Profile: Morag Deyes

Artistic Director at Dance Base

Morag Deyes MBE, has been Artistic Director of Dance Base, Scotland's National Centre for Dance in Edinburgh, since 1994. After training in Edinburgh in ballet, she went on to dance professionally, and taught and choreographed work around the world. After relocating to the South West of England in the late eighties she was Artistic Director of the Bath Fringe Festival from 1990-1994.

Morag Deyes MBE, has been Artistic Director of Dance Base, Scotland's National Centre for Dance in Edinburgh, since 1994. After training in Edinburgh in ballet, she went on to dance professionally, and taught and choreographed work around the world. After relocating to the South West of England in the late eighties she was Artistic Director of the Bath Fringe Festival from 1990-1994.

Morag was the creative force behind the transition from Dance Base’s previous home at the Assembly Rooms to its current Grassmarket site. She has directed the hugely successful Dance Base show Off Kilter, the Holyrood Palace Garden Party Celebrations for Dance Base (patron HRH Prince Charles) and programmed the Urban Dance stages for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations in 2004-06. She currently sits on the board of Scottish Ballet and is the only Scottish representative on the Executive Committee of the new UK National Dance Network. She received an MBE for Services to Dance in Scotland in the Queen’s New Years Honours List 2007.

Dance Base Fringe Programme

Morag has once again put together a lively and exciting programme for the Fringe. Events will run from 8 - 18 August at various times of day, featuring programmes such as 'Global', 'Quantum', 'Timeless' and 'Stratospheric'.

Global will consist of several international contemporary dance premieres: Company SEO is from Korea, and its work 'Something Else' investigates space-time. American Stephen Pelton's 'A Hundred Miles' moves to Joni Mitchell, Priya Shrikumar's 'Devi' embodies Indian goddesses, and from Denmark, Kitt Johnson X-act's 'Rankefod' celebrates life's origins.

In Quantum, Scottish contemporary dancers meet cosmic invention. The Curve Foundation performs William Forsythe's legendary 'Duo', Martial Dance connects quantum theory and dance in 'ActionReaction' and British-Asian Shamita Ray explores the invisible 90% of the universe in 'Dark Matter'.

Stratospheric will celebrate invigorating, stylish contemporary dance from the Northern Hemisphere, and the programme promises to be fierce, funny, strange and powerfully individual. It will combine Stammer Productions' 'dDumY' (Scotland) and Club Fisk's 'Forestillinger' (Denmark) with Natasha Gilmore's 'Madame Bazié' (Scotland) and Eeva Muilu's 'Vermiculus' (Finland).

Timeless will include Cassani Dance's '13' duet for her teenage sons, Coleman Lemieux and Compagnie's mid-life male duet 'Soudain l'hiver Dernier' and legends Hawkins/Payne Myers share a combined age of 128 in 'Muscular Memory Lane'.

You can find out more about Dance Base and download its Fringe programme on the Dance Base website.

Some recent press responses for the work of Morag Deyes: 'Dance Base is the heart and soul of dance on the Fringe' - Christopher Bowen, The Scotsman, August 2004 'As anticipated the hottest dance tickets on the Fringe are at Dance Base. The International Festival may have some wonderful large scale shows on offer but for sheer intimacy and variety, Dance Base is really pure gold. The four individual shows could keep you happy for the entire day' - The Scotsman, August 2005 'The genius behind it is Morag Deyes director of Dance Base in Edinburgh. She has managed to harness the creativity of the dancers, musicians and designers…..To any funding body, sponsor, trust, private donor I say, throw money at this woman. She has the future of dance in Scotland in her hands.' - Robert Dawson Scott, The Times, March 2004