Pam Anderton – Treasurer and Website

Pam has worked for the Laban Guild Council since 1986. She has served on Council as Treasurer and has maintained and redesigned the website several times. Through her company, PAFS Ltd until 2017, and now independently, she has been responsible for the design and layout of the Guild magazine since 2003. Pam has taught IT and Business Studies in addition to her work in the area of financial software where she has been a departmental manager for a large finance house assessing profitability of ‘big ticket’ leases and a consultant project manager, software developer, business analyst, tester and documenter for point of sale and proposal management systems in both the UK and the rest of Europe.
Pam’s connection with the Laban Guild began after a visit to an osteopath following a poor landing from a parachute jump; the osteopath recommended a local dance class led by Bronwen Mills. Bronwen, an experienced community dance leader with Laban training, introduced Pam to the Laban Guild. Pam was also a member of the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund committee from 1989 to 2021; initially as Treasurer, following Ellinor Hinks’ retirement and then managing their website and advising on IT.

Darren Royston MA – Drama Consultant

Darren is an international choreographer and movement director working in theatre, opera, film and TV. He was a child actor in musical theatre and with the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, before studying at Cambridge University. He graduated with MA (Distinction) in Dance Studies from Trinity Laban, studying with Marion North and Valerie Preston-Dunlop. Darren was mentored by Laban practitioners Geraldine Stephenson, Jean Newlove, Walli Meier, Gordon Curl, Ann Hutchinson-Guest, and received a Motus Humanus scholarship to study with Warren Lamb in the USA. Darren won the Bonnie Bird International Choreography Award and received a Lisa Ullmann Travel Scholarship. Darren works at National Theatre of Great Britain, Old Vic, English Touring Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men and several opera companies: his recent production of BARTERED BRIDE for Garsington Opera integrated circus and dance into the production, to be revived in 2023. Teaching actors in many drama schools in UK / Europe, Darren was Associate Tutor at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (R.A.D.A.) in London, writing Dramatic Dance, An Actor’s Approach to Dance as a Dramatic Art, published by Methuen Drama/Bloomsbury. He recently returned to acting Shakespeare roles, including Polonius in Hamlet (Adaptivity Theatre, Tasmania) and in King Richard the Second (La Sorbonne, Paris) with Scena Mundi theatre company, with whom he is Director of Movement & Dance.

Clare Lidbury – Magazine Editor

Clare is a freelance academic and dance practitioner focussing on the work and legacy of the German choreographer and theatre practitioner Kurt Jooss, his partner Sigurd Leeder (teacher and choreographer), and their debt to the work of Rudolf Laban. She has published widely – recent articles include, for example: “Whoever pays the Piper calls the tune: Kurt Jooss, Public Subsidy and Private Patronage,” Dance Research, Vol 36, no 1, (2018) pp33-47; and ‘What will survive us? Sigurd Leeder and his legacy,’ Teachers Imprint – Rethinking Dance Legacy, Conversations across the field of Dance Studies, Society of Dance History Scholars, Vol 37, (2017) pp. 43-46 – and, since 2019, has been executive editor of Dance Chronicle: Studies in Dance and the Related Arts. Her involvement with the Laban Guild began when she became editor of their magazine, Movement, Dance and Drama, in 2010, and she has contributed further by giving the Laban Lecture at the Laban Conferences in 2015 and 2017.

Dr Sara Houston – Social Media


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Sara Houston is Professor of Dance and Community Engagement at University of Roehampton, London. Her research is focused on participatory and community dance. In 2011 she received the BUPA Foundation prize for her work in dance for people living with Parkinson’s. Her monograph on the subject, Dancing with Parkinson’s was published by Intellect Books in 2019. More recently she has co-developed, with the EU funded project Empowering Dance, an online guidebook for dance artists working in community settings to identify and articulate their soft skills. She is currently research consultant to the Hong Kong Dance Well project with Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and the Jockey Club. Sara speaks internationally on community dance and works with dance organisations on professional development and training in this area.
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Mary Painter (nee Cormack)


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Mary has always had a passion for dance and learned ballet when she was very young and until she went to University. Although her main sport is Gymnastics Mary has always loved Dance and has found that her involvement in this gave her an advantage when it came to choreographing routines. Mary trained at the University of Bedfordshire for 4 years to complete her BA (Hons) Physical Education Secondary with QTS to become a PE Teacher and is currently teaching at a school in Southampton.
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Jonathan Parr – Social Media

Photo Laura Dorn

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Jonathan is a British/Canadian actor, writer and musician. Most recently, Jonathan performed in ‘The Blizzard’ based on the novel of the same name by Vladimir Sorokin and ‘The Thermal Resistance’ by Ferdinand Schmalz. Jonathan also produces his own work in theatre and film in partnership with Laura Dorn. Their adaptations of Georg Buechner’s ‘Woyzeck’, Henrik Ibsen’s ‘An Enemy of the People’ and ‘The Engagement’ by James Alexander Allen have won numerous international awards.
Jonathan first came across Laban’s practice whilst studying at RADA in 2017. The ideas and technique have become an integral part of Jonathan’s practice, particularly in characterisation and movement. Jonathan is also trained in the corporeal mime of Etienne Decroux and is currently training at the August Everding Academy in Munich, Germany.
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