When speaking to Janet Smith, the former Artistic Director of Scottish Dance Theatre and current principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance, about Natalie Trewinnard, the dancer she invited into that company’s apprenticeship programme several years ago, she says; “I realised that we had invited in a Tigress on stage and a mouse into the studio”.
On first hearing that it may seem like an odd thing to say but it sums up Natalie’s personal approach to dance perfectly. She is a dancer who diligently studies all that is going on around her in the studio and applies the information gleaned from these observations to hone her own craft. A craft that she has applied to the works of a diverse range dance makers with both Scottish Dance Theatre, the rep company based in Dundee, and now with Ballet Lorent, the North East of England based dance theatre company.
In many ways Natalie’s career path has followed an almost ideal trajectory. Spotted during her final year at London Contemporary Dance School by Janet Smith, performing a self choreographed solo and a duet crafted by James Wilton, she was invited to come and visit Scottish Dance Theatre and apply for the apprentice programme being run by LCDS that placed graduating students with professional dance companies for a year of post-graduate work experience.
For the (at the time) 21 year old dancer this was a dream come true and she promptly left for Dundee to spend a week with the company observing them in pre-production for a new tour and from that moment fell in love with the organisation, the people and the work they were making. After that initial week Ms Trewinnard was determined to secure her place in the company and given her demanding work ethic and considerable skill set, the outcome was a forgone conclusion.