Tamara McLorg

Tamara McLorg

Dancer, Choreographer, Docent

Tamara McLorg has taught and choreographed extensively within the UK and her international work includes Mexico (Tijuana, Monterrey, San Lois Potosi), Peru, Ethiopia, South Africa, Portugal, Lithuania, Germany (Hamburg, Detmold, Cologne, Duisburg, Thale) Austria (Vienna, Feldkirch), Tenerife, Poland (Warsaw, Lodz, Kalisz, Gdansk), USA, Siberia, Greece, The former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Vietnam and Brazil.

She was dance Artist in Residence for Stirling District Council 1986 – 1988. From 1988 – 1994   Artistic Director for Dundee Rep Dance Company (now Scottish Dance Theatre) which won the prestigious Digital Dance Award under her directorship, and Associate Director for Dundee Rep Theatre.

She was a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University in London from 1994 to 2008, with her main subjects being Community Dance, Choreography and Cultural Identity. And was awarded numerous Research awards.

During 2008/2009/2010 she was Artistic Consultant for the projects Tanz DieToleranz in Vienna, ResiDance in Detmold and Making a Move in Hamburg and in 2010 was Director of SommerResiDance an international youth dance festival held in Detmold, Germany.

Tamara was trained at the Poznan State Ballet School 1964 - 1966, Kingsay College for Further Education 1966 – 1968, Arts Educational 1968 - 69 and The London School of Contemporary Dance 1969 – 1973 where she was a scholarship student and invited to stay for a fourth year to develop her choreography. 

She was a professional dancer for 15 years and toured as a solo performer for five years. A client of the Arts council of Great Britain from 1975 to 1983 when she moved to Scotland. She received a Gulbenkian Award to study choreography in New York, the May Hutchnison Award for choreography, a number of British Council awards and NFFR and HEFCE Research Funding and voted by Dance & Dancers as ‘most promising young choreographer’ in 1976. Initiated and was co-director with Royston Maldoom the Scottish Youth Dance Festival in Stirling 1988 &1989. Invited to participate in the Gulbenkian International Choreographic Course as a choreographer in 1976 and a dancer in 1978. 

She was on the board, and Chair Person, for Gemini Action International. Member of the Executive Committee for The Lisa Ullman Travelling Scholarship Fund, Executive Committee for The British Association of Choreographers (Dance UK), Board member for Islington Dance Factory and Board member for Scottish Youth Dance Festival and Artistic Advisor for Antics Community Dance. 

She was invited to give papers at following conferences The Arts @ the Edge(Cambridge, UK); Can Do Can Dance Festival Symposium (Hamburg, Germany); CORD (Congress on Research in Dance) Dance & the Community (Florida, USA); Pulses & Impulses for Community Dance (Almada, Portugal); Caritas-Austria Conference in Hungary. Has written articles for Animated the Community Dance Foundation Magazine. 

She was External Examiner for Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (John Moores University) and Bodyworks Dance Studio, Cambridge.

During 2008 – 2011 she has been mentoring and training young Dance Artists in the craft of working within a Community Dance context. She has taught workshops for Dance Artists in Vienna (Austria), Detmold (Germany), Belfast (Northern Ireland) and Newcastle (England) and Mexico. 

At present is Artistic Adviser, in collaboration with composer, Christopher Benstead for Ithuba Dance in South Africa and they are consultants for Danza para la Convivencia in Mexico.