Founding Joss Arnott Dance in 2010, Joss is an internationally award-winning choreographer who has been continuously supported and commissioned by leading UK dance agencies, venues and funding organisations. Joss is in demand as a choreographer and has been commissioned to create work for professional dance companies including Rambert and leading dance conservatoires.
His artistic vision is fuelled by creating a portfolio of work for a diverse range of audiences which are at the heart of everything he produces, including indoor, outdoor and family-orientated productions. He has a trademark, athletic choreographic language that is grown from classical and commercial techniques, shaped by contemporary aesthetic and inspired by music.
Joss strives for innovation of the highest quality and curating world class collaborations for JAD which became evident in 2015 with the company’s 5th anniversary tour that featured live music from the world’s premier solo percussionist, Dame Evelyn Glennie.
With a commitment and passion for talent development, Joss has been a Focus Group Artist for Sadler’s Wells National Youth Dance Company, BBC Young Dancer consultant and has worked with and produced multiple works for national Centre for Advanced Training Schemes. He is also a featured artist for AQA’s 2020/21 Performing Arts Qualification.
He received his first international dance award in 2016 for his solo work ‘V’ for Outstanding Choreographic Musical Interpretation and Dance Technicality from WARSAWZawirowania Dance International.
2018 marked the year of the newly formed partnership between Joss Arnott Dance and the University of Salford with the launch of a new MA Dance Performance and Professional Practices programme that established EMERGENCE, now a leading postgraduate performance company, that tours newly commissioned performance work by internationally acclaimed choreographers annually.
In 2019 he became an Associate Artist at Déda. Later this year, Joss Arnott Dance were selected to be part of Surf the Wave, UK Dance Showcase and joined the Without Walls Programme with ‘PULSE!’, a dance and live music duet created for the streets set around a 3.5m high percussion wheel designed by Linbury Prize winning artist Eleanor Bull and engineered by Rolls-Royce.
2020 marks Joss Arnott Dance’s 10th anniversary and the company celebrated this key milestone developing the ‘DANCE:CONNECTS – PULSE! 2.0′ initiative. With support from Arts Council England’s Emergency Response Funding and commission funds from Pavilion Dance South West, JAD were able to financially support more than 25 independent dance artists and work with hundreds of people of all ages from across the world including Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and the USA through online live workshops, tutorials and accessible pre-recorded Learn at Home videos.
The legacy in this work is through the film documentation and the existing and new global relationships the company developed throughout the duration of the activity. This includes the British Council with both films being selected to be featured as part of the 2020 UK-China Contemporary Culture Festival.
"The perfect tonic for British
Contemporary dance"
londonist, 2010