme run by NSCD.
As a freelance performer Alice took part in a various artistic projects, touring with MOTUS, Mercurial Dance and Kapow-Dance Circus Theatre amongst others. In 2018, together with dance artist Sara Marques she co-founded DAMAEDANCE, a collaborative platform to create their own work, which has been touring nationally and internationally ever since.
Alice joined Chameleon as Company Dancer in 2021. Her practice is rooted in an athletic and energetic physicality, with a keen interest in exploring and expressing human dynamics through movement. Alongside her role as Company Dancer, Alice is Chameleon’s Assistant Rehearsal Director.
JP Hon Performer
Born and raised in Hong Kong, JP started dancing street dance, jazz and contemporary dance at the age of 17. After graduating at The City University of Hong Kong in Material Engineering, she went on to train and graduate at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Art (HKAPA) in 2021, majoring in Contemporary Dance. In Fall 2019, she also participated the Exchange Student Program for Dance in Purchase College, State of University of New York.
She has worked with many renowned choreographers including Marcus Jarrell Willis (USA), Martin Piliponsky (Argentina), Mickaël ‘Marso’ Rivière (UK), David Steele (UK) and Li Yongjing (Hong Kong) etc. During her time studying in HKAPA, she has been the recipient of several scholarships, such as The Helena May Scholarship, The Society of APA Scholarship and The Hong Kong Disneyland Scholarship.
Umbra
A powerful and nuanced trio, delicate and explosive in equal measure.
Umbra, meaning ‘shadow’ in Latin, is a trio, which looks at the light and darkness within us. How these make us different and the same as each other.
The piece explores what we hide and what we reveal, and how behaviour changes depending on who we are with.
Highly physical and theatrical,Umbraspotlights exclusion, and the search for understanding and to be understood.
Fast paced and dynamic, yet delicate and sensitive,Umbrais an invitation to pause and understand ourselves better.
Umbra creative team
Anthony Missen Choreographer
Anthony is Co-ArtisticDirector of Company Chameleon. He is a Clore Fellow, Without Walls Board Director, member of the Greater Manchester Culture Steering Group, Executive Member of Dance Consortia North-West, and member of The UK Dance network.
He trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance before working with companies including Scottish Dance Theatre, Mad Dogs Dance Theatre, Cie Willi Dorner (Vienna), and choreographers including Rui Horta, Didi Veldman and Liv Lorent.
Anthony has Movement Directed plays made at HOME Manchester, The Royal Exchange and the National Theatre. He was series Director for BBC One drama “Everything I Know About Love” (2021/22), and “Fool Me Once”, Netflix 2024.
Anthony has taught in most major British contemporary dance institutions, to several professional dance companies and in many countries including South Korea, South Africa, Ethiopia, Israel, Trinidad, Morocco, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Austria and Romania He has led many Choreographic and skills-based Residencies. Anthony is an accredited coach.
Alice Bonazzi Performer
Originally from Italy, Alice formally trained in dance at Trinity Laban graduating with a First-Class Honours degree. During this time, she worked with industry acclaimed Alison Curtis-Jones, Zoi Dimitriou, Fernanda Prata, Maciej Kuzminski amongst others and she performed in works by Maxine Doyle and Sir Matthew Bourne. In 2017, she joined Company Chameleon as an apprentice dancer through the Professional Placement Scheme run by NSCD
As a freelance performer Alice took part in a various artistic projects, touring with MOTUS, Mercurial Dance and Kapow-Dance Circus Theatre amongst others. In 2018, together with dance artist Sara Marques she co-founded DAMAEDANCE, a collaborative platform to create their own work, which has been touring nationally and internationally ever since.
Alice joined Chameleon as Company Dancer in 2021. Her practice is rooted in an athletic and energetic physicality, with a keen interest in exploring and expressing human dynamics through movement Alongside her role as Company Dancer, Alice is Chameleon’s Assistant Rehearsal Director.
Umbra creative team
Kadafi Mulula Performer
Michael Kelland Performer
Kadafi was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and moved to England when he was five years old. He grew up in Leeds, where his high school teachers supported and encouraged him to dance as they saw his potential. Following an early self-taught dance background in hip hop and acrobatics, he trained professionally at De Montfort University and as part of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance Apprenticeship Scheme.
In 2022, he joined Company Chameleon as an Apprentice Company Dancer and stepped up into the role Company Dancer in 2024. Kadafi has performed nationally and internationally with Company Chameleon in productions including Umbra, Refuse, Of Man And Breast, Witness This, Push, and Hands Down.
In summer 2024, Kadafi worked with East Midlands disability dance company, We Are Epic. The collaborative project involved working with Kitapoleng in Bali to make a culture film titled Convergence of Grace.
Michael graduated from LCDS in 2012. Since then he has worked with James Wilton Dance, Tom Dale Dance, Riccardo Buscarini, Autin Dance Theatre, Lila Dance, Caitlin Barnett, Sonia Sabri, Joli Vyann and Art of Spectra among others. His teaching practice is primarily floorwork technique with a focus on integrating acrobatics from capoeira, circus and breaking He has taught at LCDS and NSCD as well as leading company class for NDC Wales, Lila dance, Caitlin Barnett, Joli Vyann and Sonia Sabri, and leading workshops in contemporary floorwork and acrobatics for Rambert and Tripspace and serving as a choreographic assistant for Alethia Antonia.
About Company Chameleon
We make original and inspiring dance theatre in Manchester and perform across the UK and the world.
Company Chameleon started when Anthony Missen and Kevin Edward Turner met at Trafford Youth Dance Theatre in the mid-1990s. Two ordinary lads from Manchester, they shared an ambition to dance professionally. After developing their talent at Trafford, they went on to train with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, and after graduating travelled and worked with some of the world’s most innovative dance companies and choreographers.
They came home in 2007 with the aim of setting up their own dance company – and Company Chameleon was born. Today, Company Chameleon tours internationally, staging over 50 indoor and outdoor performances every year. The team has grown from a team of two to a team of fourteen and is now based at its own dance studio in Openshaw, Manchester.
Our vision for the studio is to create a dance hub packed with possibilities for everyone. Alongside performances, our growing programme of classes includes opportunities for professional dancers, young people and adults to enjoy and feel the benefits of dance. When we’re away from home, we’re either performing as part of our touring schedule, or taking dance out into local, national and international communities, introducing people to a different side of dance and movement in classes and workshops.
In 2019, Company Chameleon welcomed Dame Darcey Bussell on board as the Company’s first-ever Patron.
