Louise Allen has been announced as the new Executive Director of Luca Silvestrini’s Protein, joining the dance company from her previous position as Head of Operations at Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures.
She joined them in 2015 as part of the new team created when the company first became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. During her time with New Adventures she has been instrumental in the growth of the charity and its engagement work and launched Green Adventures, the company’s award-winning environmental sustainability strand. She will take up her role with Protein on 8th September 2021, taking over from Franck Bordese who stepped down after four and half years at Protein to work with visual artist Rosa Barba in Berlin.
Louise said, “I am thrilled and honoured to be joining Luca and the team at Protein. I have a deep admiration for the company’s work and its commitment to making high quality dance widely accessible and providing participatory experiences for all. This is an exciting time for Protein as it moves into its new home at Woolwich Works and I can’t wait to get started.”
She has previously worked with organisations including the BBC Concert Orchestra and Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Louise is a governor and Vice Chair of Princess May Primary School in Hackney, an Arts Emergency mentor, a careers mentor for the University of Birmingham and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Luca Silvestrini said: “All of us at Protein are incredibly excited that Louise is soon going to join the team and become our new Executive Director. Her wide breadth of experience and her belief in the positive impact of dance in the wider society makes her a perfect match for Protein. In welcoming Louise, I also wish to thank Franck Bordese for being such a brilliant asset to the company, and for everything he has done to bring Protein to where it is now. My warm thanks also goes to Anna Arthur for being such a brilliant and devoted Interim Executive Director.”
Formed in 1997 and one of the most distinctive voices in British dance theatre, Luca Silvestrini’s Protein uses a blend of original choreography, humour and music to entertain and provoke audiences. The company’s idiosyncratic dance theatre is provoked by the everyday and its repertoire includes the award-winning LOL (lots of love), which has toured extensively since its 2011 debut, Border Tales, which peels back stereotypes about multicultural Britain, and the award-winning The Little Prince. Protein was awarded the Critic’s Circle National Dance Award for Best Independent Dance Company 2011 and was nominated again in 2016.
