Dana Fouras
Dana Fouras trained originally as a classical dancer in Australia and at The Royal Ballet School. She won Silver medals at the Adeline Genee Awards in 1984 & 1985 and a Prix de Lausanne medal and bursary award in 1986. She joined The Royal Ballet Company in 1988 and created the role of Lead Girl in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Soiree Musicales and danced roles such as Juliet in MacMillan’s Romeo & Juliet, Solo Swan in Swan Lake, Requiem & My Brother My Sisters and created leading roles with Royal Ballet Company resident choreographers Ashley Page (Fearful Symmetries with Irek Mukhamedov) Bintley & Tuckett. In 1994 Dana left the Royal Ballet Company to pursue a career in independent dance, touring with Irek Mukhamedov, Jonathon Burrows & Wayne MacGregor.
She has worked closely with Russell on numerous dance works, films and commercial projects as dancer, researcher and creative collaborator since 1998. Works created with Russell Maliphant Dance Company (RMDC) include the duet Sheer, which won a Time Out Live Award in 2001 for outstanding collaboration, and also the solo Two – a work that has become a signature piece for both Dana and RMDC – being performed around the world for over 20 years not only by Dana but also with dancers Sylvie Guillem, Carlos Acosta, Roberto Bollé and Daniel Proietto as well as Lyon Opera Ballet, Bayerisches StaatsBallet and Ballet De Nancy.
In 2015 Dana performed a new solo created for her titled ‘Both, And’ with lighting design by another of Maliphant’s long-term collaborators, Michael Hulls for the RMDC international touring production 2015-2017 titled Conceal|Reveal. Dana performed in all 3 seasons with RMDC productions titled maliphantworks’ at The Coronet Theatre in London, for 2017, 2018 & 2020m with the 2017 production winning the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Dance Production.
For the 2018 program, Dana created the sound design for a new duet (titled Duet) which she also performed with Russell.
She created the music for several works in the 2020 production (maliphantworks3) including a new, 25 minute duet, titled The Space Between, which she also performed with Russell, alongside sound-tracking two new filmed solos titled Film 1 & Film 2, which they also performed.
RMDC commissioned Dana In 2019 to design the sound for their new full length evening production titled Silent Lines, co-produced by Sadler’s Wells which toured nationally and internationally before being halted by the pandemic. That same year Dana was commissioned by National Youth Dance Company to design the sound for their 2020 production for which Maliphant was guest Artistic Director.
She received nominations for Best Female Dancer from the Critics Circle National Dance Awards in 2018 and 2020. In 2023 she was invited to coach the principals of Paris Opera Ballet for the Sir Kenneth MacMillan production of Manon.