Mark Baldwin
Contemporary Category Final Judge
Mark Baldwin was born in Fiji and raised and educated in New Zealand where he pursued a degree in Fine Art at the University of Auckland. He danced with Royal New Zealand Ballet before joining Ballet Rambert in 1983. He left ten years later to become resident choreographer at Sadler’s Wells, where he established the Mark Baldwin Dance Company (1993 – 2001). His status as a leading choreographer was affirmed with the creation of over 40 works for his own as well as for other major dance companies including: The Royal Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Berlin State Opera House, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Scottish Ballet, London City Ballet and Rambert.
Mark has received numerous awards, including the Bonnie Bird Choreographic Award (1992), the 1995 Time Out Award for Dance, and the South Bank Show Award for The Bird Sings With Its Fingers (2001). He received the French Grand Prix Award for Film in 1996 for Echo, a collaboration with visual artist Anish Kapoor and composer Brian Elias, and the Dance Artist Fellowship for Outstanding Contribution to Dance in 2002.
In December 2002, Mark returned to Rambert as Artistic Director. In May 2005, Mark premiered Constant Speed. The work, and the high calibre of his artistic directorship of Rambert, won him the TMA Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance. In 2010, the Company won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. In 2012 Mark was awarded the Honorary Amber Faun for outstanding achievements in choreographic art and the development of dance in the UK by the Sergei Diaghilev International Association for the Promotion of Choreographic Art.
